MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER, Calif. — U.S. Navy Hospitalman 3rd Class Johana Kernan, a Pennsylvania native and corpsman with Combat Logistics Battalion 2, 2nd Regimental Combat Team, is being recognized in the Regimental Spotlight for her leadership during Service Level Training Exercise 4-26. As senior line corpsman, she led a team of seven corpsmen through 46 medical coverage missions, providing more than 1,000 hours of support to more than 300 service members.
Before joining the Navy, Kernan excelled in high school as an English Honors student with a 4.0 GPA. Her relentless drive to succeed, combined with the legacy of her father—a former Navy quartermaster—ultimately inspired her to follow in his footsteps and enlist.
“He was a big reason I joined,” Kernan said. “I also wanted to do something more.”
After proving herself as a competent and mature noncommissioned officer during Joint Task Force Southern Border 26.1, Kernan was selected as the senior line corpsman, said Hospitalman 1st Class Elliott Johns, lead petty officer with CLB-2, RCT-2. A senior line corpsman oversees a group of corpsmen, whose responsibilities include providing medical coverage for other units and overseeing their education and training.
“I think the mark of any good leader is to make the next person in line’s job easier and that’s what I appreciate about her,” Johns said. “She has proven herself to be competent, trustworthy, and mature beyond her rank. I can trust her with any job that needs to get done.”
Prior to SLTE 4-26, Kernan was a blue side corpsman, working with only Sailors at a hospital. Wanting a new challenge and more experience, she made the switch to work as a green side corpsman assigned to CLB-2. In her new unit she learned trauma and field medicine to get more hands-on experience as part of the Fleet Marine Force Warfare qualification, as well as continuing to learn her role as a senior line corpsman.
“I absolutely love it, the people I’m here to help and to take care of,” Kernan said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to respect and give them the care that they need. There’s a saying that the doc checks on everybody else, but nobody checks on doc. I feel like if you have a good relationship with the Marines, they’re going to look out for you.”
Kernan said through the challenges of being a corpsman, she keeps putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that she has a purpose out here and is making a difference, whether big or small.
“Through all the mentors I’ve had in my military career, they have impacted me greatly,” Kernan said. “Some negative but mostly positive, it keeps me going and helps me strive to be better.”
Kernan continues to make a meaningful impact through her leadership and dedication to those she serves. Committed to improving each day, she strives to be better than she was yesterday while helping ensure the service members of RCT-2 remain healthy, ready and able to accomplish the mission during SLTE 4-26.