Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Nistas | Four Navy nurses with the Joint Medical Group were promoted from ensign to lieutenant...... read more read more
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GUANTANAMO BAY. Cuba -- For over 100 years, they've shed their own blood, sweat and tears, on the battlefield and off, to help others make it through: Navy nurses.
The Navy Nurse Corps was established by the U.S. Congress in 1908, and corpsmen from Joint Task Force Guantanamo celebrated the 102nd birthday of the Corps, May 13.
During the ceremony, four Navy ensigns were promoted to the rank of lieutenant junior grade and afterward the junior and senior nurse conducted the traditional cake-cutting ceremony.
When the Nurse Corps was first established, 20 women were selected; they became known as "The Sacred Twenty." During Word War I, the Corps was greatly expanded,. And four Navy Crosses were awarded to nurses during the war – three of them to nurses who became victims during the fight against the 1919 influenza epidemic.
"We're the ones who are within the midst of it all," said Navy Lt. Patricia Bartlatta, an emergency room nurse at Naval Hospital Guantanamo Bay. "It's imperative that the nurses were and are there for their service members."
In every war since the Corps was created, nurses have served alongside deployed infantrymen. In World War II, some nurses graduated from the then-newly established Navy Flight Nurse School. The school produced nurses who were capable of swimming a mile, transporting a victim over 200 yards and swimming over 400 yards in around 10 minutes, thus making them even more dependable in combat.
"If something happens, we are the ones to support you," said Bartlatta. "In any deployment, wherever you travel, we are there."
By the Korean War, reserve nurses were recalled to expand the Corps, and civilian nurses became eligible for a commission.
Nurses continued to participate in Vietnam, the first Gulf War and the War on Terror. Many nurses served aboard the United States Navy's hospital ship USNS Comfort assisting Haiti after the earthquake this year, as part of Operation Unified Response.
The Nurse Corps today is a force of commissioned officers that provides consistent medical care to patients and families and teaches hospital corpsman quality patient care. Their dedication to helping others continues the 108-year-long tradition of the Navy Nurse Corps.
| Date Taken: | 05.14.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 06.03.2010 11:00 |
| Story ID: | 50788 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY, CU |
| Web Views: | 359 |
| Downloads: | 155 |
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