Happy Birthday Marines! My personal journey with the Marine Corps as a Hospital Corpsman.
By “Doc” Cano
This past Monday on November 10, the United States Marine Corps celebrated their 250th Birthday Celebration. There is a series currently on Netflix right now about Marines that my wife and I tuned in to and it brought back a flood of memories of my time with the Marine Corps. When I enlisted in the U.S Navy in 2001, I selected the Hospital Corpsman rating as my job that I would receive training for and perform as during my Naval Career. Before my departure for Boot Camp in May of that year, I had spent some time with a few ex-Marines to get information on their experience with Corpsman. They described it as a very important relationship. The US Navy Hospital Corpsman is essentially trained to provide medical care for Sailors and Marines. Corpsmen are trained in a variety of medical subjects, acquire a solid range of skills, and are infused with an adaptable mindset to provide care in different situations. When I graduated from Navy Boot camp and then Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, IL, its previous location before it moved to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX, I was well trained. But the follow-on training I received in Field Medical Service School, Camp Pendleton, CA was the difference maker and tone-setter of my career. The training was very intense, both physically and mentally, along with the added challenge of practicing lifesaving care in a field setting. We also trained in land navigation, weapons handling, field communications, and participated in Marine Corps style physical training. Personally, the physical training was my favorite part of the school. When I graduated at the end of FMSS, I told my class advisor that it was the best training I had ever received. He responded, “Hoo-Rah! I like that”!
My first duty station was 3rd Medical Battalion in Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. I worked in an admin type billet for about 6 months but was then selected to deploy with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit about the USS Ft. McHenry, a Naval Amphibious vessel. I was attached to the Medical Team as we supported the various Marine units tasked with specific responsibilities such as engineering, landing support, communications, motor-transportation, and so on. The exercises, hard work, and camaraderie were terrific. After that deployment I returned to 3rd Medical Battalion and went to work with the Bravo Company Medical Clinic providing first aid care for those on Camp Hansen. I also received my Fleet Marine Force Warfare device in Okinawa along with participating in several other training evolutions, exercises, and battlefield competitions that involved extensive use of weapons, equipment, and our medical skills. After my two years in Okinawa, I reported to Camp Pendleton CA in 2004 where I would then later deploy to Al Asad Air base in Iraq. My medical team was Alpha Surgical Company, and it consisted of the organic element of which I was a part of along with augmentees from the nearby Naval Hospitals in San Diego and Camp Pendleton. Many of the Augmentees were surgeons, nurses, and technicians with varying skill sets, such as Laboratory, Pharmacy, and X-ray techs. I was the Medevac Coordinator, but I also assisted in the Trauma Bay for those who had been initially evacuated to us. My main responsibility was to coordinate the evacuation of all incoming and outgoing patients to and from our Surgical Company. Those who we were able to stabilize were evacuated to hospitals in Baghdad and Balad. I coordinated extensively with the Army Medevac teams who utilized Black Hawk Helicopters for the evacuations. That deployment was from September 2004 to February of 2005. As always, the camaraderie and experiences I shared with our Alpha Surgical Company Marines who provided security, motor-transport and communications along with our Sailors was memorable. But the heartache we experienced was also very real with every lost life we could not save.
After returning to Camp Pendleton, I temporarily parted ways with the Marine Corps and the Fleet Marine Force as I went to the US Naval Hospital in Naples Italy to work as an EMT and Ambulance Driver. But there were plenty of Fleet Marine Force Hospital Corpsman stationed there at the hospital whom I bonded with and shared plenty of Espressos with. Military camaraderie is second to none. One time in 2005, there was a group tour to Taormina and Mt. Etna in Sicily. A fellow Corpsman and I, who is now a Master Chief in the Navy shared some Espressos and a cigarette with Mt. Etna in the background as we shared our Iraq stories. I used to smoke but I quit in 2012. There were a lot of conversations like that throughout my career. After Naples, some school in San Diego, and then a transfer to US Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida, I re-connected with the Marine Corps in 2009 as an individual augmentee with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade out of Camp Lejeune, NC. We deployed to Helmand province in Afghanistan. That deployment was one of the most difficult experiences of my career and it was very tough. We were outside the wire extensively doing preventive medicine work and really pushed it out there. But I was extremely proud of my performance during that time and had a great team around me. My battle buddy during that deployment and I would later re-unite at another command, and we stay in close contact today. That was my last tour under a Marine Corps command, but the influence of the Marine Corps was always with me. I loved being around U.S Marines and taking care of them medically. They brought great energy, are super funny, and are the best in the world at what they do. So Happy Birthday Devil Dogs. Semper Fi!