Hospital Corps School, Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego, California
66 Members

You need to be a member of Navy Veterans to add comments!

Join Navy Veterans

Comments are closed.

Comments

  • Anyone have a class photograph of the first class to start in Jan 72, I think we graduated Apr 72. Class nurse was a CDR Clancy.  Thanks

  • To this day I fondly remember my days at Balboa. I was there from 01/76-04/76.  LOL, all I wanted was FMS, but in the Navy's way of things was sent to NRMC JAX. I still work in the field.  Over the years I obtained my EMT/Paramedic license, MLT, Rad License, and have had a great career in medicine.  The Navy trained me well. I look back now, seen the changes in my past duty stations. The building I trained to become a corpsman now gone, the dispensary I worked in now gone.....  Makes me sad in a way, but the memories are wonderful.  Hopefully I will be able to connect with some of my old shipmates and relive those memories that I have forgotten.

  • Graduated inSept 1962

  • I "flew over" San Diego on Google Earth the other night. Wow the command building at Balboa with the fountain out back was still there. My garage apartment that I rented on 4th ave in 1974  was still standing. The stucco apartments on 4th St was still an active apt building. Wasn't sure if Bldg 26 was still there. USS Recruit and foot bridge could be clearly seen. 

  • Welcome DocHarris! I graduated in March of 73, company 25A.

    Be prepared for the things that we discover when we look back! As this site grows and we discover those shipmates we lost track of, life tends to jump up and stick you in the old Gluteous Maximus!

    I stil have my company graduation photo and booklet. The presence of the internet has made the process so much more possible to find those friends!

    But, we have to be prepared to see things like this! Richard was our company's "Educational Petty Officer"

    3439428004?profile=original

  • Hello fellow corpsman, I graduated Corps School in Nov of 1973. I was only in the old barracks for a few days until the company formed. The nurse in charge of the company was named Beebe and the CC was a HM1 name Wiseman. I have a picture of the class if anyone is interested. Update: I stayed in the USNR until 1998. Will turn 60 in a year and will no longer be a "gray reservist"

  • Graduated Basic HM 3/91
  • anyone on here who was either Staff or student from 01/86 to 01/91?

  • Thanks Terry.  Sorry I missed that reunion, but so much has changed, sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be best just to keep the memories of the way the place was in 68 when I got there.

     

    Thanks for the lengthy response, very informative.  One member of my company was KIA 22 APR 1970 ... Don Russell Scott ... rest of the company made it as far as I can tell.  Corpsmen are such a great group of guys, it is an honor to have been part of that tradition.  Turned my life around ... I was an 18 year old kid with no direction who was a mediocre student at best ... Corps School taught me discipline, focus, commitment and I exceeded my own expectations academically, competing with guys that had degrees in chemistry, biology, and physics and me with a high school education kept right up with them ... it  was a great boost of confidence.  And when I worked general surgery -- gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, amputations ... I learned about compassion and service to others and exceeding my own limitations on what I thought I was capable of.  The Navy gave me that opportunity and I will be forever grateful. 

     

    I have some pictures of the barracks at the bottom of the hill, but you say that is gone now ... not surprised, it should have been torn down in 68!

     

    How was your deployment to Vietnam?  Man, you are the real deal when it comes to being a Corpsman. 

     

    Thanks for the reply.  I have thought about those days a lot, and it is nice to hear from others with the same experience.  I'm glad I finally found this web site.  When did you complete HCS?  I arrived in Oct of 68.

    ted

  • Hi Ted, There are a number of Hospital Corpsmen here but our lives span some different time.  You graduated in Feb of 69 and I graduated in April of 1968. Our company lived along with our sister company in the other half. Co. 27-68 was us and 26-68 lived on the North half.  I have visited the site  and a lot of the place is changed. Due to the insight of others in my company there are pictures that survive.  The barracks are gone and I had planned a reunion that got to be a hurry because I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.  Only 8 of us showed up but for all of us it was the best days of our life. We had a grand time and the people that hosted us at the hospital were just great.  We were each accompanied by a member of the hospital staff. When we got to the training area for advanced Corps training it was just above the old barracks and all of us went and looked over the hill to see the area where we started. No buildings and only cars parked there now.  The staff said that they use the hill for physical training. About 25 of us went from HCS direct to  FMSS at Del Mar.  They were preparing us for a trip to Viet Nam for the next Tet.  The most recent grads did not go but went to duty stations. (USNH Camp Pendleton) (and Corpus Christi) Eventually all of us that went to FMSS did go to Viet Nam. I went to  1st Bn, 4th Marines, 3rd Mar Div and then the last year was with the 3rd Marine Air Wing. None of us were killed which was the question when we saw other members of our 62 member company. Ms Green was our Company Nurse and I was in contact with here for a while.  I believe she suffers from PTSD also. I am in contact with 46 of our group.  Most are PTSD affected. I do have pictures of Balboa, some of FMSS.  I will see how I can get them to you.  There are some pictures of Balboa on the internet.  Much of the Spanish influenced buildings are gone.

    I also stayed in the medical field.  I became a Registered Nurse and worked in the OR in Cardiovascular Nursing for 34 years.  Our Company had 8 Registered Nurses, One MD, Two PA's, 4 OR techs, One MSC officer in Lab Sciences, 4 HCMS who stayed in, one was stationed aboard Nuclear Subs and was Chief of the Boat, One runs an ambulance company.  One became a California Highway Patrolman and had some issues when he was trying to help accident victums and his chief told him not to.He still had those responses to help people but they did not want him to get in trouble. You can see there are a lot of medical people.   I hope all this  history does not bore you.  I spent many years and a lot of phone time looking for all these people.  Terry

This reply was deleted.

Naval Hospital Orlando

after Corpsman training in San Diego I was transferred to Naval Hosp Orlando.. Next week I am going back to the facility for a visit. I was also a Corpsman for NASA during the Space Shuttle program in the 80's and am going to visit the Space center too.  I will get to show my young songs where I was stationed..very excited about it.. Brian SkeochCorpsman   

Read more…
0 Replies