When I first entered the service in 1961, I was hoping to land
in the mechanical career field as a shipboard or aviation Machinist's Mate; but
that didn't work out, as the Navy was in need of Hospital Corpsman and most of
my shipmates in basic training either ended up being assigned to the Corpsman or
Dental Tech fields.
Corpsman School at the Naval Hospital in San Diego was not an
easy course and several of my classmates didn't make it through. I was able to
hang in and make the grade. Upon graduation several of us received orders to the
Fleet Marine Force (Marine Corps) and so, we had another school to attend and
undergo a change of uniform.
After completing field med training, I received orders to
Okinawa and opportunities to learn several jobs within the medical field. I
worked as a lab tech, x-ray tech, pharmacist, surgical assistant and our
favorite job was giving our fellow Marines their shots (just joking).
On field maneuvers one corpsman was assigned per company, so I
was responsible for the health care of my fellow Marines and they were
responsible to make sure I was kept around to take care of them. If they got
injured, I was their caretaker and without a doctor at hand I had to perform the
duties that would normally be done by a real doctor and if it was beyond my
capabilities I would have to do what I could at the time to aid the victim until
a medivac team could get in. These were not always good times.
While serving on Okinawa. I also had the opportunity to be a
member of a 12th Marines Inter-service Football Team as the team Trainer. This
was pretty good duty that lasted about 12 weeks and our team faired well against
those of other Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy teams. although we didn't win
title, we had a good time and I was kept pretty busy with all the normal
injuries that come about playing the game.
After my tour ended on Okinawa, I returned stateside for duty
in the Mojave Desert of California, quite a change climatically, and served the
balance of my enlistment at 29 Palms. At the "Stumps", as it was
called, I spent most of my time at the base hospital working as a Lab Tech, with
a few occasional temporary duty assignments to either an engineering unit, or
one of two Light Anti-Aircraft Battalions.
I had the opportunity to return to 29 Palms in 1993 while
serving with the Seabees for work on a road construction project. This being 28
years after my discharge from active duty in 1965 and what a change over the
years. The base population was 10 times what it was when I left there and the
town size had exploded.
In 1976 I decided to supplement my income and join the Air
Force Reserve. I had been working for several years as an automotive machinist
and wanted to expand my knowledge to aircraft engine work, but that opportunity
wasn't available, so I hooked up with a civil engineering squadron in the
electrical power production field and learned about power plants, so this job
fit in with what I was doing as a civilian, as it was maintaining generation
plants. Being in the electrical field also gave me the opportunity to learn and
work in all phases of electrical construction, from running distribution systems
to wiring or rewiring facilities. This sure came in handy as a homeowner.
In 1986, I decided to make another change and transferred from
the USAF back to the Navy. This change was brought about when the Naval Reserve
opened a training center 35 miles from my home, so less travel during the month
saved me a lot of time and money, as the AFB was located 200 miles from home.
With the Seabees, I was a Construction Mechanic, but at our
detachment level, I spent most of my time as the assistant officer in charge and
administrative officer and while on active duty tours I generally was a
supervisor or running the admin office.
So went my career. Would I do it again? You bet!! Would I have
made any changes to my career? Possibly. Did I learn a lot? Definitely so. Would
I recommend military service? Yes!!!
My dad served, I served, my daughter served, and my son-in-law
retired from the Marine Corps and now his daughter is in the Corps and we are all proud
to have served our our country!!
