The Hospital Corpsman

[Doc_Pardue]

THE HOSPITAL CORPSMAN

I AM A NAVY CORPSMAN. I POSESS THE STAMINA AND ENTHUSIASM OF YOUTH AND THE WISDOM AND EXPERIENCE OF AN OLD MAN. I AM THREE PARTS DOCTOR, ONE PART NURSE, TWO PARTS MARINE, ONE PART CLERGYMAN, AND TWO PARTS MOM; YET I AM ONE HUNDRED PERCENT SAILOR.

I AM UNEMPLOYABLE TO THE CIVILLIAN WORLD IN MY CHOSEN PROFESSION, YET HAVE BEEN THE VERY LIFELINE FOR COUNTLESS MARINES, SAILORS, AND SOLDIERS SINCE 1778.

I HAVE CARRIED MARINES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD AND HAVE BEEN REVERENTLY CARRIED MYSELF BY MARINES WHO HAVE MOURNED MY PASSING LIKE THAT OF A BROTHER OR SISTER.

I AM YOUNG, I AM OLD, I AM BRAVE, SCARED, AND SCARRED. MY TITLE HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS: LOBLOLLY BOY, SURGEONS STEWARD, PHARMACISTS MATE, AND HOSPITAL CORPSMAN. YET WITH ALL THE CHANGES, I AM SIMPLY KNOWN AS "DOC."

I HAVE CELEBRATED PEACE, YET FELT THE STING OF WAR ON THE SEAS, IN JUNGLES, DESERTS, CITIES, 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 A FLAG ON IWO JIMA. WHEREVER MY MARINES HAVE GONE, OLD DOC HAS GONE WITH THEM: PEKING, TRIPOLI, SAIPAN, GUADALCANAL, KOREA, VIETNAM, SOMALIA, AND IRAQ; READY TO ANSWER THE CALL "CORPSMAN UP!"

ON THE BATTLEFIELD OR IN THE BARRACKS, ON THE SHIP OR IN THE BAR, I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THERE AND ALWAYS WILL BE. BECAUSE THE WOUNDED MARINE ONT THE BATTLEFIELD CALLS OUT FOR THREE THINGS: "GOD, MOM, AND DOC!" AND TO THEM, I'M ALL THREE.

Author Unknown

For all the "Docs" who answered the call and made the ultimate sacrifice... SEMPER FI!

Thanks Navy for a job well done...Doc Pardue

[crazycajun]

Doc_P,

thanks for that posting, I don't care what the rest say about you you are good in my book!

[Doc_Pardue]

LESSONS LEARNED

The following is a copy of a lettera Navy Corpsman friendwrote recently to a young FMF Doc name of Dusty, stationed at Area 31 Pendleton. It's a personal
story about a lessonhe had to learn the hard way while going through
Hospital Corp School at Great Lakes.

A true story.
I remember sometime during my training at Hospital Corps School in
Great Lakes, we were given orders to report to the hospital wards for
some on-hands ojt. I can't recall the reason, but I was late
reporting to the ward that I was assigned to. A young Lt nurse told
my I was late and all assignments had been handed out and that I
would have to wait for the head nurse for an assignment. I was told
to wait in her office, so I did for what seemed an eternity. After a
while a LC nurse came in and asked me my name and understood that I
had reported late. She as well stated that all assignments had been
handed out and she really didn't have anything for me. She just sat
there kind of glaring at me. I was very intimidated as I could not
read her cold stare, one moment she looked pissed and one moment she
looked at me like I was a worthless piece of shit. From out of no
where she stood up and said "come with me". I followed her down a
hallway to a nurses station. She took me into a room behind the
station, it was a small dimly lit private room with a young man
laying in the bed. He appeared to be sleeping heavily, even though it
was around 0800. A tray of untouched breakfast food was on a tray
stand next to his bed. The LC said this young man was my assingment
for the week. I was to take care of all his needs, including changing
a large bandage on the frontal portion of his lower leg. She said she
would send a nurse in to help me the first time as the wound was
packed with ioform gauze and I had no experience in replacing it
before. "What a piece of cake" I thought to myself. I'll just kind of
kick back, snooze and wait for this guy to wake up, help him take a
leak, wipe his ass, feed him or whatever. An hour or so had gone by
and time was pretty well dragging on when a the young Lt nurse came
in and said it was time to change his bandage. She had me cut the old
one away, when I did a horendious odor emmitted. I was gagging, it
smelled so bad. She asked me how would I like it if I were him? He
had recieved a shrapnell wound a few weeks before and they were
trying to save his leg, But complications had set in such as gangrene
and some type of bone cancer had formed. What a bummer. For three
more days, I would show up, not only on time, but usually at least a
half hour early, not even taking time to have breakfast before
reporting. The whole time this young man was under my care, he never
once woke up. He never had any visitors. The nurse told me his father
had past away many years ago and his mother had a stroke. So I guess
I was his only part of the outside world, even though I was in his
world as well. I would read to him and play poker with him, (playing
his hand). I even wrote a letter to his mother for him. On the fourth
day I reported, I went into his room....he wasn't there. The young Lt
nurse came from a ward and told me to go into the LC's head nurse's
office and wait for her. A couple of minutes later she entered and
acted as though she was busy with some paper work, I could tell she
was stalling for some reason. I can't recall this young man's name,
but I asked her if he had been moved, did he wake up, where was he?!!
She slowly looked up at me and told me he had passed during the
night, she coldly told me I was dismissed. I asked her what should I
do? She said she didn't really care, it was just a part of the game
and I had better get used to it. She was such a cold hearted bitch!!!
I swear to god, I just wanted to kill her. I went back to my dorm and
I just layed there on my bunk the rest of the day and all through the
night. The next morning was Sunday and I decided to go to church, I
thought I needed it. When the services where over, I was about to
walk out the door, when the preacher stopped me. he said he needed to
talk to me. I thought it was strange, as I had never talked to him
before, hell, he didn't know who I was. I followed him back to his
little office in the back of the chapel. When I walked in behind him,
I just about passed out, the anger and rage came back over me again.
The LC nurse was there!! She said we needed to talk. That is when I
learned the lesson of my life. She told me that the young man I was
assigned to take care of had no chance of survival, and there was
really no need to have someone in the room with him since he was
comatoce. She did it for me!! 'For Me? What the hell did she mean,
she did it for me'. In my mind, he needed someone there, he had no
one. She said no, it was for me. I will always remember she said, the
ones that I take care of will depend on me. This wasn't a game, it
was for real. We have to deal with real people, with real lives. If I
thought it was all a game and it was okay to be late, then this
(losing men due to my negligence) was the consequences that they and
I would suffer. I was never late again for anything after that day,
up to even this time of my life. What a hard lesson that one was to
learn!! I don't rememeber the LC's name, nor the name of the young
man I took care of. Funny about that, you think I would. Even though
the names are far from my mind, their memory, will always be with
me.

Doc Cottrell

I trust that we all learn how important we are and the job that we do taking care of others. It is a responsiblity that is from a higher command.

Doc P