Anyone a Navy Corpsman?

Question

What Exactly do you do while in Iraq as a Corpsman..?

Or a Marine that has worked with/works with a Corpsman?

Answer 1

Navy Corpsman
Hospital Corpsmen perform duties as assistants in the prevention and treatment of disease and injury and assist health care professionals in providing medical care to Navy people and their families. They may function as clinical or specialty technicians, medical administrative personnel and health care providers at medical treatment facilities. They also serve as battlefield corpsmen with the Marine Corps, rendering emergency medical treatment to include initial treatment in a combat environment.
Qualified hospital corpsmen may be assigned the responsibility of independent duty aboard ships and submarines; Fleet Marine Force, Special Forces and Seabee units, and at isolated duty stations where no medical officer is available. This is a five-year program.
What They Do:
The duties performed by HMs include: assisting in the prevention and treatment of disease and injuries; preparing/administering medications including injections; caring for the sick and injured; administering immunization programs; rendering emergency medical treatment; instructing sailors and marines in first aid, self aid and personal hygiene procedures; transporting the sick and injured; conducting preliminary physical examinations; performing medical administrative, supply and accounting procedures; maintaining treatment records and reports; supervising shipboard and field environmental sanitation and preventive medicine programs; supervising air, water, food and habitability standards.
Qualified technicians: perform clinical laboratory tests and operate sophisticated laboratory equipment; take and process X-rays and operate X-ray equipment; fill prescriptions, maintain pharmacy stock; serve as operating room technicians for general and specialized surgery; do preventive maintenance and repairs on biomedical equipment; operate sophisticated medical diagnostic treatment equipment. Includes kidney dialysis machines, radiation monitors, hearing and vision testing machinery, heart and lung test apparatus, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and CT scan equipment.
Notes: Applicants must be informed that they will be assigned to duties involving direct patient care and clinical services and may be assigned to the Fleet Marine Force for duty. A licensed physician or dentist licensed or graduate of medical or dental school in any country is not eligible for this rating. No history of drug abuse or commission of offenses involving alcohol, narcotics or other controlled substances with the exception of experimental or casual use of marijuana. Applicants must be of the highest standards as requirements are strictly adhered to before accession into the HM /DT community.
Technical Training Information:
Enlistees are taught the fundamentals of this rating through formal school training. Advanced technical specialty and operational training is available in this rating during later stages of career development.
Great Lakes, IL --96 calendar days
Basic principles and techniques of patient care and first aid procedures Group and modular instruction After completion of "A" school, hospital corpsmen are normally assigned to Navy medical treatment facilities although some are assigned to operational units. Advanced training in a "C" school, a tour at sea or ashore, overseas or with the Marine Corps may follow this initial tour. Women are assigned to most ships and field medical support units of the FMF. Women are not assigned to submarines, with the SEALs, or some units of the FMF. En route to their first permanent duty stations, most male HMs will be assigned to either Field Medical Service School, Camp Lejeune NC, or Camp Pendleton CA, for specialized training in the knowledge and skills required to perform medical services in the field with the Marine Corps and/or the "Seabees." During a 20-year career in the Navy, HMs spend about 40 percent of their time assigned to fleet or FMF units and 60 percent to other types of duty.
Working Environment:
Hospital corpsmen work in a variety of environments. Most HMs work indoors in hospitals or clinics. Others work aboard ships and submarines; with air squadrons, special operational environments (i.e., SEALS, Recon Forces, Seabee units and Deep-Sea Diving). Duties are service oriented, repetitive and require good judgment and mental alertness. HMs may work alone or with supervision by other health professionals, depending on the assignment.

Answer 2

Fleet Marine Force Corpsmen do the same thing as any other Marine.. they walk patrols, they stand watches, etc and so forth.

And they do while carrying the same gear that a Marine does PLUS all of their medical gear on top of that. They also are the first responders during a firefight, stabilizing injured people and making sure they get to safety.

there are also corpsmen in Iraq at the various and sundry hospitals and clinics set up in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. They would do what they would otherwise normally do at a Stateside MTF, among other things.