Hospital Corpsman

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Hospital Corpsmen (HMs) are members of the United States Navy Hospital Corps. They serve as enlisted medical personnel. Corpsmen serve in a wide variety of capacities and locations, including shore establishments such as naval hospitals and clinics, aboard ships as the primary medical caregiver for sailors while underway, or with Marine Corps units as battlefield medics.

History

The hospital corps has, after a fashion, been a part of the United States Naval service since 1799 when a provision of Congress was instituted service-wide to include a surgeon's assistant on all ships of the fleet. The title of this specialty of training, also known as Rate in naval terminology, has changed over the years from loblolly boy, surgeon's steward, apothecary and bayman, the latter three all requiring the rate holder to be a recipient of some private medical instruction.

On 17 June 1898, by act of Congress, the Hospital Corps was established, though the actual name of the servicemen under that rating would change several times (being known as "Pharmacist's Mates" throughout the World Wars) before ultimately becoming simply "Hospital Corpsman". On 12 January 1944, women augmented the hospital corps as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) to fill a need of medical personnel for World War Two. On 12 June 1948, the WAVES were included as part of the regular naval service.

Organization

Due to the vast array of foreign, domestic and shipboard duty stations in which hospital corpsman are called to serve as well as the fact that the United States Marine Corps has no medical personnel of their own, the hospital corps is anecdotally reported to be the largest rating in the United States Navy. That is, the duty classification held by more United States naval personnel than any other.

Within the rating of Hospital Corpsman are a number of "C" schools a Corpsman can apply to attend. Each "C" school has an associated NEC (Navy Enlisted Classification) associated with it. The basic Hospital Corpsman training is termed as one of the Navy's "A" or primary training schools, the NEC code for a corpsman who has attended no "C" school is 0000 called "quad-zero". A "C" school is a secondary, usually longer, specialized training. In the case of hospital corpsmen, this training is to prepare the sailor for some more distinct duty such as Medical Laboratory Technician, Radiology Technician, Aviation/Aerospace Medicine Specialist, etc. The day to day duties of a Hospital Corpsman depends largely on what "C" schools he/she has attended and to what sort of unit he/she has been assigned. All Navy rates have "A" and "C" schools and respective NEC codes. NEC is essentially analagous to MOS in the United States Army, Air-Force and Marine Corps.

Of note is Field Medical Service School (FMSS), with locations at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune, where sailors bound for service with United States Marine Corps operating forces attend to earn the NEC 8404, Field Medical Service Technician. This is specialized training emphasizing physical conditioning, small arms familiarity, and the fundamentals of Marine Corps life to make up for the lack of traditional field training that Corpsmen receive at naval boot camp. The course is currently (2005) seven weeks long.

There are primary NECs, and secondary NECs. For example, a Corpsman could hold the 0000 (General Duty Corpsman) NEC as their primary, while the 8404 (Field Medical Technician) would be their secondary NEC.

Be they assigned to hospital ships, reservist installations, recruiter offices, Marine Corps combat units or functioning as Navy SEALs, the rating of Hospital Corpsman is the most decorated in the United States Navy with at least 22 Medals of Honor (half of all Medals of Honor awarded to the Department of the Navy), 174 Navy Crosses, 31 Distinguished Service Medals, 943 Silver Stars, and 1553 Bronze Stars. [1] There have been 14 naval vessels that have been named after Hospital Corpsmen.