Da-Chief
11-17-2006, 06:49
Corpsman gets promotion for service in Iraq
[/b]By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 17, 2006
Last updated: 10:58 PM
PORTSMOUTH — Every day he was in Iraq, Navy Hospital Corpsman Otis Seamon treated someone, whether it was a Marine in his unit or an Iraqi citizen.
He was in Fallujah, the scene of many deadly attacks, from January to August 2005.
On Thursday, during a ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Seamon was given a rare combat promotion to petty officer second class, Pay Grade E-5.
On one of those days in Fallujah, he suddenly was in the midst of eight Marines suffering from wounds needing urgent care and 20 others who needed routine treatment. A suicide bomber had driven a vehicle into Seamon’s unit, which was manning a checkpoint.
For two hours, Seamon (pronounced suh-MONE) said he treated the wounded, including another corpsman, until they could be taken to safety.
Most had shrapnel wounds. None died.
In the process of carrying and moving the wounded, he dislocated his shoulder, which remained out of its socket for eight hours.
Earlier in his eight-month deployment, he had treated 12 others, three with urgent injuries, after an ambush by someone who exploded a roadside bomb near his unit, which was “routinely under mortar” attack.
“I am in awe of your accomplishments ,” Capt. Bruce L. Gillingham, deputy commander of the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, said at the ceremony. “There is no higher honor than to be recognized for promotion by the Marine Corps. There is no higher calling for a Navy Corpsman than to be up front with his Marine brothers and sisters.”
Seamon, who lives in Newport News, is the first sailor from the Portsmouth medical center to advance through the Combat Meritorious Advancement Program since its inception in April 2005, the Navy said in a news release. The program provides commanders the opportunity to advance junior enlisted sailors who display uncommon valor and extraordinary leadership while engaged in, or in direct support of, combat operations, according to the release.
“I was just doing my job,” the 32-year-old husband and father of a 7-week-old daughter said in a telephone interview after the ceremony. “I’m really excited and honored receiving this. I told my chief I did the easy part. He did the hard part by putting me in for the award.”
Seamon underwent surgery last month to repair his shoulder and still faces more treatment.
In the meantime, he has been an instructor at the medical center, using his experience to teach corpsm en preparing for deployment .
“They ask me what day-to-day life was like ,” he said. “I tell them it was hot, but not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. You have your good days and really bad days, and every day I am thinking of my wife.”
Seamon, who has been in the Navy for eight years, plans to pursue an officer’s commission and nursing degree and remain in the Navy.
“That way, I can give back to the military what it has given to me,” he said. “It’s been outstanding for me.”
Reach Jack Dorsey at (757) 446-2284 or jack.dorsey@pilotonline.com.
[/b]By JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 17, 2006
Last updated: 10:58 PM
PORTSMOUTH — Every day he was in Iraq, Navy Hospital Corpsman Otis Seamon treated someone, whether it was a Marine in his unit or an Iraqi citizen.
He was in Fallujah, the scene of many deadly attacks, from January to August 2005.
On Thursday, during a ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, Seamon was given a rare combat promotion to petty officer second class, Pay Grade E-5.
On one of those days in Fallujah, he suddenly was in the midst of eight Marines suffering from wounds needing urgent care and 20 others who needed routine treatment. A suicide bomber had driven a vehicle into Seamon’s unit, which was manning a checkpoint.
For two hours, Seamon (pronounced suh-MONE) said he treated the wounded, including another corpsman, until they could be taken to safety.
Most had shrapnel wounds. None died.
In the process of carrying and moving the wounded, he dislocated his shoulder, which remained out of its socket for eight hours.
Earlier in his eight-month deployment, he had treated 12 others, three with urgent injuries, after an ambush by someone who exploded a roadside bomb near his unit, which was “routinely under mortar” attack.
“I am in awe of your accomplishments ,” Capt. Bruce L. Gillingham, deputy commander of the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, said at the ceremony. “There is no higher honor than to be recognized for promotion by the Marine Corps. There is no higher calling for a Navy Corpsman than to be up front with his Marine brothers and sisters.”
Seamon, who lives in Newport News, is the first sailor from the Portsmouth medical center to advance through the Combat Meritorious Advancement Program since its inception in April 2005, the Navy said in a news release. The program provides commanders the opportunity to advance junior enlisted sailors who display uncommon valor and extraordinary leadership while engaged in, or in direct support of, combat operations, according to the release.
“I was just doing my job,” the 32-year-old husband and father of a 7-week-old daughter said in a telephone interview after the ceremony. “I’m really excited and honored receiving this. I told my chief I did the easy part. He did the hard part by putting me in for the award.”
Seamon underwent surgery last month to repair his shoulder and still faces more treatment.
In the meantime, he has been an instructor at the medical center, using his experience to teach corpsm en preparing for deployment .
“They ask me what day-to-day life was like ,” he said. “I tell them it was hot, but not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. You have your good days and really bad days, and every day I am thinking of my wife.”
Seamon, who has been in the Navy for eight years, plans to pursue an officer’s commission and nursing degree and remain in the Navy.
“That way, I can give back to the military what it has given to me,” he said. “It’s been outstanding for me.”
Reach Jack Dorsey at (757) 446-2284 or jack.dorsey@pilotonline.com.