From one desert to another: Doc continues to help others

Photo By Cpl. Mark Garcia | Growing up, Petty Officer 2nd Class Antonio Saenz, 27, from Chaparral N.M., a hospital corpsman with the Regimental Aid Station, Regimental Combat Team 6, knew he wanted to leave the desert where his hometown is located and serve his country.  

CAMP LEATHERNECK, AFGHANISTAN

03.23.2012

Story by Lance Cpl. Mark Garcia 

Regional Command Southwest

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELARAM II, Afghanistan — Growing up, Petty Officer 2nd Class Antonio Saenz, a hospital corpsman with the Regimental Aid Station, Regimental Combat Team 6, knew he wanted to leave the desert where his hometown is located and serve his country.

Saenz is currently serving on his fourth deployment. He was deployed to Iraq during his previous three deployments. While on those deployments, he served in the renowned Triangle of Death and was a part of both invasions into Fallujah.

During his previous deployments, Saenz has been married and has missed out on the birth of one of his sons.

“It’s always difficult being away from your family,” said Saenz, 27, from Chaparral, N.M. “Through all my deployments, I’ve missed out on a lot of things like the birth of my son. The easiest way to cope with it though is to be in constant communication with my family whether it be through a phone call, email or Skype.”

Before enlisting in the Navy during June 2002, Saenz saw most of his family join the Army and wanted to follow in their footsteps while paving his own path.

“My whole family is in the Army and I wanted to do something different with my life than them,” Saenz said. “Being back home, growing up in the desert, there isn’t a whole to do. So besides my whole family being in the Army and me wanting to serve my country, it was one way for me to get away from being in that environment and get into something else.”

Saenz originally had no idea what a corpsman’s job was which is why he choose his current job to begin with.

“When I first went in to see the recruiter they had two jobs open,” Saenz said. “I knew what one of them was and didn’t want to do it, but I had no idea what a corpsman was and that interested me. I love my job. I can’t complain about it, plus I enjoy helping people.”

Saenz has already decided to make a full career out of the Navy.
“I think the Navy is a great organization to be a part of, and you get to meet so many different people, it helps set you up later on in life,” Saenz said.

Saenz’s daily tasks involve ensuring the aid station is properly managed, making sure training is up to date, mentoring and guiding his junior sailors.

“He actually wants to help us, when we mess up, he’ll let us know but in the end he just wants to make sure we’re doing everything right and getting the job done,” said Seaman Taylor Jensen, 27, a hospital corpsman with the RAS, RCT-6, from Portland, Ore. “He’s a very good mentor, because he teaches us so we can teach other people, which is part of our job because we need to be able to pass our knowledge onto the Marines.”

• Date Taken: 03.23.2012
• Date Posted: 03.24.2012 03:48
• Story ID: 85736
• Location: CAMP LEATHERNECK, AF