Selecting Job: I WANT HM CORPSMAN
 

Hey guys I'm new... With tons of questions, first and foremost...

Is there anyway that I can make sure that I get HM after my physical? I scored a 92 on my ASVAB, and I qualified for the Nuke program, but it's not what I want to do... I want to save lives... Anyway I scored plenty high enough to get my HM job, but they are telling me that there is a chance that I won't get it...

Is there a way to ensure that I get the job that I want?

That's guys and gals for any direction.

First, yes you qualify for HM, but...it has to be open for you to get it. Things change and open up and close each day and you can tell them you prefer to wait til it comes open before signing anything. But, then again, it could be a long wait, or short, just depends. Did you want to join soon or can you afford to wait around? Just make sure that is what you really want, as an HM you basically only get the certification of a CNA, I think you can train higher, but not to the point of an LVN or RN.

Well I want to finish off my semester at school right now... So I have my 2yr associates, after that (under stay 21) I want to get my nurse anesitians license... So I have 3 months to hang around...

There is no guarantee that HM will be open. It's a crap shoot. The Navy can create jobs, they can only fill those that are needed. You need to have a list of 5 ratings (jobs) you would like, then talk to the classifier at MEPS to see if those ratings are open. It sucks because you use to be guaranteed ratings, but those days are now over. You only can pick from what they got.

Everything above is correct, and keep in mind corpsmen aren't necessarily EMT/Doctor at a hospital saving lives types. You get to work sick call and do preventative care medicine just like a primary care physician (minus the doctor stuff). Its not just ER combat casualty stuff corpsmen do, its every aspect of health care. At a lot of bases some corpsmen I know ONLY do STD tests or ONLY do incoming patients vitals (BP, Temp, etc). If you want to join get a list of a few jobs you'd like so you can be prepared for it when you go to MEPS. Craig had a nice post all about the HM rate not too long ago, I highly recommend you take a look at that if its more about the saving lives stuff then the Navy stuff.

BTW, Don't knock nukes too much, we are good people. Nuclear EM, best job in the fleet! (trust me, everyone thinks their job is the best job, and I'm no exception)

Just to add, Prop827 now writes his checks like this: :rofl:
http://i39.tinypic.com/11rrs7m.jpg

Where'd you get a copy of that??? My bank said they cashed it...... hahaha

:rofl:

Jobs are assigned based on the needs of the Navy. When I was in bootcamp, the Navy had already assigned all HM orders through October.

What you DO NOT WANT to do is sign up with another job in hopes that HM will open up and you will be able to get that. A guy in our division signed as a GM while waiting for a SWCC contract, but in the process of getting transferred, lost both jobs and is now undesignated.

My advice would be to wait for a contract as an HM if it's not open when you get classified. Be aware that it might take a while to get, but they can't make you sign a contract for a job that you don't want.

ok, is it possible for my recruiter to check for job availability?

Not with the Navy. You will not know what jobs are open until you sit down with the classifier at MEPS.

Also note that having an exceptionally high ASVAB score (95+) may help your chances of getting a spot in a "full" rate". No guarantees, but your recruiter is more likely to try to get you to sign if you have a competitive score, meaning he will do more to find you an open billet for a particular rate.

That's what they did with me. AECF was full, but made some phone calls since my ASVAB was high and I got in.

Funny story with me. In January went to go nuke (albeit was indifferent to the rating). Ended up colorblind (not on the spot) and selecting HM-0000 as my rating. Just keep going to MEPs until either you get your job or your recruiter stops wanting to talk to you.

Warning though: HM is a weird rating as far as I can tell. On the one hand, many HMs end up doing basic nurse assistant things: taking temperatures, running tests, writing symptoms, that jazz (HM-0000). You also might end up on a ship treating what you would expect: stubbed toes, anxiety and seasickness, and occasional work related injuries without really saving any lives. If you do want to get specialized, you can go to C School to become a X-Ray Technician or Radiologist, or something to that effect. Or your job could always be running safety and cleanliness checkups around the fleet. I hear the average Sailor loves cleanliness checkups.

On the other hand, there is the Fleet Marine Force or Navy SOCOM side of things where you can be a "combat medic", in very loose terms. HM-8404s can expect to operate in the field with Marines, Seabees, even SWOs if you are that good.

But of course there is a lot of middle ground between those two hands.

Now, there is a lot of the damn info online (or even the bloody handout they gave me at MEPs) that is severely outdated. They have overhauled the rating a lot in the past four years. To my knowledge, as of right now, all HMs go to A school (duh). After that, people who go to C school go to C school (double-duh). Where it gets to be a unique rating is that: if you are a male and not going to C school you go through Fleet Marine Training Battalion, where you are trained to go FMF (i.e., how to not slow down Marines and get yourself shot). Once that is over, then you finally get to choose your billet to finalize your NEC code, Navy or Marine side. I'm not sure, but I believe women get to choose their billet before having to go to FMTB, making it elective training for female HMs. The purpose of this being that all male HMs are expected to go Fleet Marine Force if it is deemed necessary at a moment's notice (say, big war).

So, long story short, the Navy Hospital Corpsman rating could be as mundane as administering STD tests all day, or as dangerous as being the SoB who has to run into combat to save a Marine's life. If you want this rating, prepare for both mentally and physically: you might not have your pick of which billet you get. Just like getting the initial rating, the billet is dependent on what the Navy (and Marine Corp) believes is available and in need.

You actually can challenge the LVN test in certain states such as California...

President Obama was actually trying to make it so you can challenge the RN test(he was a corpsman). Though that may not happen, it's still interesting.

Saying a corpsman is the equivalent to a CNA is VERY wrong. I was in Nursing school and I had to get my CNA certification. As a corpsman you give shots, pass meds, insert tubes, and much more. CNAs CANNOT do any of that. Most of the HM C-Schools offer training for things a CNA would only dream of doing.. Idk where you get that CNA stuff from but all the HMs I've seen gets pissed when someone says they're equivalent to CNAs...

So as a Future HM(shipping soon) and a Current CNA I'd say that a corpsman is the equivalent to a LPN/LVN.

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