I am a Navy Corpsman, By: HMC(SS) Wright 2003

I Am a Navy Corpsman

I AM A NAVY CORPSMAN. I POSSESS THE STAMINA AND ENTHUSIAM OF YOUTH AND THE WISDOM AND EXPERINCE OF AN OLD MAN.

I AM 3 PARTS DOCTOR, 1 PART NURSE, 2 PARTS MARINE, 1 PART YEOMAN AND 3 PARTS MOM, YET I AM 100% SAILOR.

I AM UNEMPLOYABLE TO THE CIVILIAN WORLD IN MY GIVEN PROFESSION YET HAVE BEEN THE VERY LIFE LINE FOR COUNTLESS MARINES, SOLDIERS AND SAILORS SINCE 1778.

I HAVE CARRIED MARINES FROM THE BATTLE FIELD … AND HAVE BEN CARRIED REVERENTLY MYSELF BY MARINES WHO MORNED MY PASSING LIKE THAT OF A BROTHER OR SISTER.

I AM YOUNG. I AM OLD. BRAVE, SCARED AND SCARRED. MY TITLE HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS: LOBLOLLY BOY, SURGENS STEWART, PHARMICIST MATE, HOSPITAL CORPSMAN, IDC, YET WITH ALL THE CHANGES I AM STILL SIMPLY KNOW AS “DOC”.

I HAVE CELEBRATED PEACE; YET FELT THE STING OF WAR ON THE SEAS, IN JUNGLES, IN FOREIGN CITIES, IN WASHINGTON D.C. AND ON BEACHES OF EVERY SHADE OF SAND… WHITE, TAN, CORAL AND BLACK.

I HAVE RAISED HELL ON LIBERTY; HOPE IN THE MIDST OF BATTLE …. AND OLD GLORY ON IWO JIMA.

I HAVE REMOVED APPENDIXES ON SUBMARINES AND LIMBS IN THE MIDST OF BATTLE AND MANY OTHER PROCEDURES FAR ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT I AM EXPECTED TO DO BY THE NORMAL PRACTICE OF MEDICINE BECAUSE IT HAD TO BE DONE IN ORDER TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A MARINE OR SAILOR IN BATTLE OR UNDER THE ICE, FAR FROM A DOCTORS CARE.

I HAVE IGNORED MY OWN WOUNDS TO THE POINT OF DEATH IN ORDER TO STAY AT MY STATION TREATING THE WOUNDED OF MY NATIONS NAVY, MARINE CORP, ARMY AND AIRFORCE.

I HAVE THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF MEDAL OF HONORS OF ANY CORP IN THE NAVY ….. MOST OF THEM PRESENTED TO MY WIFE, CHILD OR MOTHER BECAUSE I WAS ALREADY IN HEAVEN AT THE TIME.

I AM PROUD TO KNOW IN MY HEART THAT EVERY MARINE WHO HAS EVER FOUGHT AND EVERY SAILOR WHO HAS GONE TO SEA ON SHIPS OWE THEIR VERY LIVES TO THOSE THEY SIMPLY, YET RESPECTFULLY KNOW AS “DOC”

MARK A. WRIGHT

HMC(SS), USN

14 FEBRUARY 2003

Nano-Tech helps stop bleeding

A synthetic peptide as discovered by researchers at MIT in the early 90’s. A few years ago they realized this technology could assist with bleeding.. Awesome article, from Technology Review .

Nanohealing Material Heads to Market

A startup is planning human trials for a nanostructured material that quickly stops bleeding.
By Kevin Bullis

A startup based in Cambridge, MA, says that it plans to soon begin clinical trials of a nanostructured material that stops bleeding almost instantly. A startup called Arch Therapeutics has licensed the technology from MIT and is developing manufacturing processes for making it in large amounts.

The new material can be poured over a site and will stop the bleeding almost at once.

The first application, pending Food and Drug Administration approval, will be for use during surgery to quickly stop bleeding and even prevent it in the first place. Floyd Loop, currently an advisor to Arch Therapeutics, and formerly a cardiovascular surgeon and the head of Cleveland Clinic, says that it could be useful in a wide variety of surgeries, including brain, heart, and prostate. For example, he says that when large tumors are removed, “there’s a lot of diffuse bleeding around the site, and you have to spend a lot of time with sponges and cautery stopping it.”

