Hospital Corpsman (HM)

Hospital corpsman From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Hospital Corpsman ) This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2013) Hospital corpsman Rating insignia Issued by: United States Navy Type Enlisted rating Abbreviation HM Specialty Medical A Hospital Corpsman ( HM ) / ˈ k ɔər m ən / is an enlisted medical specialist of the United States Navy who serves with the U.S. Navy and the United States Marine Corps . They are the only enlisted corps in the United States Navy. Contents 1 Overview 2 History 3 Training 4 Organization 5 Rate/rating structure 6 Badges 7 Ships named in honor of hospital corpsmen 8 U.S. Navy enlisted medical personnel killed in action 9 Decorations of valor awarded to Hospital Corpsmen 9.1 Hospital corpsmen who received the Medal of Honor 10 United States Maritime Service hospital corpsmen 11 See also 12 References 13 External links Overview Bermuda Regiment corporal and US Navy corspman at USMCB Camp Lejeune , 1994. The corspman is an attachment to the Bermuda Regiment from her station at the infirmary on US NAS Bermuda . The hospital corpsman works in a wide variety of capacities and locations, including shore establishments such as naval hospitals and clinics, aboard ships, and as well as the primary medical caregivers for sailors while underway. Hospital corpsmen are frequently the only medical care-giver available in many fleet or Marine units on extended deployment . In addition, hospital corpsmen perform duties as assistants in the prevention and treatment of disease and injury and assist health care professionals in providing medical care to sailors and their families. They may function as clinical or specialty technicians, medical administrative personnel and health care providers at medical treatment facilities. They also serve as battlefield corpsmen with the Marine Corps, rendering emergency medical treatment to include initial treatment in a combat environment. Qualified hospital corpsmen may be assigned the responsibility of independent duty aboard ships and submarines ; Fleet Marine Force , SEAL and Seabee units, and at isolated duty stations where no medical officer is available. Hospital corpsmen were previously trained at Naval Hospital Corps School , Great Lakes , Illinois until the 2011 Base Realignment and Closure Bill caused Hospital Corps School to be relocated to the Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) at Joint Base San Antonio , Texas . [ 1 ] As of 28 July 2011, Naval Hospital Corps School, Great Lakes, Illinois has been officially closed and operations moved to San Antonio, Texas . The colloquial form of address for a hospital corpsman is "Doc". In the United States Marine Corps , this term is generally used as a sign of respect. [ 2 ] History Hospital Steward's Service Coat, US Hospital Corps, 1898 Prior to the establishment of the Hospital Corps, enlisted medical support in the Navy was limited in scope. In the Continental Navy and the early U.S. Navy, medical assistants were assigned at random out of the ship's company. Their primary duties were to keep the irons hot and buckets of sand at the ready for the operating area. It was commonplace during battle for the surgeons to conduct amputations and irons were used to close lacerations and wounds. Sand was used to keep the surgeon from slipping on the bloody ship deck. Previously, corpsman were commonly referred to as a loblolly boy , a term borrowed from the British Royal Navy , and a reference to the daily ration of porridge fed to the sick. The nickname was in common use for so many years that it was finally officially recognized by the Navy Regulations of 1814. In coming decades, the title of the enlisted medical assistant would change several times—from loblolly boy, to nurse (1861), and finally to bayman (1876). A senior enlisted medical rate, surgeon's steward, was introduced in 1841 and remained through the Civil War . Following the war, the title surgeon's steward was abolished in favor of apothecary , a position requiring completion of a course in pharmacy. A hospital corpsman draws blood from a patient as part of his duties as an independent duty Corpsman Still, there existed pressure to reform the enlisted component of the Navy's medical department—medicine as a science was advancing rapidly, foreign navies had begun training medically skilled sailors, and even the U.S. Army had established an enlisted Hospital Corps in 1887. Navy Surgeon General J.R Tyron and subordinate physicians lobbied the Navy administration to take action. With the Spanish-American War looming, Congress passed a bill authorizing establishment of the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps, signed into law by President William McKinley on 17 June 1898. Three rates were created therein — hospital apprentice, hospital apprentice first class (a petty officer third class