Photo By Douglas Stutz | Tactical Combat Casualty Care under Fleet Marine Force supervision… Hospital...... read more read more
Teaching the Tactical Combat Casualty Care course is a labor of love.
So insists Hospital Corpsman 1st Class (Fleet Marine Force qualified) Austin Santistevan, Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command Bremerton TCCC course instructor.
“I love being a TCCC instructor. I can teach a course and know I’m making a difference,” said Santistevan, a 13-year Navy veteran, from Pueblo, Colorado and a Centennial High School grad, “home of the Bulldogs.”
From assignments with the 1st Battalion, 25th Marines of 4th Marine Division on Okinawa and at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, Marine Corps Base, and with the 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Santistevan has taught TCCC to Sailor and Marine enlisted and officer, as well as civilian personnel.
“If you were to ask any of my students in any of my classes since I started teaching in 2019 what I think about it, any of them, they’ll all tell you the same thing. I am passionate. I am thorough. I am aggressive. I am a bit much. I am hard. I am a good instructor,” admitted Santistevan, also Naval Hospital Bremerton Urgent Care Clinic leading petty officer.
His journey to Navy Medicine was fostered in part by an empathic epiphany moment.
“My cousin got really sick when I was in high school and was admitted to Children’s Hospital in Denver. I missed two weeks of school to stay with him because I refused to leave his patient room,” shared Santistevan. “One night when one of the nightshift nurses came into the room to do vitals and a blood draw, I remember just sitting there, watching and feeling so helpless. Frustrated that I could do nothing to help him. At that moment, at 2 am, I knew that I never wanted to feel helpless like that again or to have other people feel like I did. I wanted to be the person who was taking care of people.”
Putting thought to action, he has followed his principles in caring for others in need, and guiding others to have the necessary aptitude to also do the same.
As a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman who has deployed with the Marine Corps, Santistevan has achieved Fleet Marine Force qualification, proving the ability to provide medical and operational support on the field of battle. The designation is not just a professional achievement for him. It encompasses a range of intangibles from having the dedication and determination to the discipline and desire. It also means he readily – without hesitation – adds to the corpsmen legacy of taking on the difficult to care for others.
“The thing that stands out the most to me about being FMF is the suck. It never changes, it happens consistently and always at the worst times. But the thing about being FMF is that you’re always in it together. You’re always ‘embracing the suck’ with your brothers and sisters next to you,” explained Santistevan, referring to a phrase which gained distinction during Operation Iraqi Freedom that the best way to handle any challenge is to never back down or away from it.
Corpsmen assigned to Marine Corps units are alongside their Devil Dogs for every mission, deployment and operation. Santistevan attests it can be a challenge at times, with
grueling physical demands a norm, minimal rest and limited recovery time.
Yet that FMF background is a gratifying aspect in his career, not just in the field, but also working in a military treatment facility and especially teaching and preparing others.
“The gratification from being an FMF corpsman is definitely giving back and training new corpsmen. Whether they’re junior to you, or if they’re peers or even seniors who don’t have their pin yet, they’ll eventually be your brother or sister. You’re on the same team, and you want to have the best team beside you if and when you’re needed. It is up to you to train them to your best ability,” Santistevan said.
His ability is on open display during every training session, from lecture hall to fieldwork.
“I tell every class when I introduce myself that I love teaching TCCC, and it is one of the top things I care about.”
He will arrive early.
He will stay late and help students practice skills.
He will break bread with his students and help them go over – again and again – the necessary aptitude to handle everything from tourniquets to blood transfusions so such skills become muscle memory when urgently prioritizing battlefield care.
“The most important part about being an FMF corpsman and learning/teaching TCCC is there is already an expectation. The expectation is that because you are wearing the warfare device you are no longer just a corpsman. You are ‘Doc,’” explained Santistevan. “With the new title comes increased responsibilities. You are expected to know more about medicine. You are expected to do all you can to take care of Marines. You are expected to save your patients and teach others how to save patients. You can see another corpsman with the same pin on their chest and know you can count on them. They have been through similar situations, embraced similar sucks, understand the expectation and weight, and will stand with you and beside you.”
Since the inception of the Navy Hospital Corps, June 17, 1898, their accumulated legacy - most highly decorated rate and Navy’s only enlisted corps - has been hard earned and one that Santistevan is helping to keep relevant and ready.
“I love medicine. I love passing my TCCC knowledge on to my students. It is the reason I am an instructor. It makes me sweat, makes me mad, brings me joy and challenges me. It makes me feel fulfilled.”
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.21.2025 16:10 |
| Story ID: | 498620 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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