Loops says that in addition to saving time, which can improve the outcome of a surgery, the material could decrease the need for transfusions and reoperations to control bleeding. What’s more, it could reduce the risk of infection. It could be used, for instance, to prevent leakage after bowel-repair surgery. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Loop says.

Eventually, the material could be used by first responders to stop bleeding at accident sites and on the battlefield. It has a long shelf life, which makes it attractive for use in first-aid kits. It’s also easily broken down by the body, so it doesn’t have to be removed, unlike other agents for stopping blood flow. However, Loop cautions that further tests are needed to confirm that the material will work in nonsurgical applications.

The material, a synthetic peptide, was discovered at MIT in the early 1990s. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that its potential for stopping bleeding was discovered. Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, a researcher at MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, was exploring its potential use to promote the healing of brain injuries. When he applied a liquid containing the synthetic peptides to a wound site in animal experiments, bleeding in the area stopped within a few seconds. Arch Therapeutics was founded in mid-2006 to develop the material for commercial use. The company made its first public appearance late last month when it announced a finalized licensing agreement for the new technology.

Several other compounds have recently been developed to stop bleeding. Fibrin-based products are used in emergency rooms and dental applications, for example, but the new material is faster and more effective, says Steve Yerid, an emergency-room physician at St. Vincent Hospital, in Worcester, MA. Other approaches to stopping bleeding are too slow, can lead to tissue damage, or must be removed from the wound because they don’t readily break down. Conversely, the new material is easy to apply, doesn’t cause damage, and can be left on the wound, even if it’s a deep wound that’s eventually sewn up.

The material consists of naturally occurring amino acids that have been engineered to form peptides that spontaneously cluster together to create long fibers when exposed to salty, aqueous environments, such as those found in the body. The fibers form a mesh that serves as a physical barrier to blood and other fluids.

So far, Arch Therapeutics has been focused on developing new processes for making the materials in large amounts and on developing a better understanding of the mechanisms at work in stopping blood flow. It is preparing to do clinical trials, but is first doing further animal tests. Based on the fact that the material works as a physical barrier, the founders expect that it will qualify as a medical device rather than a drug, which could speed the approval process

MARINES having success in Afghanistan, but being spread thin

This is from MSNBC. The Marines have suffered no casualties since they took on the Taliban in Afghanistan. Unfortunately no one from NATO wants to setup to secure the areas the Marines take. What a mess. Would someone please tell me when Iraq struck the US??? Why are over 85% of our combat forces there rather in Afghanistan?

Anyways. here is the video.

Master Sergeant Brendon O’Connor receives Distinguished Service Cross

Medic gets Distinguished Service Cross

Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor on Wednesday received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest valor award, for his actions during a 17-hour battle in Afghanistan.

The 47-year-old Special Forces medical sergeant spoke with humor and humility after the medal was pinned on his uniform in a ceremony at Bank Hall on Fort Bragg.

“My word!” O’Connor said, reacting to praise by a three-star Army general and a four-star Navy admiral. “My name is Brendan O’Connor, and I didn’t fully approve that message.”

In his self-effacing remarks, O’Connor apologized to his children for missing birthdays and thanked his wife, Margaret, for what she has done in raising their family in his absence.

Margaret O’Connor writes a Home Front column for The Fayetteville Observer.

Master Sgt. O’Connor, who resigned his commission as an officer and then took the rigorous training to become a Special Forces medical sergeant, said his “momentary courage” pales in comparison to people who cope courageously with difficult situations daily, such as Capt. Ivan Castro, who is blind, and Harry Hubbard, a friend who suffered a stroke in his mid-30s.

The audience included former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a friend of the O’Connor family, and former 7th Group commanders.

The heroism of O’Connor and his team in the face of an attack by 300 Taliban fighters received national attention April 20 in a segment on the CBS news show “60 Minutes.”

Adm. Eric Olson, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla., pinned the award on O’Connor’s uniform.

Olson hailed the contributions of the Green Berets and said the demand for Special Forces may grow as conventional forces are reduced overseas.

“Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor exemplifies the spirit of these warriors,” Olson said.

The admiral wore his white Navy dress uniform. O’Connor was in his green Army dress uniform.

O’Connor led a quick reaction force June 24, 2006, in Kandahar province’s Panjwai District, described by Special Forces as one of the most hotly contested areas of southern Afghanistan.

