Corpsmen Celebrate 112 years of Proud Tradition, service to the Corps

Photo By Master Sgt. Dorian Gardner | Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Waters, a Regimental Aid Station corpsman, Regimental Combat Team 2, reads a passage on the history of the U.S. Navy's Hospital Corps during their 112th birthday celebration, June 17. In recognition of the Hospital Corps' 112th birthday, Sailors and Marines around Camp Delaram II gathered to enjoy the ceremony and learn a little bit more about the partnership and history that every Marine Corps unit shares with its Navy brethren.  

CAMP DELARAM II, AFGHANISTAN

06.17.2010

Story by Sgt. Dorian Gardner 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP DELARAM II, Afghanistan – In an overflow tent aboard Camp Delaram II, and everywhere else throughout the Marine Corps and Navy, hospital corpsman, chiefs and officers celebrated the Navy Hospital Corps’ 112th birthday, June 17.

Navy corpsmen, an invaluable resource to our Marine Corps, have been seen among Marine Corps units since World War I, atop Mount Surabachi, raising our nation’s flag, or storming the beaches of Normandy, providing aid and restoring life in an environment which often inflicts a divergent outcome.

On June 17, not all sailors, but corpsmen in particular, take a day to not only remember the contributions and sacrifices made by those who came before them, but to honor the tradition and service that the Hospital Corps holds.

“At the forefront of every invasion and every engagement near and far, corpsmen were standing next to Marines,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Waters, Regimental Combat Team 2 aid station corpsman.

Currently deployed to Camp Delaram II, the Regimental Aid Station staff of corpsmen and officers has spent countless hours training themselves in preparation for that moment of need, training Marines in combat life-saving techniques and providing aid to Marines and sailors on camp and outside the wire, for RCT-2 personnel as well as Marines in subordinate infantry battalions.

When the Hospital Corps made the decision to tightly knit the corpsman to the Marines, it was the best decision ever made, according to Lt. Col. Steven Grass, RCT-2 executive officer and guest of honor of RCT-2 RAS’ Hospital Corps birthday ceremony.

While RCT-2 and its battalions continue to conduct combat operations within their area of operations, one can be sure there is a corpsman nearby.

“Exposing oneself to danger to save lives is not a spectacular feat of heroism that is taught in a curriculum, but an innate involuntary response to care and protect the injured in the midst of chaos … and for decades now we have shown that love for our Marines, not for decorations, recognition nor fanfare, but for the most gratifying reward a Corpsman can ever receive: the thankful smile of those they saved as well as the warm embrace of their family members,” as read by Waters.

Carrying on 112 years of proud tradition, corpsmen throughout the Navy continue to live these traditions of selfless sacrifice and service to preserve life. For many years to come, Marines will proudly stand and fight alongside some of the Navy’s finest; the Hospital Corpsman.

• Date Taken: 06.17.2010
• Date Posted: 06.20.2010 03:35
• Story ID: 51675
• Location: CAMP DELARAM II, AF