For all you Docs out there.

Corpsman  Awarded Silver Star for Heroism in Iraq

Navy News | Bill W. Love | April  28, 2006 Corpus Christi, TX. - Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (FMF) Juan M.  Rubio, 32, of San Angelo, Texas, was awarded the Silver Star Medal April 27 for  conspicuous gallantry against the enemy Jan. 1, 2005, while serving as a Marine Platoon corpsman in support of _Operation  Iraqi Freedom  (OIF). 

The Silver Star Medal is the U.S. Navy's third  highest award for gallantry in combat, following the _Navy_ Cross and the nation's highest award, the Medal of Honor. 
Rear Adm.  Thomas R. Cullison, commander, Navy Medicine East and commander, 
Naval Medical  Center, Portsmouth, Va., made the presentation in front of the  Naval Hospital  located aboard Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. 

During the  ceremony, Cullison spoke about the bond that Navy medicine, particularly Navy  corpsmen, share with Marines.

When we serve with the _Marines_and the Marines are with us, it's a relationship that you can find nowhere else.  The acceptance between these two groups is like no
other, emphasized Cullison.  The responsibility that we put on our young  corpsmen in battle to perform and  to save lives is incredible.

Clarifying that point, Cullison compared  the controlled environment that he  and other surgeons work in with the help of  many others.  Young corpsmen who go to Field Medical Service School -  usually straight  out of high school - perform to save lives in combat, just as  Petty Officer Rubio did, and they are amazing!? he said.

Representing the  Commanding General, 1st Marine Division, Marine Maj. Gen. 
R. F. Natonski and  Command Master Chief Kelvin Carter hand-carried the award 
to Texas from Camp  Pendleton, Calif., and assisted Cullison with the  presentation. He also brought  a personal message with him for Rubio.

I talked to all the Marines and  Sailors in _Iraq_before I left, and  those back in Camp Pendleton, and they want me to tell you, good job, and  outstanding job! They are damned proud of you," he said. "Please continue what  you have done for our great nation, the _Marine  Corps_and Navy team, and also for the Hospital Corps community.

Rubio had already earned the Purple Heart for wounds  sustained in the Jan. 1, 2005, engagement while serving with 4th Platoon, Small  Craft Company, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, U.S. Marine  Forces Central Command.

The citation accompanying his Silver Star Medal  detailed how a well-emplaced 
and determined enemy ambushed Rubio and members of  his team along the 
Euphrates River in a complex attack. As Rubio and an assault  element swept through  the ambush site, insurgents detonated an improvised  explosive device.
Rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun and small-arms fire  followed immediately after the explosion, wounding three Marines.  

Realizing the severity of the Marines wounds, and bleeding profusely  from his own, Rubio low-crawled across open terrain, exposing himself to enemy  fire to provide triage. Simultaneously taking care of three urgent surgical  casualties, Rubio coached his fellow Marines who were assisting other casualties  as incoming enemy fire intensified. 

After stabilizing the wounded for  casualty evacuation, Rubio directed the platoon to provide covering fire as he  and several Marines began moving the casualties towards safety. 

Without  regard for his own life, he once again exposed himself to the heavy  and accurate  enemy fire, moving the Marines from the ambush site to the  shoreline.

Rubio's Silver Star Medal elevates him to a distinctively  exceptional category of valor among Navy corpsmen since the commencement of _Operation Enduring
Freedom_(OEF)  and OIF. Only two others have been awarded the Silver Star, none have received  the Medal of Honor, and only one hero has been presented the Navy  Cross.

Rubio does not consider himself a hero, though. 

While  addressing the audience, he revealed who he believes are the true  heroes,  mentioning his two sons by name and that of the mortally wounded Marine Lance  Cpl. who shielded Rubio from 90 percent of the IED's shrapnel during the engagement. 

When people ask me what it is like to be looked upon as a  hero, I don't  see myself as such, because Joshua and Mathew and every son and  daughter who's out there and who has family members in Iraq, they're the  heroes, he acknowledged while fighting back emotion. They're the ones who  sacrifice their fathers and their mothers. That takes honor, courage and bravery  to go home every night and pray that their fathers and mothers come home safe.  
 
"And Brian Parrillo, this is for you, brother," he said. "Thank you for bringing me home."