Photo By Staff Sgt. Kevin Schulze | Navy Reserve Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Maycee Frey tests a patient's vision in an...... read more read more
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CAIRO, Ill. (June 17, 2019) — Navy Hospital Corpsmen here are operating side by side with their Air Force counterparts to offer no-cost health care to the surrounding community through the Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corporation Tri-State Innovative Readiness Training 2019 mission.
“The corpsmen here have integrated extremely well, jumping right in and getting the mission accomplished,” said Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman Eric Murray, IRT mission noncommissioned officer in charge attached to the Operational Health Support Unit, Bremerton. “They’re very enthusiastic and proud of what they do.”
The corpsmen are working to maintain proficiency in their career field through training within the operational clinics while leveraging the training to help meet local community needs.
The medical support provided by the Hospital Corps is necessary for mission success within any field of operation. The Sailors working to maintain the well-being of others carry with them an appellation that will follow them throughout their military career.
“The title ‘corpsman’ has been the best title I could’ve received,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Maycee Frey, assigned to the Navy Operational Support Center, Detroit. “Knowing that people can trust me and they come to me, it’s such an overwhelming feeling of joy, it’s really incredible. I love being a corpsman.”
Hospital Corpsmen operate in several different medical fields offering an expansive wealth of experience and knowledge to support missions such as DAEOC Tri-State IRT 2019. Becoming a corpsman allows for one to choose what field they wish to operate in and change specialties if desired.
“There’s an opportunity to do multiple specialties, you can be an optometry technician, or a dental technician, or a physical therapist, there are multiple avenues you can pursue,” said Murray.
Before being indoctrinated into the Hospital Corps, the corpsmen must swear to the U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman’s Pledge. This pledge holds the Sailor to maintain the duties of patient care and medicine.
“The corpsman is the only enlisted personnel that swears to a pledge other than the oath of enlistment,” said Frey.
For those corpsman actively operating in the career field, this pledge holds a meaning far deeper than simply promising to provide care to patients.
“It really holds a standard to us,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Isaiah Chanthapaseuth, IRT Cairo site medical noncommissioned officer in charge, who is assigned to the Operational Health Support Unit, Bremerton. “To ‘hold the care of the sick and injured,’ it means, if a Marine were to go down in combat, we are going to be the troops that support them… It has to be us. Who else could it be?”
But today holds special meaning for the corpsmen involved in the IRT mission. The Hospital Corps was established on June 17, 1898 by President William McKinley, making this its 121st birthday.
“There’s a lot of pride in being a corpsman,” said Murray. “We have had 23 Medal of Honor recipients that were corpsmen, which is the most decorated field for the Navy, and that gives us a big sense of pride in what we do.”
The Navy Hospital Corps has been providing medical aid around the world for 121 years to the day and is the most decorated rate in the Navy and one of the most decorated corps in the United States military.
Hospital Corpsmen with the DAEOC Tri-State IRT 2019 mission will celebrate with their joint services partners today to commemorate the corps’ 121st birthday.
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.17.2019 22:19 |
| Story ID: | 328027 |
| Location: | CAIRO, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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