New Corpsman

[scubasteve13]

Hey gang. Wanted to let everyone know this site rocks.
I signed up for HM-E3 Monday, active duty,and head to boot camp Sep. 30th.
Ive got a good background of A+P 1 and 2, biology, and micro.
I'm in decent shape at the moment, but want to be in top shape for boot camp. Ive joined a gym, and go there about 3 times a week.
Ive already plowed through the DEP book, and have the Blue Jacket book on the way. I'm interested in FMF after A school, then C school.
I'm excited and pumped about my Navy career.
Any tips or advise is appreciated.

Quick question..I want to purchase a laptop for NHCS, do the barracks have wireless net? Is this a good idea to bring a laptop? Ill have it send to me after boot camp of course.

[8404]

Steve:

As far as the laptop goes, try and look into insurance for it, as well as some kind of GPS tracking device/software etc....

Things have a habit of growing legs and walking off, if you know what I mean. There are lockers at NHCS, but padlocks can be easily broken.

Your background in A&P along with biology will help you at NHCS, but don't get complacent at school. Stay focused and study hard.

Let your instructors at NHCS Corpsman school know you are very much interested in FMTB and FMF as a Corpsman. They may be able to assist you with this endeavor.

Request Dive Motivator at boot camp and again at NHCS, they will help you get into top physical shape.

[sailorsgirl777]

about the laptop, my husband was just there and him and his one roomate could never get service in the room but the room next to him could. and then a different building they all had service so it depends. but you go to the USO or the Loft during the evenings and they have wireless there, but yeah like he said, people will take ANYTHING there, socks, shirts, ipods, so be careful!

[scubasteve13]

I really appreciate the input.
I want to get something straight as well. Correct me if I'm wrong.
1. I head to boot camp,- 8 weeks
2. NHCS (our A school),-12 weeks
3. Either a. Fleet Marine Training or...deployment to a ship or hospital??
4. Possibly later a C school, if i qualify...?

" Let your instructors at NHCS Corpsman school know you are very much interested in FMTB and FMF as a Corpsman. "

Whats the difference between FMTB and FMF school?

How soon after FMF school do Corpsman usually get deployed with a Marine unit, if at all?
What are the chances of seeing combat action? dying?

[DocBlake492]

Your laptop will be fine in Corps School as long as you don't do anything dumb like leave it out unattended all night. As far as wireless goes, when I was there there was no Wi-Fi; you had to buy those wireless cards from cell phone companies, which have an annoying habit of working fine in one spot and not getting a signal two feet away (at least that was how it was for me in 129. I'm sure the folks in 131 128 and 132 were getting great service while their personal butlers made their rack and shined their shoes....sorry I digress).
With regard to your timeline, one of the biggest shocks I had about the Navy is that in many cases, especially with initial training, the process is not very streamlined. Things that you think should take an hour will take three, things you could do in a day will take a week. Yes, boot camp is eight weeks, but if Corps School is backed up then you will go to THU (a place at RTC where newly graduated sailors stay while they wait for A-Schools or travel orders and such). Once you get to Corps School you will be placed in this thing called SDCA for however long it takes for a spot in the school house to open up. There you get all these briefs, like sexual harassment, drug awareness and you PT a lot. When I went through it took me three weeks to class up, by the time I graduated, the wait was six. One good thing about Corps School now is that it is entirely self paced learning, meaning you control the speed by which you proceed through tests. My instructors set a minimum of a test a week, but most people usually take two per week. There are also practical labs, like IV and venipuncture, that you must take and pass as well. My recommendation for Corps School is to not linger there, but MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE MATERIAL. Don't just breeze through the LTG's or the powerpoints because you want to get the hell out of dodge. This is the one time in your Naval career that you have an opportunity to learn the basics at your own pace and ask dumb questions without fear of getting chewed out; DON'T waste it!
At some point during your stay at NHCS you will go sit with a detailer and pick your first assignment after A-School. As is the case with everything else, the needs of the Navy come first, but usually there are some pretty cool assignments like Hawaii or Italy. Unfortunately, before you can leave NHCS, your orders actually have to post and you need to get your travel money to get there or to your leave destination, and this can take up to a couple of months in some rare cases.
As far as your post Corps School career, I only know what I went through: Field Med. I will say that we were told at Corps School that there were hardly ever any billets for an actual ship. I was PSI at Camp Lejeune for two months before my class started, but I did get some good training working at the Hospital as well as going with a Marine unit to help them get ready to deploy. Once Field Med is finished you will report to your unit and begin your life as a doc! All told it took me 10 months for all my initial training, but your experience is going to vary. Just remember to be patient, learn all you can, and rest assured that you made a great choice to join! Hope this helps!

