Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Mykala Keckeisen | Meet Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ryan Wahrman, an instructor at Battle Stations-21...... read more read more
Subscribe
Meet Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ryan Wahrman, an instructor at Battle Stations-21 assigned to Recruit Training Command (RTC) Great Lakes, the Navy's only boot camp.
For Wahrman, a native of Covina, California, the decision to join the Navy came down to a single word: heritage.
"My decision to enlist was primarily motivated by a desire to serve my country as a Sailor, like my father before me, to uphold my family's legacy," Wahrman said. "After seeing the opportunities that military service could offer, I set out to forge a path to a career and life like no other."
What he found along the way was a calling he didn't expect. Years into his career, as a brand-new leading petty officer, Wahrman was handed responsibility for his first junior Sailor, a first-term corpsman fresh out of "A" school. She was inexperienced, far from home, and stationed in a foreign country where she knew no one.
"From day one I took her under my wing, getting her checked in and acclimated, training and mentoring her every step of the way," Wahrman said. "Over those three years I got to watch her greatest triumphs and biggest setbacks, and ultimately see her grow from a Hospitalman Recruit to a Hospital Corpsman Third Class."
By the time Wahrman left that command, the Sailor he had mentored was training and mentoring junior Sailors of her own.
"That was when I felt I had found my place in the Navy," he said. “I was right where I was meant to be."
That cycle, watching someone learn, grow, and then pass on what they've learned, became the heart of how Wahrman approaches his work.
"The most rewarding part of mentoring Sailors is witnessing the moment they gain insight and understanding, then pass on what I've instilled in them to others," Wahrman said. "There's a phrase in the hospital corpsman community: 'see one, do one, teach one.' I get to watch that play out over and over. That's what makes the effort worthwhile."
The values that guide him were forged earlier in his career, during two deployments with Coastal Riverine Squadron Three. It was there that a chief taught him a lesson he has never forgotten, one that mattered most during the careful, honest accounting of controlled medications far from home.
"He told me, 'It's times like these in life that you find out what you are in the dark, who you choose to be when no one is looking,'" Wahrman said. "'Do the right thing, and remember, no one is ever too good to take out the trash.' I've carried those words with me ever since."
Today, Wahrman serves as an instructor at Battle Stations-21, the demanding overnight capstone event that marks the final transformation from civilian to Sailor.
"While we're instructors, we're more so evaluating than training at that point," Wahrman said. "Recruits run a gauntlet of scenarios designed to test them. Our mission is to make sure they've learned something about our core values, teamwork, and naval heritage, and more importantly, something about themselves, both as individuals and as members of a team."
The challenge, he said, is that no two recruits are the same.
"There's no one-size-fits-all approach," Wahrman said. "Every Sailor comes from a different walk of life and responds to instruction differently. Adjusting how I teach while still holding everyone to the same standard is tough, but it makes for a more effective unit and a better, more well-rounded leader."
Wahrman has attended close to a hundred capping ceremonies, the moment recruits trade their recruit ballcaps for Navy ballcaps as a symbol of who they've become.
"You can see it in their eyes how much it means to them, earning the title of Sailor after going through what for some of them was the hardest moment of their lives," Wahrman said. "It sounds like Groundhog Day, but no matter how many times I see it, I still get that sense of fulfillment. It reminds me why what I do matters."
On the hardest days, Wahrman returns to the same place he started: his father's example and the generations who served before him.
"When the days drag on, I think of my father's service and the rest of my family I want to honor and protect," he said. "I think of the men and women who came before me and the sacrifices they made so I could be here today. That keeps me going."
Looking ahead, Wahrman has his sights set on advancing to chief petty officer and returning to Japan, where he previously served, ideally for a tour with the Fleet Marine Force. He has been studying Japanese diligently, hoping one day to become fluent and explore more of the country that left a mark on him.
Wahrman continues to support RTC's mission by guiding recruits through the final test that makes them Sailors, ensuring they leave boot camp with the discipline, confidence, and foundation needed to succeed in the fleet.
Training at RTC lasts approximately nine weeks, and all enlisted Sailors begin their Navy careers at the command. More than 40,000 recruits train annually at the Navy's only boot camp.
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2026 12:32 |
| Story ID: | 568679 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Staff in the Spotlight: Hospital Corpsman First Class Ryan Wahrman, by Marc Lindsay, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