He maneuvered his force through Taliban positions and crawled alone through enemy machine-gun fire to reach two wounded soldiers, the citation said. He tied a signal cloth to his back to identify himself to aircraft overhead. While under fire, he provided medical care and carried a wounded soldier more than 150 yards across open ground. He climbed over a wall three times under enemy fire to help wounded soldiers seek cover. Then he took over as the operations sergeant and rallied, motivated and led his team.

“Thank God for men like Master Sgt. O’Connor,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.

Maj. Sheffield Ford said after the ceremony that O’Connor picked up Sgt. Joseph Fuerst and carried him over his shoulder and ran while under fire.

“Knowing that bullets were coming in all around him, he didn’t hesitate,” Ford said. “He continued to get up and move because he knew he had to get Joe back if he was going to have a chance to try to save him.” Fuerst died, and Staff Sgt. Matthew Binney survived, Ford said.

Former Sgt. 1st Class Abram Hernandez received the Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest award for valor, on April 17 on Fort Bragg for his actions in the same battle. Master Sgt. Thomas Maholic was killed in the fighting and received the Silver Star posthumously Nov. 15.

During training, Special Forces medics, who have extensive training and upon whom the entire team depends, are told to wait for others to bring the wounded to them, but O’Connor realized the soldiers needed immediate help and the battle was not going to stop, Ford said.

Staff Sgt. Charles Lyles said O’Connor paused before going out on the mission to make sure he was taking everything he would need.

“The seconds he took to make sure he had everything ready, I believe, made the difference,” Lyles said.

Staff Sgt. Brandon Pechette remembers O’Connor being “calm and cool and very intelligently funny while we were there, keeping the morale high, which is very important because we were such a small force against overwhelming odds.”

The award came 40 years after O’Connor’s father was killed in Vietnam.

The last time soldiers of the 7th Special Forces Group received Distinguished Service Crosses was in July 1964, Wagner said. Capt. Roger Donlon received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest valor award, for his actions in the same battle, he said. He was the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam War.

IRAQ: A girl, a soldier, a dream

IRAQ: A girl, a soldier, a dream

For months, Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon patrolled the downtrodden neighborhoods of Baqubah, where Sunni Muslim extremists had tried to create an Islamic caliphate. One day, he came upon a young girl sitting in an old, oversize wheelchair, blood crusting on the stumps where her legs had been.

Her name was Shahad Abbas Aziz, and on Friday, she sat patiently in a clinic in Baghdad’s Green Zone while doctors measured what remains of her legs. Later, they would make prosthetic limbs to replace the ones blown off seven months ago by a bomb.

As she perched on the edge of the examination table, wearing a denim jumper and lime-green earrings, Falcon stood behind her and related the extraordinary events that brought them to this point and that have changed both of their lives.

Happy Mothers Day 2008

Happy Mothers Day 2008 to all you Mom’s out there.

I realized quite a long time ago that the hardest job in the military was not the person who was serving in in the service, but the person at home keeping the home fires burning.

Mothers!

They bear our children, wipe runny noses, clean dirty diapers, help the boo-boo’s,  smile and nod..

Then they take care of the children.

You see, most dads think that mom has the easy job, I used to hear it all the time, heck I even thought the same thing until my wife started to go to school, then the roles were reversed.

It was a blessing for me, as it prepared me for the day when I got out of the military. I am quite lucky in that I am a stay at home dad. Karen works at a local hospital as a ICU RN. She works 12 hours shifts, but when she gets home she puts her other hat of “MOM” on as well.

I know I am a strong part of the family unit and do quite well, but darn if the kids when they get their boo-boo’s or have something go wrong at school, They don’t tell me.. They wait for….

MOM.
I love my wife with all my heart, I love my Mother’s (Both mine and my in-law) as well and want to wish you all a Happy Mothers Day for 2008.

Have a great day!

Da-Dad

Week in Review 4-10 May 2008

What a week it has been.

Happy Mothers day to all your Mothers out there!

Will the person who applied the Vice to my head kindly come and remove it and take it home! I have had a sinus headache for over a week now. It started out as a Cold then went full force through my noggin.

Those of you who are on Active Duty, you don’t know how good you have it if you get sick. It takes almost a month now to get seen at the hospital/Clinic due to staffing a rotations of folks to IRAQ etc.

