Wounded Corpsman Earns Silver Star

[Wrench3516]

"OoohRaah! & SEMPER-FI', Brother!!"
Wounded corpsman earns Silver Star

By Sam Fellman - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 18, 2011 13:48:16 EDT

When he saw a Marine in his squad fall, then-Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class (FMF) Jake Emmott rushed headlong into insurgent gunfire to reach him. It was April 20, 2010, and Emmott’s squad had fallen under heavy fire during a combat patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Emmott and other squad members lifted the wounded man and began moving him to a casualty collection point when one of the Marines was hit in the thigh. The rounds, coming in at about waist level, were increasingly accurate.

Ignoring the incoming bullets, Emmott dropped to his knee to tend to the second wounded Marine. That’s when a bullet struck him in the head, according to his Silver Star citation.

When Emmott came to, blood was running from the entry wound on the side of his nose. He was choking on the blood and having difficulty speaking, but he refused morphine so he could direct the treatment of his Marines. He refused two stretchers, choosing to stagger to the helicopter on his own power so his wounded comrades in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, could be carried out.

A year later, Emmott, now an HM2, was presented with the Silver Star. Emmott was honored, along with fellow service members and caregivers, at the annual Navy Safe Harbor awards ceremony July 14 outside Washington. The Safe Harbor program provides nonmedical support for 688 wounded or ill sailors and Coast Guardsmen.

The award caps a remarkable turnaround for the 22-year-old from Wakefield, R.I. After a year of surgeries and rehab, Emmott is on track to recover.

The injuries were severe. The bullet pierced Emmott’s sinus cavity and exited behind his left ear, narrowly missing the vital carotid artery. Surgeons removed a third of his skull to relieve pressure on his swelling brain.

“I had to go about six months with, the best way I can describe it, is a big dent in my head,” Emmott recalled, explaining he now has a titanic plate on the left side of his skull.

Emmott is deaf in his left ear because it is permanently sealed, and the left side of his face is paralyzed. But control is starting to return, he said, after a nerve was transplanted in his face. He speaks well and his memory is returning after the post traumatic amnesia he suffered.

The next goal: returning to the Fleet Marine Force. Emmott left the wounded warrior barracks at National Naval Medical Center Bethesda, Md., about a month ago and is back at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, N.C. He said he hopes to return to duty with his Marines later this year.

His biggest challenge is getting in shape for the Marine physical fitness test after being bedridden for so long.

“I’m working out three times a week and that’s at work,” he said. “And then after that, I’ll run or go to the gym or go swimming on my off hours as well.”

Emmott said he is determined to get back to his old job, out in the field.

“After receiving such a grievous injury,” Emmott said, “I would love to have a story that can hopefully be passed on to other service members who are going through a lot of the stuff I went through.”

That dedication doesn’t surprise his former battalion commander.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll come back to the Marine battalion or the regiment and he’ll continue to serve the Marines,” Lt. Col. Mike Manning said after the ceremony.

Sgt. Alan McAlister, then Emmott’s squad leader, saw him get shot.

“Initially, it was like, ‘OK, he’s dead,’ ” McAlister recalled thinking. “Focus on the firefight, getting everybody out of here. When he came back to life, it’s like, ‘Oh, here we go. This just got interesting.’ ”

Reflecting on the scene as Emmott staggered to the helicopter so others could be carried on the stretchers, 1st Lt. Scott Cook, his former platoon commander said, “He was more worried about everybody else than about himself.”

For his part, Emmott said having a sense of humor about his recovery has helped.

“I crack a lot of jokes about my injuries,” he said, such as: “Never really been that good at ducking.”
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2011/07/navy-silver-star-wounded-corpsman-0 71811w/

[hbharrison]

Semper Fi!! Doc HM2 Jake Emmott

[DocGreek]

.....Read the story on the webbb....that Squid is one tough S.O.B.!!!
SEMPER FI, DOC!!........Doc Greek....

[doc h fmf]

Ooooorrrrrrrraaaaaaahhhhhhh Jake You Make Us Proud To Have Heros Like You,who Live By The Motto Semper Fi>
Semper Fi My Brother Godbless<godspeed

Stephen Doc Hansen Hm3 Fmf

[Rocky C]

.....Read the story on the webbb....that Squid is one tough S.O.B.!!!
SEMPER FI, DOC!!........Doc Greek....

[doc h fmf]

I Read It John God He Walk To The Helicopter Because He Wanted His Brothers To Be Carried.
Semper Fi John

Stephen Doc Hansen Hm3 Fmf

[GruntDoc8404]

True definition of "Brothers-In-Arms"
Heluva job!