Spent 14 months of my life training with a few of them.

One of the most unsung, under-the-radar Special Operations Combat Medics/SFMS jobs you never hear about.

USMC has a tradition of not having medics, so they rely on Navy Corpsmen for that.

Same applies to the Recon and now the MARSOC community.

When I was in, they were Force Recon guys (Navy Corpsmen who passed INDOC and selection for assignment within Marine Reconnaissance units).  They were older, more mature, and very focused on doing their best in that course.  Some of the younger ones were there just for SOCM like SEAL pups are, and the more senior ones were there for the long haul through SFMS.

When I was shot off post while attending that course, as soon as my gurney broke through the doors at Womack Army Medical Center, first person I see was one of the senior Force Recon Corpsmen I knew doing his final hospital rotation there.

On my way to the hospital, I was more concerned about injuries I would likely receiver from Army medical personnel at Womack, since I figured we had some orthopedic hurdles ahead (didn't after all, even though I had 2 broken bones- R femur and L fibula).  So I was a bit apprehensive about my care.

As soon as I went through those double doors, I see doc ______.  That was a huge relief to see a dude you've been training with for months on this exact type of thing in that level of professional environment.  He asks, "What happened man?"  After giving him the lo-down, he explains to me that the ER doc is a former 18D-gone Army doc, did time in Group as a PA IIRC, orthopedic surgeon is awesome and this guy had just finished working with him for a week, anesthesiologist is top-notch, everyone is GTG.

That really upped my confidence in the care I was about to receive, and everything went really well.  You form certain bonds with people when you suffer together over a year or more.  I call those guys brothers without hesitation.  Freaking top-notch medics with great training and operational opportunities to do more than most combat medics would ever imagine.

Solid dudes all around.  Hate to hear about any US Servicemen and women going out like this, but it's par for the course, especially on the SOF side.

Holy shit how terrible 

VX-20 was flying around 162308 today.  Low level only it looked like.

There is apparently a plan to sift topsoil from the fields around the crashsite. What would they be looking for that couldn't be found with metal detectors? There are catfish ponds that are to be searched as well.The farmers are being well compensated. This info comes from a friend in the ag industry in Leflore County.

Getting rid of the Hazmat.

They would be better off taking some huskies with ground penetrating radar out there. I can't imagine walking around with metal detectors looking for stuff.

What are you calling a "ditching"??  Normally, that means a water landing.

Unless your father flew a float plane, I doubt he had a couple thousand ditching that he walked away from, much less left the plane in an airworthy condition.