Read Calpernia’s Military-themed Diary Entries

I plan to write a bit more about my military service and experiences when I can. As a start, here are the awards and medals I received while on active duty in the United States Navy and with the US Marines as a member of the  Navy Hospital Corps. I spent four years as a  field medical combat specialist (HM 8404) in the Navy and with the Marines, one of the elite combat-trained “Devil Docs” during the first Gulf War.

“Of note is Field Medical Training Battalion (FMTB), with locations at Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune, where Sailors bound for service with United States Marine Corps operating forces attend to earn the NEC HM-8404, Field Medical Service Technician. This is specialized training emphasizing physical conditioning, small arms familiarity, and the fundamentals of Marine Corps life. This is some of the most rigorous training in the US Navy.”

I served in Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm/Shield, worked in the  only ER on remote Adak Island in Alaska’s Aleutian Chain and  received notice from Congress as part of a group who assisted a downed Chinese airliner on the tiny island of Shemya. I was honorably released from active duty after completing my full service obligation.