Anyhoo. Here is what has been going on this week.

• Our ships and supplies are waiting off the coast of Burma, (Myanmar) hopefully the Military Govt will let the Aid in for those ravaged by the storm.

• Most of Congress, fighting with the administration for the new GI BILL. Folks, please, if you wish to have the Sen Jim Webb GI BILL, (Info can be read Here ) Please contact your Congressman, or Senator, let them know what you think.

• The Iraqi Govt announced to the world that they had caught the “#1 Al-Qaeda opperative in IRAQ on Thursday. Problem was, wrong guy, but he had a name that sounded like him. Yeah this is our Govt Money in action folks.. they can’t even get the names right.

• The Hornets are going to take it to the finals, San Antonio is going down. Do They look old to you? I know the Spurs won a game finally but it’s not looking good for Duncan and company.

• Pittsburgh is looking tough in the NHL Playoff’s. I think Crosby and his bunch are going to win it all. This is amazing considering the Penguins were “This Close” to folding or moving just a few years ago.

• Darlington race is tonight, Will Jr. finally get a win? or will Edwards and his sideways driving car win again on a 1.5 mile track.

• The Election, Nuff said.. WOW!

We have lost 8 heroes for the month of May so far. I will be posting this weekly by month so we never loose site of my brothers and sisters over doing the nations bidding.

May 01, 2008

---

Army Spc. Jeffrey F. Nichols, 21, of Granite Shoals, Texas; assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Polk, La.; died May 1 in Baghdad from wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.May 02, 2008 Marine Lance Cpl. Casey L. Casanova, 22, of McComb, Miss.; assigned to the Combat Logistics Battalion 1, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 2 in Anbar, Iraq, while supporting combat operations. Also killed were Cpl. Miguel A. Guzman, Lance Cpl. James F. Kimple and Sgt. Glen E. Martinez. Marine Cpl. Miguel A. Guzman, 21, of Norwalk, Calif.; assigned to the Combat Logistics Battalion 1, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 2 in Anbar, Iraq, while supporting combat operations. Also killed were Lance Cpl. Casey L. Casanova, Lance Cpl. James F. Kimple and Sgt. Glen E. Martinez. Marine Lance Cpl. James F. Kimple, 21, of Carroll, Ohio; assigned to the Combat Logistics Battalion 1, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 2 in Anbar, Iraq, while supporting combat operations. Also killed were Lance Cpl. Casey L. Casanova, Cpl. Miguel A. Guzman and Sgt. Glen E. Martinez. Marine Sgt. Glen E. Martinez, 31, of Boulder, Colo.; assigned to the Combat Logistics Battalion 1, Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.; died May 2 in Anbar, Iraq, while supporting combat operations. Also killed were Lance Cpl. Casey L. Casanova, Cpl. Miguel A. Guzman and Lance Cpl. James F. Kimple. Army Pvt. Corey L. Hicks, 22, of Glendale, Ariz.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died May 2 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.May 07, 2008 Army Spc. Jeremy R. Gullett, 22, of Greenup, Ky.; assigned to the 4th Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died May 7 in Sabari District, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Roberts. Army Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Roberts, 25, of Farmington, N.M.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died May 7 in Sabari District, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Spc. Jeremy R. Gullett.

I will finish with this each week. I won’t forget and I hope you never forget those who are fighting for us and have volunteered to do so. They are our Nations truest heroes. There are names not listed as well and they are the wounded. If you see a vet, Thank them.

Stay Safe.

D/C

Looking for a “FOIL”

Spring Colds, I hate em. I am been stricken with one for the last 4 days.

Yeah I was a Vet of 24 Years. I have served as a Doc with the Marines, 2 Navy Squadrons and many other billets..

But a cold makes me a boob…

Anyways, heres to hoping I feel better tomorrow.

On to business. I am looking for a co-host for a weekly show with me for Corpsman.com. The Details:

Show will be produced weekly.
You must have a “SKYPE” account
You must be a Vet/ Doc of the Navy, Army, Coast Guard, or Air Force.
If your a Vet, you must have had a Honorable Discharge.
Must have done at least 2 operational deployments
Have a strong desire to help your fellow Doc’s.

If your interested, please do the following, you have to follow the instructions to the “T”.

