Corpsman

Corpsman (abbrev CR) is an enlisted medical specialist for the Royal Manticoran Navy who serves with Royal Manticoran Marine Corps units.

Description

The Corpsman is an enlisted medical specialist that monitor sanitary conditions and health of the personnel in the field. Corpsmen are frequently the only medical care-giver available in Marine units on extended deployment.service inspections, and clerical duties. With the Marine Corps, they serve as battlefield medic, rendering emergency medical treatment to include initial treatment in a combat environment.

Historical Overview

In the United States Navy in the days of sail, prior to the establishment of the Hospital Corps, enlisted medical support in the Navy was limited in scope. In the Continental Navy and the early U.S. Navy, medical assistants were assigned at random out of the ship's company. Their primary duties were to keep the irons hot and buckets of sand at the ready for the operating area. It was commonplace during battle for the surgeons to conduct amputations and irons were used to close lacerations and wounds. Sand was used to keep the surgeon from slipping on the bloody ship deck. Previously, corpsmen were commonly referred to as a loblolly boy, a term borrowed from the British Royal Navy, and a reference to the daily ration of porridge fed to the sick. The nickname was in common use for so many years that it was finally officially recognized by the Navy Regulations of 1814 AD. In coming decades, the title of the enlisted medical assistant would change several times—from loblolly boy, to nurse (1861), and finally to bayman (1876). A senior enlisted medical rate, surgeon's steward, was introduced in 1841 and remained through the Civil War. Following the war, the title surgeon's steward was abolished in favor of apothecary, a position requiring completion of a course in pharmacy.

Still, there existed pressure to reform the enlisted component of the Navy's medical department—medicine as a science was advancing rapidly, foreign navies had begun training medically skilled sailors, and even the U.S. Army had established an enlisted Hospital Corps in 1887. Navy Surgeon General J.R Tryon and subordinate physicians lobbied the Navy administration to take action. With the Spanish–American War looming, Congress passed a bill authorizing establishment of the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps, signed into law by President William McKinley on 17 June 1898. Three rates were created therein—hospital apprentice, hospital apprentice first class (a petty officer third class), and hospital steward, which was a chief petty officer.

A revision in 1916 established a new rate structure. With the introduction of a second junior rate there were now hospital apprentice second class (HA2c) and hospital apprentice first class (HA1c). The rating title for petty officers was established as pharmacist's mate (PhM), following the pattern of some of the Navy's other ratings (boatswain's mate, gunner's mate, etc.). Pharmacist's mate third class (PhM3c), second class (PhM2c), and first class (PhM1c) were now the petty officers, and chief pharmacist's mate (CPhM) was the CPO. This structure remained in place until 1947.

A total of 684 personal awards were awarded to hospital corpsmen, including 22 Medals of Honor, 55 Navy Crosses, and 237 Silver Stars. During World War I, hospital corpsmen served throughout the fleet, earning particular distinction on the Western Front with the Marine Corps.

In World War II, hospital corpsmen assigned to Marine units made beach assaults with the Marines in every battle in the Pacific. Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize winning photo of the second flag-raising on top of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, depicts Navy Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John Bradley, among the group of Marines in the photo. Corpsmen also served on thousands of ships and submarines. Notably, three unassisted emergency appendectomies were performed by hospital corpsmen serving undersea and beyond hope of medical evacuation. The Hospital Corps has the distinction of being the only corps in the U.S. Navy to be commended in a famous speech by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal after the conclusion of the war.

Following the war, the Hospital Corps changed its rating title to the generic term it had used all along—hospital corpsman. The rates of hospital corpsman third class (HM3), second class (HM2), and first class (HM1), and chief hospital corpsman (HMC) were supplemented by senior chief hospital corpsman (HMCS) and master chief hospital corpsman (HMCM) in 1958.

Hospital corpsmen continued to serve at sea and ashore, and accompanied Marines and Marine units into battle during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Fifteen hospital corpsmen were counted among the dead following the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. Hospital corpsmen also served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars providing corpsmen for convoys, patrols, and hospital or clinic treatment.

TRMN Training Information

Members desiring to qualify to serve at the different skill levels within the Corpsman division must pass the following exams and prerequisites:

Bureau of Training Information for Corpsman
Course Name	Course Code	Prerequisite(s)
Basic Corpsman "A" School	SIA-SRN-23A	SIA-RMN-0001	(Basic Enlisted)
Advanced Corpsman "C" School	SIA-SRN-23C	SIA-RMN-0002	(Basic Non-Commissioned Officer)
		SIA-SRN-23A	(Basic Corpsman)
Corpsman Warrant Project "W" School	SIA-SRN-23W	SIA-RMN-0011	(Warrant Officer)
		SIA-SRN-24C	(Advanced Corpsman)
Corpsman Division Officer "D" School	SIA-SRN-23D	SIA-RMN-0101	(Ensign)
		SIA-SRN-23C	(Advanced Corpsman)

Notes

RMN Technical Specialties
Command:	Boatswain - Master-at-Arms - Operations Specialist - Intelligence Specialist
Admin:	Personnelman - Navy Counselor - Yeoman
Logistics:	Steward - Storekeeper - Disbursing Clerk - Ship's Serviceman
Tactical:	Fire Control - Electronic Warfare - Tracking Specialist - Missiles - Beam Weapons - Gunner
Engineering:	Impeller - Power - Gravitics - Environment - Hydroponics - Damage Control
Communications:	Data Systems - Electronics - Communications - Sensors
Astrogation:	Helmsman - Plotting Specialist
Flight Operations:	Coxswain
Medical:	Corpsman - Sick Berth Attendant