[DocBlake492]

FMTB is Field Medical Training Battalion (aka Field Med, or the old Field Medical Service School). The FMF is the Fleet Marines Force (aka the Marine Corps). Corpsmen with the Marines are said to be with the FMF and are eligible for a warfare pin of the same name.
As far as deploying, when I graduated Field Med there were guys who were going to Mojave Viper (a big training exercise right before deployment) in three weeks later. As far as dying, I always take comfort in being surrounded by a bunch of heavily armed Marines who have a very vested interest in my survival. But as I was alluding to in my other post, it's important that you are "technically and tactically proficient" at what you do. A Marine will take a bullet for a good doc. He won't piss on a bad one to put out a fire (sorry if that was a little un-PC).

[scubasteve13]

Thanks for all the info. It really helps.
If I have a program guarantee in my contract.. do I still have to wait for a spot to open for corpsman school and field med school?
It looks like this
1. 5yr-hm-hospital corpsman school
2. Field medical school
3. my bonus-7 k for my college credits.

[8404]

Corps school is not 'Self Paced' anymore!

[DocBlake492]

That's probably a good thing. Do you happen to know when they went away from self paced?

[8404]

Give or take about a few months now.

[sailorsgirl777]

yeah they JUST got anew curriculum too, my husbands class was like the third or fourth class to go through it, and from what Ive heard they were having a lot of problems with it. and the sitting down talking about where you go after A school, I dont know if they do that anymore either. WHen my husband graduated they just let them pick East coast, west coast or overseas. and if they wanted a C school they had to go talk to some people or something. Sorry if I sound like an annoying wife you guys are probably like "what do you know, youre just a wife" haha, I'm not trying to overstep or anything but I just know thats what happened in my husbands class and he just graduated 6 weeks ago.

[8404]

...Sorry if I sound like an annoying wife you guys are probably like "what do you know, youre just a wife" haha, I'm not trying to overstep or anything...

Sailorsgirl;

From what I understand, the curriculum really wasn't new, what was new was the manner in which the tests asked the questions, (critical thinking). The student must really 'know' and digest the material studied, in order to do well on the tests. Just like it is in any civilian educational institution.

Your position as a Navy wife is one of great importance. Without you and other wives, our Sailors would not be able to complete their missions. The role of a Navy wife takes care of everything back home. While Sailors are on deployment, you, the Navy wife, assume the role of both Mother, Father, Grounds Keeper, Home Maker, Teacher, Business Professional, Entrepreneur, financial specialist and miracle maker.

We value everyones opinion here and don't want you to ever downplay your role as a Navy wife. Because of it's importance, the Chief of Naval Operations has established a Military Spouse Appreciation Day - May 9

http://www.corpsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24683&highlight=navy+wives

Welcome Aboard Navy Wife, we salute you.

[sailorsgirl777]

Well thank you,that made me feel better. I just try to get involved with the Navy since it is so important to my husband, which makes it very important to me and I like to try to be well informed and what better than a corpsman site. Just reading what you guys have to say has been very helpful and I just like to give back with the little info I know here and there. So thank you :)

[Furios]

When my sister went through in Nov 06 it was self paced, when I came through in Nov 07 it was group paced... so somewhere in there : p
Yeah, you'll still have to wait bud... took me 6 weeks to class up, and we didn't do much while we were on hold other than clean all day, and briefs as stated earlier. Not sure how long the wait on FMTB school is, havn't gone there yet... But to give you an example of what *could* happen i'll breakdown my navy career thus far :
Signed my Contract 20Jun07, Arrived @ RTC 20Jul07 Graduated RTC 14Sep07, Went to corps school was on hold for 6 weeks ... classed up, graduated 08Feb08 w. 91.1% average, ( group paced ) was a member of the color guard in corps school and let me tell you... the color guard there is no joke... We had an ex member of the ceremonial guard on our color guard, and we performed just as well as he did. Recently they had an ex marine who was on the silent drill team go through, and ... they learned a few things : ) Lots of talent in the color guard locker room =-) Anyways, after I graduated corps school I recieved orders to optician C-school, arrived in yorktown, VA somewhere around 0100 on 09Feb08 and checked into my command the monday after.... was on hold here for 2 months ish, started classes 02Apr08 and now here I am, don't graduate till 18Sep08. .... could look something like that for you, or totally different, all just depends on needs of the navy when you graduate corps school : )

[8404]

...ex marine...

'Former' Marine! ;)

[DeeDee]

no such thing as an Ex-Marine ;)