Send me a Email to include:
Name, Age, When you served, What Service, Discharge Status, A 60 second Digital recording (.mp3 or .wav) telling me about yourself and why you want to be a part of this project.
Why am I asking / Looking for someone? While I have done 18 shows now by myself, the show would flow a lot better with a partner online.

There is no money in this. You would be doing this just for knowing your putting out info to your fellow Doc’s.

Send all submissions to admin1@corpsman.com

Thanks!
D/C

Docs keep Marines in fight

By Cpl. Erik Villagran, Regimental Combat Team 5

HIT, Iraq — Corpsmen know they are responsible for keeping Marines in the fight. The corpsmen in 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, relish the idea of being depended on.

The battalion corpsmen are spread throughout the area of operations in Hit and Haditha, Iraq. Having such a large area to cover has increased the responsibility of each corpsmen and added pressure to provide the same level of service to the Marines with a decreased staff.

“It’s a big billet to fill,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher J. Cook, 23, from Oakland, Calif., a corpsman with 3rd Bn., 4th Marines “It’s a lot to ask of from a small group of people, but the training we got prepared us.”

The battalion aid station handles on average 12 patients a day. This high level of service requires everyone to do more than their part.

“The experienced corpsmen really take the young guys under their wing,” said Navy Lt. j.g. David M. Viayra, 36, physician assistant, 3rd Bn., 4th Marines, from Norwalk, Calif.

The junior sailors have really benefited from the experience of the senior, more knowledgeable corpsmen.

“We have two objectives,” Viayra said. “One, we’re a force in readiness. We’re open (all the time) for the Marines. Our second is to support the command; however they see fit to use us as an asset.”

Corpsmen have treated civilian contractors, Iraqi Army and Police, Marines and in some situations Iraqi civilians. They have worked on everything from sprained ankles to a gunshot wound, Cook said.

“IPs and some Marines have had (staphylococcus) infections,” Viayra said. “For those, you have to cut them open, dig (the infection) out and start them on antibiotics. That seems to be the biggest problem out here right now.”

Despite having to see some nasty infections and bad symptoms, these corpsmen don’t mind. It’s all in a day’s work.

“I love what I do,” Cook said. “I changed jobs to become a corpsman.”

With the battalion’s corpsmen dedicated to their work and ready for anything Marines are reassured that they will be taken care of if anything goes wrong.

“We take care of Marines and they take care of us,” Cook said. “That way everyone’s happy and we all make it home.”

Article from “THE GLOBE“

No Way?? Really?? Did Someone Pull their head out?

All I can say is “NO-DUH?” This is what happens when you get “YES MEN” at the top. I swear to god, the folks at the top of Navy Medicine have to stand in the shoes of HM1 Dustmans on his “4th” count it “4th” deployment to IRAQ. 4.. And some Doc’s and Medic’s have been more.

This is just fricken NUTS!! I don’t understand how officers and Senior Enlisted lost how it was to be a junior person. This is the problem with Navy Medicine Rank Structure. They don’t FRICKEN LISTEN!! I know I have sat at Master Chief Calls, Force Master Chief Calls, and we talked to them about multiple deployments etc.. how hard it is on them and their families.. Their offer? Go to a teaching position, or Go to a overseas Hospital.

Problem with that.. A E-4 Cannot teach at Corps School, So what is he/she going to teach?

Underwater Basket weaving?

Or how about getting deployed to a hospital or if your lucky to one of our Billets at NHCS as instructor or non instructor.. then your sent off immediately to IRAQ or AFGHANISTAN as a IA.. I know several Doc’s on this site that this has happened to, and when they got back it was time for SEA again with the Marines.. Guess what?

Time to deploy again..

All the while the butt snorkelers are up in DC making decisions like this and going home every night after golf, a night out for drinks etc.. And don’t, don’t even tell me “OFFICERS” have it bad in Country. They don’t go “IN COUNTRY”.. but that is for “ANOTHER RANT..

Thousands of medical billets will stay Navy

By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday May 4, 2008 11:36:00 EDT

Congress has ordered the Navy to abandon its plan to replace thousands of uniformed medical personnel with civilian federal government employees.

The service had intended to replace about 7,700 uniformed physicians, dentists, nurses and hospital corpsmen with government civil service workers and contractors between 2005 and 2013.

