I wasn't really sure what to expect from this past week but it turned out to be quite fun!
I was "tagged" to help out with a medical battalion training exercise. Initially I wasn't sure if I was *taking* the course or if what my part was - found out I was *teaching* it - along with another nurse, a general surgeon, and an anesthesiologist. The nurses did most of the training topics though. :-)
Navy corpsmen can be assigned to a hospital, be "blue-side" (assigned to a ship or other Naval unit) or "green-side" assigned to augment Marine forces. The corpsmen I worked with this past week were "green-side" and are prepared to either be embedded with field Marine forces or assigned to a level II (rudimentary) hospital that does life-saving surgery / stabilization before being flown to larger hospitals.
We were supposed to be setting up our tent-hospital on a nearby beach and "camping" for the week. Due to the weather and Marine Corps orders regarding training in such weather we were unable to get out to the beach. Instead we "took over" an abandoned building and set up our hospital.
Someone finally thought to bring a camera by our last day of training. (photos above)