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Silver Star - Simson

Navy medic receives Silver Star after ambush


The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 27, 2009 10:47:15 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Navy medic has received the Silver Star medal for heroic action during an ambush on a foot patrol in Afghanistan.

The Marine Corps said that Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Simson received the medal Thursday during a ceremony at Camp Lejeune. Simson was honored for actions July 27, 2007, when he exposed himself to enemy fire while attending to 17 casualties.

The Jacksonville Daily News reported Friday that Simson said he was overwhelmed by the attention and “was just doing my job.”

Simson is assigned to the 5th Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment. He was working with a unit of the Afghan National Army when the ambush occurred.

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Information from: The Daily News.

 
Corps Schools Closing

All Corpsman Training Moving To Texas
(NAVY TIMES 11 AUG 08) ... Bruce Rolfsen

Hospital corpsmen, soldiers and airmen in medical career fields soon will be
training together at a joint facility in San Antonio, in what will be the
largest training consolidation in Defense Department history Corpsmen will
receive all of their training there, starting with "A" school.
Construction of the joint Medical Education Training Campus is underway at Fort
Sam Houston, Texas, with classes predicted to start there for sailors and
air-men in June 2010. The base al-ready serves as a training center for Army
medics
and will continue to do so during construction.
Eleven facilities under construction include three 1,200-student dormitories, a
consolidated dining facility, five classroom buildings, a field training site,
and a Navy and Air Force administrative building.
The move to the campus, called METC for short, brings together enlisted medical
education
pro-grams for the Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force and Army, said Air
Force Maj
. Gen. Melissa Rank, a career nurse who chairs METC's flag officer
steering committee and is the Air Force's assistant surgeon general for medical
force development.
Training for Navy medical officers will not be affected by the consolidation,
which was mandated by the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission. BRAC
recommended closing medical training programs for corpsmen at Naval Air Station
Great Lakes, Ill.; Naval20Hospital San Diego; Naval Hospital Portsmouth, Va.; and
the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in
Washington, D.C.; and shuttering a medical training program for airmen at
Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.
A BRAC study found that the consolidation would bring 9,200 civilians, military
staff members, and military students to the base. The move would cost about $800
million, the study found.
At METC, the services will keep their own identities and commands while teaching
and working together at the campus — sailors will have their own barracks, will
have a Navy chain of command, and will train alone for service specific tasks,
but there will be many opportunities to mix, officials said.
"We expect to have Navy, Army and Air Force students in class together in a
variety of courses," said Cmdr. Chris Garcia, METC transformation and
Integration Offi ce spokeswoman. "There will still be service-specific courses,
but we are definitely trying to come together when we can.
Garcia said officials predict that on a typical day in 2011, more than 4,900
soldiers, 2,900 sailors and 1,200 airmen will train there.
One issue being worked out is parking, and students may not be allowed to have
cars on campus.
"If you've seen Fort Sam Houston you would ask where you are gong to park 9,000
cars,” said Chief Master Sgt. Manuel Sarmina, charman of METC’s senior enlisted
advisory commi ttee.

 
Together we served

Navy - Together We Served