Is This The End of the Hospital Corps?

[docmctee75]

I understand the powers that be in the Navy are planning on ending the existence of the only enlisted Corps in the US Navy -- that being the Hospital Corps. Is there any merit to the rumor that they plan on closing the FMSS schools at Camps Pendleton and LeJuene, too? :elvis:

To begin joint training with Army medics at Fort Sam Houston will involve one of two things, both of which will have negative affects on the medical treatment for members of the Fleet Marine Force. One, they will either have to dumb down Navy corpsman to bring them to the level of the average medic, which is pretty abysmal to begin with or two, they will have to vastly upgrade the education requirements of incoming medics to the level that Navy corpsmen have after leaving both Naval Hospital Corps "A" School and/or Field Medical Service School.

If this is a method of saving money, then why doesn't the Navy cut out some of the redundancies of command and free up the money to train corpsmen the way they have for 134+ years. I have met some medics and they receive training that qualifies them to be an EMT whereas corpsmen receive training that enables them to become paramedics. There is a vast difference in education, maturity and the level of competence between Army medics and Navy Corpsmen and combining the two makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, unless the pint is to make more Marine casualties in the process. When the Army gives out $80,000 bonues to EMs and barely anything to combat corpsmen, it reveals a vast injustice going on in a system that is doomed to fail. :not:

If true, how do we go about getting support to reverse this ridiculous decision and return the Navy training to normalcy? :panda:

I was a platoon corpsman with Mike 3/9 during the final stage of the Vietnam War. Because of my training back in the early 1970's, I still retain most of that information today. I'm proud to be a member of the US Navy Hospital Corps and wear my Hospital Corps ring as I would wear my college gradfuation ring and that is with immense pride. I was proud to have served with the Marines and I gave them the best care I could.

What the hell is wrong with Navy planners in the Pentagon? :zz:

SF,

Larry McTernan
HM3/Mike 3/9, 2nd Plt
Vung Tau, SVN April-May 1975

[HMC-FMF-PJ]

FMSS is now FMTB. A new (old) name and a new (old) building....

There was a plan of eliminating the medical dept of each individual branch and combining them all into one DoD Medical Dept; however that was thrown off the table around the end of FY07/CY07...

There is still a plan to make Ft Sam Houston the sole school house for enlisted basic medical training (corpsmen & medics). Each service maintains their people and their training, but its all located at one site. I think the only thing slated for the not too distant future though is to eventually move NHCS out of Great Lakes down to TX with seperate schools for Army & Navy under the same roof. I have no idea when it is to take place and I don't know if the Air Force is going to throw a wrench in the plan (they're trying). There is more joint training going on though.

In recent years, the standards for Army medics have been raised significantly. They are light years above where they once were. Some of the old complaints are still there, but they have really improved medic training and standards.

[xAFBx DOC858]

i think combining the schools is a fantastic idea. it will be good to get out of that small building and be able to utilize bigger lab settings, and especially since the army has a bigger budget, get the best training equipment available. there is only one way to combine the curriculum and that is to train army/af the way the hospital corps is trained. but have more specialized training to suit the mission of the different branches to include field med, shipboard care and keep in the tradition of training each branch on their own history.
or dont combine any school curriculum at all.

but i welcome the move. ive already done my schooling so i know how it was. the new 'docs' that go through will never know the difference. but there will always be the old docs to keep up in the true hospital corps fashion and teach the new guys the tools to keep their patients and themselves alive

theres no better in the business

[HMC-FMF-PJ]

I believe the current plan is to co-locate the schools, not combine the classes.

Separate classes, different curriculum, same building.

[MexDoc]

I don't know how much the idea has changed one of my good friends who was an instructor at corps school said it is supposed to be ARMY NAVY Airforce (Tri-service medical school) and that the students would graduate with an associates degree accredited through the Air Force. If this is true it is great news for those new students. Sucks for us but should motivate the rest of us to get our degree. I was just deployed with an Air Force med tech and an Army 68w and I have to say I was impressed. I can't say I saw any difference between the three services. Only complaint I had about the Army was an E6 during training told me someone shot in the upper left chest can have a bullet bounce around in their body, exit through the right lower buttcheek and create a sucking chest wound(sucking air through his buttcheek). they tried to get me to put an occlusive dressing on a dummies buttcheek instead of a pressure dressing.

[Da-Chief]

MexDoc,
Get your Friend who is a supposed instructor a "URINALYSIS", as he has to be smokin something.

I was stationed there as well when this all came down, .. It was never giong to be a "TRI-SERVICE" School in that we all go to the same classes together, all it is, is we are going to share the same space and the same equipment thereby saving money.

As for the Associates degree, this was supposedly why the A/F wanted out, as they were told that either "1". They would have to drop the program, or "2" the Navy and the Army would have to do the Degree program, which they won't do.

It has gone back and forth for years.. The best thing to do is wait till folks move there and we will get the real skinny as it will change 50 times more before the great move.

V/R
HMC

[docv'sfuturewife]

Right now in San Antonio, Wilford Hall Med Center and Brooks Army Med Center are combining for SAMMC, San Antonio Military Medical Center. Army and Air Force are having some interesting differences in leadership styles and other areas but this could be a wave of the future for the DoD and saving money. If so, the services better learn to share what they are given or the tight quarters are going to cause issues. If the move proves to be a good one, it will help all of the schools with students as the students may have more opportunities to learn.