Marines show corpsmen ropes
CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, Japan (July 28, 2006) -- Hospital Corpsmen with B Company, 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, overcame whatever fear they had of hurdling themselves off the edge of a 60-foot rappel tower during Helicopter Rope Suspension Training on Camp Hansen July 19.
http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/DEA6DA22A839FA3E852571B9002BA1EE?opendocument
July 28, 2006; Submitted on: 07/28/2006 03:56:35 AM ; Story ID#: 200672835635
By Lance Cpl. W. Zach Griffith, MCB Camp Butler
In a day-long training event, Special Operations Training Group HRST masters taught 36 corpsmen techniques for rappelling down vertical surfaces, off helicopter skids and through an opening in the floor of a helicopter.
Chief Petty Officer Leon Palaganas, the leading chief petty officer of B Co., said that the corpsmen had a great time training on a skill that could likely pay off in the long run.
"Corpsmen go wherever Marines go," Palaganas said. "We don't want to be the ones holding them back when they are on the move."
Marines learn basic rappelling in recruit training, but it is not part of Navy basic training, according to Seaman Garett Offinoski, a hospital corpsman with B Co. Thanks to the daylong training on Camp Hansen, the corpsmen will be ready if they find themselves in a field environment where rappelling is necessary.
"When the Marines we're with are ready to rock and roll, we should be too," Offinoski said. "If they have to fast rope or rappel out of a helicopter, we can be right behind them."
But for some participating in the training, the challenge of keeping up paled to the challenge of overcoming a seemingly insurmountable fear of heights, said Sgt. Jime Garay, an HRST master with Special Operations Training Group.
"There was one corpsman who got so scared she started crying," Garay said. "She did it though, and then she came back for another go."
Corpsmen spend a lot of time supporting Marines in their missions, Offinoski said. They can function better as a team if they are better acquainted and know each other outside the clinical environment - in the field.
"We don't spend all our time in an air-conditioned clinic," Offinoski said. "We're corpsmen, but we're devil doggin' it."