Four Years in the United States Navy and Nary On a Ship

I enlisted in the Navy shortly after graduating from Connellsville Area Senior High School. It was a time that the Vietnam War was going on. I had no desire to shoot another person and decided to become a corpsman. I entered in boot-camp, a lieutenant thought he was funny would do his best to scare men who signed up to be corpsmen. His big guffaw was how long does a corpsman survive in Vietnam? From the time he leaves the ship until he ALMOST reaches the beach. What a butt he was.

Basic training was at Great Lakes Training Center. Of course I was training in the winter months, November into January. Corps School followed at Great Lakes as well. After graduation I was transferred to Orlando, Florida; from temperatures in the low 50s to the 90s in Orlando I worked at the hospital, first on an orthopedic ward, caring for men who returned from Vietnam. Later, I transferred to the Emergency Department. While there, I managed to go fishing off Cape Canaveral several times. A friend had an 18 foot fishing boat. It was the largest vessel that I “sailed on” my entire Navy career.

I just read a story of a sailor coming back from shore leave who confronted a guard when he tried to board his ship. When the guard asked him to show his identification, he refused and ended up in the water when he was pushed off the boarding gangplank and it reminded me of an incident when I worked in the Emergency Department. We received a call saying the hospital’s commanding officer and an admiral were coming to be seen. “They’d been involved in an accident.” We geared up for trauma. When they strolled in our C. O. said they’d overturned their golf cart. I directed them into a large examination room that housed 2 beds. I asked to see their I.D.s. We needed to create a chart for each. Showing identification was standard protocol for anyone presenting themselves to be seen in civilian clothing.

I could see the C. O. thought he was special, didn’t need an I.D. and began to stammer, “We don’t need…” But when the admiral produced his card, the C. O. had no choice. He was outranked. As soon as the charts were finished, I approached the E.R. doctor and asked that he see them. Other staff members were nervous with them there. Treatment: a Band-Aid and a tetanus shot.

I guess the CO got a little testy later, because the doctor in charge of the E. D. told me, “You could have handled it with a bit more finesse, but…” Then he gave me a thumbs up.