The conversions would have amounted to 28 percent of the Navy’s uniformed dentist billets; 18 percent of HM billets; 14 percent of uniformed Medical Service Corps billets, which include specialists such as occupational therapists and pharmacists; 6 percent of uniformed physician billets; and 4 percent of uniformed nursing billets.

The roughly 2,700 military billets that have been converted to civilian billets since 2005 will not be affected, said Cmdr. Tim Weber, director of manpower resources for Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Adam Robinson. That means 152 physician, 191 dentist, 99 nurse, 213 support officer and 2,011 corpsman billets will remain filled by civilians.

The Navy will continue to convert a limited number of unfilled positions that were ordered converted in fiscal 2005, 2006 and 2007, and plans for the 700 billets scheduled to be converted in fiscal 2013 remain up in the air because Congress’ order expires at the end of fiscal 2012.

The Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery will scrap the 4,200 conversions scheduled from fiscal 2009 through fiscal 2012. Weber could not provide a breakdown of what specialties would be spared or which hospitals would have lost billets under the plan, but said as many as 75 percent of the conversions would have involved corpsmen positions.

The prohibition on further conversions, passed in January as part of the 2008 Defense Authorization Act, might not last. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved its version of the 2009 defense authorization bill May 1 and included language that would repeal the prohibition on converting positions and allow the hiring of civilians if the services certify the conversions would not affect the cost or quality of, or access to, care.

House committee members say the apparent confusion comes from disagreements as to the future makeup of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. They say top Navy officials want to hire civilians because of difficulties recruiting military medical personnel. The Health Sciences Scholarship Program, which provides as many as 75 percent of Navy physicians and dentists, has fallen short of its recruiting goals for five straight years and could lead to a shortfall of more than 10 percent of the Navy’s 3,700 physicians by 2013.

But they say some lawmakers are reluctant to convert billets because of complaints that service at Navy hospitals could suffer if enough civilians cannot be hired, especially in rural areas such as Jacksonville, N.C., and Parris Island, S.C., where even civilian hospitals have trouble filling positions.

“We have challenges in personnel,” former Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Donald Arthur told the House Armed Services Committee last year. “We have a program … that has asked us to make military-to-civilian conversions. We are only able to make about 83 percent of those conversions at the moment, despite an intense effort to do so.”
Bureau ‘doesn’t get it’

Navy officials said the plan would allow them to focus uniformed medical personnel on supporting deployed units while dedicating some billets at Navy hospitals to civilian workers, who could improve continuity of care. But many junior military doctors opposed the plan.

One Navy surgeon said last year that conversions would have worsened retention problems. “The question is whether deploying personnel will have any place to return to and provide medical care to active duty, retirees and dependents as they have been trained to do,” said the surgeon, who asked to not be identified. “Most physicians don’t want to just go to Afghanistan. Most of us want a range of assignments. In the past, we have always exchanged quality of life [at hospitals in the continental U.S.] for the stresses of deployment medicine.

Arthur’s testimony stressed the heavy tolls of high op tempo, as well.

“We also addressed fatigue of our deployers,” Arthur said. “We have a great number of our corpsmen, doctors, nurses, dentists who are deploying, and not just once or twice, but three, four times. And this operational tempo for a very combat trauma-resuscitative, intensive war does cause fatigue in our providers.”

“The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery doesn’t get it,” a second Navy physician said last month. “You have to have civilians who will take these positions or qualified civilians in the area of some of these military treatment facilities. They’re not there. Not to mention service people wanting families and constantly being deployed.

“Better warm up Rangel’s draft plans — they’re going to need them,” he added, referring to calls over the years by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., to return to a draft.

Weber said patients will see no difference in care because Navy medicine will continue to operate as it has been. He declined to comment on the benefits or risks of scrapping the plans, but acknowledged that the Navy retains operational flexibility by keeping health care providers in uniform.

The divide between civilian and active-duty hospital staff also could create morale problems — an issue Arthur raised when he testified before the House Armed Services Committee in 2007 about work conditions at National Naval Medical Center Bethesda, Md.

“I was told of the problem with overtime pay given to the civilians that we’ve had on conversion,” Arthur said. “There are no nights, no weekends, 40 hours a week, no deployment. And they take the place of and sit right beside a lesser paid active-duty member who is doing the same job.”

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