Corpsmen 2

[waiting 2 be 17]

Are or can corpsmen be actual medical doctors? and can an officer be considered a corpsmen?

[awbrown1462]

no and no

[0231Marine]

Negative on both. Corpsmen are not doctors but rather trained to diagnose specific problems. They do not go to medical school and become M.D's. Naval Doctors however do have their Docorates and are trained medical doctors. They are not corpsmen but rather Naval Officers who are doctors. Many are actually surgeons or specialists that sign as reserves and are given the rank of Lt Commander or higher depending on their experience level. I've seen surgeons in Iraq that are chiefs of staff at major hospitals in the states and they take a leave of absense from work to put on cammies and deploy to Iraq. Most of those guys/girls are given Captain (0-6) for joining.

[waiting 2 be 17]

thanks.. what is a doctor in the marine corps called if there is such?

[0231Marine]

There aren't doctors in the Marine Corps...the Navy takes care of us. There aren't Chaplains either...they come from the Navy too.

[awbrown1462]

There aren't doctors in the Marine Corps...the Navy takes care of us. There aren't Chaplains either...they come from the Navy too.

also Corpsmen are Navy

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

Just to throw it out there, a physician (M.D. or D.O.) could be a corpsman. They could enlist, or could have enlisted prior is more likely, gone through medical school, and continued to serve in the Reserve.

As some here know, my wife is currently in med school. I've encouraged her to look into the possibility of becoming a Navy or Air Force doc, but she just isn't interested. It is interesting how the whole thing works, it is a world apart from how a person would become a normal officer.

Also, since we don't have Corpsman in the Marine Corps, you could probably get better information about them from a different source. I don't remember the exact address, but there is a forum out there (corpsman.com or something along those lines) that is much like this, but run by and for Corpsmen.