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thedrifter
01-28-06, 06:31 AM
U.S. Navy
Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason Deguzman
Corpsman Receives Bronze Star
By Lance Cpl. Lucian Friel
2nd Marine Division

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Jan. 27, 2006 — In combat, Navy corpsmen are relied on to be ready to treat any type of injury or mass casualty situation, sometimes risking their own lives in the process.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Jason C. Deguzman, from Santa Rosa, Calif., did this more than once, earning him the Bronze Star Medal for his achievement during combat operations.

On May 13, 2005, the corpsman with Company C, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division responded to mass casualties that happened when a crowded civilian bus collided into the rear of a light armored vehicle.

The 22-year-old took control of caring for more than 30 wounded personnel, 10 with life threatening injuries. Because of his actions and quick thinking, all Marine and Iraqi casualties were treated and transported to receive the appropriate level of care.

Deguzman responded to another life threatening incident three days later. On May 16, his vehicle was attacked with an improvised explosive device, wounding him and five of the seven Marines in his vehicle.


Once he regained consciousness, Deguzman worked himself out of the damaged vehicle. Ignoring his own injuries and the threat of a secondary attack, he rendered life saving treatment to his scout team leader.
Deguzman’s actions earned him the Bronze Star Medal, one of the military’s most prestigious awards.

He received the medal from Brig. Gen. Joseph J. McMenamin, the assistant division commander, during a ceremony here Jan. 20.

He explained what it felt like to receive the award.

“It was so amazing, I don’t even know what to say,” he explained. “This is my first big award, and the honor I felt was overwhelming.”

After only being in the Navy for nearly two years, Deguzman said he looks forward to the rest of his career.

“I enjoy this job and love working with Marines,” he said. “This award was truly an honor and I’m thankful to have been recognized.”

Ellie

thedrifter
01-29-06, 08:03 AM
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Decorated Navy veteran keeps an eye on Marines
By Ron Simon
News Journal

MANSFIELD -- Lt. John Meeting, a 17-year Navy veteran, is the first to say that the Bronze Star he was awarded for service in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom was not about heroism.

"I was recognized for meritorious service, and not heroic actions, so please don't mistake me for some kind of war hero,'' the Mansfield native said.

"Nevertheless, my superiors felt my company and I did a pretty good job, and that's why they recognized me with this award.''

Meeting, currently comptroller of the 2nd Dental Batallion/Naval Dental Center at Camp Lejeune, N.C., is a member of what he calls "The Green Navy.''

"There is the Blue Navy and the Green Navy, and I've been attached to the Marine Corps most of my career,'' Meeting said. He is a medical officer, and since the Marines do not have their own medical arm, the Navy supplies it, Meeting said.

That's what he was doing in Kuwait for two years during 2003 and 2004 as the commander of Alpha Surgical Company, 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Force Service Support Group, forward deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Bronze Star Medal was awarded for service performed between February and September 2004. Lt. Meeting had 160 Navy and Marine Corps personnel, including 14 officers, under his command to provide medical care in the Kuwait, southern Iraq and Qatar theaters.

The Bronze Star isn't the only award this Crestview High School graduate has earned during his "Green Navy'' career. He has the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal with two gold stars, the Navy Unit Commendation and several other ribbons. The list ends with Expert Pistol and Rifle.

Meeting's parents are John Meeting and Sylvia Pittenger, who, along with his brothers, Dan and Kevin, all live in Mansfield.

After graduation from Crestview, Meeting joined the Navy in January 1989 and was trained as a hospital corpsman. He started off as an X-ray technologist and served for a time aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy. He transferred from the Blue Navy to the Green Navy in 1996. He was commissioned as an ensign in March 2000 in the Medical Service Corps.

Meeting earned a bachelor of science degree in health care management from Southern Illinois University and a master's degree in he same field from Baylor University.

Meeting is married to Lisa Meeting of Norfolk, Va., and the couple have four children: Ron, Leisa, Simone and Chance.

rsimon@nncogannett.com 419-521-7230

Originally published January 29, 2006

Ellie

thedrifter
01-30-06, 07:04 AM
Augusta Doctor To Receive Bronze Star For Valor In Iraq
News4Jax.com
POSTED: 2:29 pm EST January 29, 2006

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Amid a heavy firefight between Marines and insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, Dr. Richard Jadick worked to save the lives of seven badly injured Marines caught in an ambush.

The Navy doctor serving with the Marine Corps unit fought his own fear during the November 2004 firefight and at times couldn't even control his legs. Later, while crammed inside a truck with the injured Marines, a rocket-propelled grenade slammed atop the roof of the vehicle.

It didn't go off.

"I can't even describe scared," said Jadick, now a urology resident at the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, recalling that day.

While the doctor felt fear, others saw tremendous courage and bravery. On Monday, for his courageous forays into the bloody firefight in Fallujah, where he is credited with saving Marines in the midst of battle, Jadick will be awarded the Bronze Star with a combat V for valor at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

"I had never seen a doctor display the kind of courage and bravery that Rich did during Fallujah," said Lt. Col. Mike Winn, the executive officer for 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, who nominated Jadick for the award. "You just don't see it out of a battalion doctor. He personally saved the lives of 30 Marines."

There have been 31 such medals awarded to Navy medical personnel attached to Marine units since September 2003, according to the Marine Corps public affairs office in Quantico, Va.

When Jadick arrived in June 2004 in Iraq with the 1st Battalion, it wasn't his first trip there. The doctor, who had served six years as an officer in the Marines before going to medical school on a Navy scholarship and becoming a Navy doctor, was with another Marine unit in March 2003 in northern Iraq.

In June 2004, Jadick had volunteered to serve with the 1st Battalion, which had lost its two doctors.

"It was a godsend to have him," Winn said. "He's still at heart, he's still a Marine. He still acts like a Marine and he still thinks like a Marine."

In the 14th hour of the battle of Fallujah, a call came in of a Navy SEAL with a sucking chest wound. Jadick marched in on foot with his corpsmen to get him and then called for an armored ambulance.

Before they could even get out of the city with their first casualty, another call came in about seven Marines injured in an ambush. When they arrived, 30 Marines were across the street, trading fire with insurgents.

"There were seven guys just kind of lying there" in the street, Jadick said. One died and the others were badly wounded as the doctor went to work.

"Rich was working on these guys literally right on the street while he's being shot at from all directions," Win said.

Jadick and his team loaded seven wounded in a vehicle built for four and took off for the surgery center in Camp Fallujah, traveling through the teeth of the heavy fighting.

"They were just getting slammed by RPG fire in and out," Winn said.

None of the grenades that landed close to the vehicle exploded.

"Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than to be good," Jadick joked.

Later, Jadick set up a forward aid station in a government complex inside the city. Although the complex was walled, there were gaps in the barriers and insurgents could climb into taller buildings surrounding it.

"The enemy had direct observation and direct fire into the complex. So anytime we were out of our buildings, we had to run," Winn said.

When there was no room inside, Jadick triaged patients out in the open. Once, he had to stop his duties to point out an insurgent sniper to Marines. Jadick estimates he and his six corpsmen treated about 200 U.S. casualties, along with Iraqi citizens and insurgents.

"If you can get to a patient before they bleed out, you can save their life," Jadick said. "That's where we placed ourselves, trying to get as close as we could to the injuries so we could change things."

Ellie