Navy Corpsman

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Comment by Daniel Melia on May 22, 2009 at 1:45pm

Cindy, et al. Daniel's deployment is 8 mos. from the end of Jan. (barring extensions, of course.) he shipped out quickly and thus did not have the benefit of training at 29 palms. I don't know whether he now sees that as a good or a bad thing. He also informs me that although his station is within Anbar province, his area is known to the Navy as WERV (Western Euphrates River Valley). Congrats to all the corpsmen on graduating from A School and FMTB. Real milestones.

Comment by Bob on May 22, 2009 at 9:45am

Thank you Cindy and congratulations to your son. Eric is going to be going to Camp Pendleton next week and when he's done with FMTB will be going to Twentynine Palms. I used to be stationed in Coronado and made a few trips up to Oceanside, I'm sure that my son will really appreciate the area. I'm sure that he'll enjoy it much more than being at Great Lakes:)

Comment by Cindy on May 21, 2009 at 10:18pm

Congrats to your son Bob. Morgan graduated FMTB yesterday. Maybe your son will be here in Oceanside at Camp Pendleton. It's a beautiful town. Seems the average temp is in the 70's year round. My kind of place!

Comment by Bob on May 21, 2009 at 7:50pm

Hey, our son just graduated from Corpsman "A" school today. It was such a neat ceremony. The guest speaker was Lieutenant Col Donald "Doc" Ballard, a Medal of Honor Recipient. He was very inspirational for those who were going to FMTB and to those of us in the crowd. If anyone has a chance to make this ceremony, please do, the kids and the instructors were great!

Comment by Cindy on May 17, 2009 at 6:46pm

Thanks Daniel ~ I'd love to see those pics. Believe it or not, I hadn't even thought of MASH. That was a great show. I like the thought of Morgan being able to phone, email, etc. You mentioned he was half-way through his deployment, is it a 6 mth or 8 mth deployment? Can they really keep them there for 2 yrs until the 'job is done'?

Comment by Daniel Melia on May 17, 2009 at 4:57pm

Greenside update: My son, Daniel is now half-way through his deployment with the 2nd Batt., 1st Marine Reg't. in Anbar province. He says that serving in the Headquarters and Services Co. is not a million miles from the TV depictions in MASH, though luckily the 2/1 has not had any combat casualties to date. From his account, Cindy is right about patience. You have to stay cool and ready for things to come to you. The good news is that as they are in a fixed camp (however far forward) Daniel is able to phone, email, and update things on facebook. He was also able to sit his scheduled advancement exam in April, and is working on his FMF. I asked him about the recent tragic shootings at Camp Liberty and he said that his group of Corpsmen are the only mental health facility for several hundred miles, but that they can fairly quickly transfer anyone with a severe problem to a better-equipped station. I guess the problem is knowing exactly how severe someone's problem is! If you "friend" me (Daniel Melia, Berkeley CA) or him ("Doc Melia") on Facebook, you can see a bunch of pics from Iraq, including the plywood BAS.

Comment by Cindy on May 15, 2009 at 9:20pm

Rich ~ Your son wants to 'hurry'?! Remind him of the word 'patience'. Morgan left for bc in June, he's just now graduating from FMTB, but still has a two week course left before he officially starts his career in the Navy. However, it could be different for your son. Morgan's group had to wait two months in CP before they could class up. You're telling me he'd rather have his hands inside a persons body with all the blood, gut, and gore rather than tools in someone's mouth. Can't say that I blame him! I look forward to hearing how he likes FMTB.

Comment by Bob on May 15, 2009 at 9:16pm

To be completely honest with you, I'd love to see a playoff system for Division I. I understand the concept of bowls and the $ tied to them, but believe that they could incorporate the bowls with a type of playoff system. I'd loved to have seen the Utes in the championship game this year. BSU has been a very strong program since they've had football with a 70% winning percentage overall and they are 60-4 in the WAC.
Eric has been geeked about going FMF since he'd signed up and that's fine with me. He's got a a great personality for that kind of thing. I think that it's great, especially looking at the way the economy is in Michigan right now. I'm a high school principal and I greatly fear for a lot of my seniors who are graduating this year. Those who are not going to college or trade school are in for a huge awakening, a rather tragic awakening.

Comment by Cindy on May 15, 2009 at 9:15pm

Welcome to Navy Dad's Steve. Even though I'm not the dad, I can tell you this is a great site.

Sounds like Brendan better consider going 'green' and working along side a platoon of Marines. I can't think of anything else that he could do, as a medic, and not be in a hospital. I wish him the best of luck. He's about ready to take the biggest roller coaster adventure of his life. I have a few phrases for you to remember. "Patience", "Hurry, hurry, hurry, wait", and "It's the Navy"! Welcome, again. The dad's here are great.

Comment by Cindy on May 15, 2009 at 8:52pm

Bob ~ A college football coach, huh. So, what are your thoughts on the BCS? Living in Boise with the Boise State Bronco's, it's always a discussion here. I must admit, I love my bronco's. Wish I could afford season passes but since I can't, I'm an avid memeber of the couch bronco nation. Have my shirts and have my BSU Bronco throw! My hubby and son know that when a games on, nothing else is watched and there will be screaming!

Ok...I traveled a different road there for a few. I know what you mean about athletics. Morgan started gymnastics at the age of 2 and that was his life. He would spend hrs at the gym but couldn't spend that much time at home working on his homework. It's ok. He has a very caring, kind, compassionate heart so he'll be great at what he's about ready to do.

I know your wife's feelings and certainly her nerves. I can see Morgan a medic. What's hard to see is him on the front line getting shot at. He chose the green side, which will be an adventure, I'm sure. I have to continually remind myself that he's my gift, but he belongs to God and what will be will be. It's certainly easy to write anyway.

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