If you are a reader of Always Question, you know that he served in the US Navy as a hospital corpsman. In explanation of some of the designations in the Navy, I thought I would show you some images and definitions from The Free Dictionary by Farlex, which imports information from Wikipedia.
Hospital Corpsman (HM) is a rating in the United States Navy and a member of the Navy's Hospital Corps. Hospital corpsmen serve as enlisted medical specialists for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. Hospital corpsmen serve in a wide variety of capacities and locations, including shore establishments such as naval hospitals and clinics, aboard ships as the primary medical caregivers for Sailors while underway, or with Marine Corps units as battlefield medics.
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Aviation Structural Mechanic
(abbreviated as AM) is a United States Navy occupational rating.
Duties
Aviation Structural Mechanics maintain aircraft airframe and structural components flight surfaces and controls hydraulic and pneumatic control and actuating systems and mechanisms, landing gear systems, air conditioning, pressurization, visual improvement, oxygen and other utility systems, egress systems including seat and canopy ejection systems and components, fabricate and repair metallic and nonmetallic materials; perform aircraft daily, special, hourly, and conditional inspections, supervise operation of airframe work centers; maintain aircraft metallic and non-metallic structures including fuselages, fixed and moveable flight surfaces, tail booms, doors, panels, decks, empennages [tail assemblies--CC], and seats (except ejection seats); flight controls and related mechanisms; hydraulic power storage and distribution systems including main (primary and secondary), auxiliary (utility), and emergency systems; hydraulic actuating subsystems; landing gear systems including wheels and tires, brakes, and emergency systems; pneumatic power, storage and distribution systems; hoists and winches, wing and tail fold systems; launch and arresting gear systems; hydraulic component repair and test; and perform aircraft daily, special, hourly, and conditional inspections.
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The above rating badge is similar (I could not find the correct one--with wings on the crossed mallets as shown in the middle image) to the one I wore on my left uniform sleeve (I've seen movies with the badges on the right hand sleeve, or both sleeves: I don't know what's up with that) while in the US Naval Reserves. It indicated that I was an aircraft structures mechanic, 1st class (AMS1). I enlisted in April of 1980 and spent my first year working on restoration of a Beech Staggerwing (which was used by the Navy) for a museum in the South. When I moved to Florida in April of 1981, I transferred to a Reserve unit in Pensacola. For the two years that I lived in Florida, I worked at various Naval installations--usually Naval Air Station Pensacola--and at Tyndall Air Force Base, where I could conveniently put in my 16 hours of work on airplanes (F-106s, F-100s) and still put in a few hours at my civilian job onbase (I was the onsite manager, and technical leader, of a small group of engineers). At Pensacola, I was privileged to work on trainers (T-4s, mostly) that were housed in the hangar next to the hangar that was home to the birds of the Blue Angels, or on the helicopters (HH-46s and H-1s) in a hangar across the way. It was a real experience for me and I highly recommend a tour of service to any young person.
I wasn't so young, turning 42 the day following my enlistment, at which age I would have been ineligible. I enlisted under an advanced pay grade program that allowed me to enlist as an E6, and complete the required training for that grade within the first two years of my enlistment. Had I failed to complete the training successfully (I received a score of 93 on my qualifying exam), I would have immediately become an E1. That was great incentive for getting the work done! Were I called to active duty, the pay cut from my civilian employment as a structures engineer to an E6 would have been significant; but, far less than the cut that would have accompanied service as an E1! While serving with the Reserves, my employer made up the difference in pay during my annual two weeks of ACDUTRA (Active Duty for Training).
You're ex-Navy? My daughter was Navy, too, for eight years. She was an aviation technician/plane captain and left after 8 years as a PO2. A great source of pride came for me when she was at Norfolk and emailed me a link. I was delighted when I clicked it and it opened her sqaudron website and there was my baby girl in camo with her E2C-10 Hawkeye and the headline: Plane Captain of the Quarter! Was I proud? Damn right!!! No matter what they say, it's still not easy for a woman in the military. She said that having an obnoxious big brother helped a lot.
Posted by: Kay Dennison | January 24, 2009 at 11:38 PM
Kay--My obligation in the Reserves was only six years. Having started at age 42, I wasn't willing to bet that my health would allow me to get 20 good years in and did not re-enlist. Yes, I have found that growing up with brothers helped me develop a certain mind-set, a certain toughness, that is a great survival tool. I must say, though, that I always envied the other girls who were only children or who had sisters, only. They were always so sweet and nice--characteristics that I could not hope to assume!
Posted by: Cop Car | January 25, 2009 at 06:17 AM
Sweet? Nice? Yeah, I remember developing those traits from only having a sister.
Posted by: bogie | January 25, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Perhaps I wasn't giving proper credit for the influences of their mothers?
Posted by: Cop Car | January 25, 2009 at 05:30 PM