Navy Corpsman “Devil Doc”

On September 1982, after surviving from three months of odd jobs, I became physically and mentally weak; then took the biggest decision in my life and embarked on a highly challenging and dangerous way of life. My basic training started at the Naval Recruit Training Depot in San Diego and upon graduation, I volunteered to take the only available seat at the Naval Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes, Illinois simply to avoid being sent straight to the fleet.

After 12 weeks of didactics and hands-on training at the Naval Medical Center Great Lakes working side-by-side with young nurses and physicians, I successfully achieved the Navy Corpsman credential and become part of the most highly respected occupation in the Navy because they have played critical roles on several military conflicts and global wars especially in the jungles of Vietnam. We (corpsmen) provide the Marines with the high quality and lifesaving medical supports they need; the Marines are the “Devil Dogs” and we are their “Devil Docs.”

From Great Lakes, Illinois and after graduating from the Navy’s Hospital Corps School, my healthcare training continued in Camp Pendleton, California for an additional 12 weeks of Field Medical Technician Course. Equipped with the EMT and Nursing services training from Illinois, together with close to 150 Navy corpsmen, we trained side-by-side with the Marines. It was an amazing and unforgettable 12 weeks of rigorous physical training designed simply make us act and live like a mean marine. I must say, I was pretty much “locked on and good-to-go” because I had learned what I was supposed to learn and absolutely in great physical condition; those daily two to five miles of running sessions up and down the hills and beach of Del Mar, Camp Pendleton certainly put my acts together and introduced me much deeper into the healthcare lifestyle and industry.

And, then, during the simulated battlefield mass casualty portion of the course, where we worked with a few Navy physicians and nurses on a number of scenarios and a few real-life emergencies, I was proud to have received the Field Medical Technical credential. Honestly, I was never been so proud of myself for enduring and doing very well on such intensive and challenging training. Since then, I became a proud member of the well renowned Navy Medicine Team. I'll tell you more later about this career path I've decided to take.

I Was There

It’s simply unbelievable to feel and see how technology has evolved and brought changes to almost everything in the past three decades. It's still fresh to me, that was on the later part of 1979 when I first stepped into the world of computer technology. I thought, carrying 18 semester units on my second year in the College of Engineering and Mathematics at Adamson University, Manila, Philippines wasn’t really much of a challenge; I decided to enroll in a short-term, vocational course specific on COBOL Language and BASIC programming at a nearby private school. I had zero knowledge on anything about computers. Out of my curiosity on computer technology and the fact that I was surrounded with several cute girls from the neighboring colleges, I actually did very well in the class and learned quite a lot.

I could still reemember how small was our computer classroom and we had take turn keying-in our respective personal profile on a TRS (Tandy Radio Shack-80) then after three weeks of didactics, we then had to apply what we learned by coding our assigned COBOL algorithms on on a bundle of punch cards that we had to work as a team to complete the tasks by taking turn driving those huge keypunching machine. After making sure that the codes are flawless, we then moved to the EDP (Electronic Data Processing) room that was packed with several IBM-360 mainframe computers next to the shelves and rolls of computer tapes (no hard disk then) and gigantic, loud printers loaded with wide sheets of printing papers with holes each side and hooked on pronged paper tracks. And, listening to how the computer room staff conversed with each other, for me, was absolutely amazing. They were sharp, astute, and appeared truly sophisticated.

Since then, my interest and fascination with computers rapidly developed; however, it had to take the backseat on my list of priorities when my father and I unexpectedly migrated here in California, U.S. of A on June 1982. Honestly, I’m telling you, God planned something good for me; I’ll tell you how and in what way... on my next blog.

Still,
Dante