• Serving with the USMC gives you an excellent opportunity to grow clinically but also professionally as an officer. This is also true of the enlisted community. The USMC believes in the chain of command, the SNCO and junior enlisted corpsmen will be given more responsibility serving in Program 9 than in any other reserve program. 
• The Marines want to be proud of their "Docs" and their Naval officers. It is your responsibility to educate yourself and take this responsibility seriously. 
• For all health care providers- take care of your troops! If you are sincere and take the time to not only put on bandaids but to educate the Marines on health care issues – they will respond and take care of you. 
• DON’T COMPLAIN! Don’t complain especially about living conditions, food and the weather, even if the Marines are. If you complain-they will take it as "Oh those Navy guys or gals just can’t take it"  
• Emphasize small unit leadership and the chain of command.
• DO NOT MICROMANAGE! 
• Take the time to learn what the Marines do. They are usually excited to teach you anything. This knowledge will give you insight on their stressors and may also help to identify mechanisms of injury and possible safety concerns that will guide your medical plan and corpsman support for various activities. 
• Become familiar with USMC history, terminology, missions, organization, customs and courtesies. It is hard to support something you don’t understand. It is also hard to be credible if you don’t know the background behind the issue. If you are ignorant about custom and courtesy issues you will annoy some, anger others and definitely embarrass yourself. 
• Work on your military bearing- it is very important 
• BE MOTIVATED! The Marines don’t care if your great at everything as long as you try and have motivation to keep trying. 
• MOST OF ALL- FIND A MARINE THAT IS RANK/RATE APPROPRIATE TO YOURSELF AND BEG THEM TO KEEP YOU FROM MAKING A FOOL OF YOURSELF!
• They will respect you for this and will then take good care of you 

• MILITARY BEARING

1. Work On your salute.
2. Still on a learning curve on the ranks and rates, or you can’t see them fast enough? - referring to them as Marine or Devil Dog is perfectly appropriate
3. Never refer to a Staff Sergeant as Sgt- they earned their rank and they deserve to hear it
4. Keep your hair in regulations
5. Uniforms:

1. See the Medical Officer of the USMC- admin section to navigate to the Uniform regulations manual (especially chapter 8- for Naval Personnel)
2. Keep your uniform starched and in good repair.
3. Keep those boots polished!
4. Keep your hands out of your pockets!
5. Don’t use the pockets of your camies in garrison, except for one pen and your ID.
6. Never place the pens in the front of your camies
7. Pagers, cell phones, necklaces should not be visible
8. Have a Marine show you how to fold the sleeves of your camies adequately and how to blouse your pants
9. Get your soft cover for your camies blocked.
10. When your in the field, your soft cover can be folded and placed in your cargo pocket. Have a Marine show you how to fold it so it won’t wrinkle.
11. Have a Marine help you set up your 782 gear. Your ALICE pack shouldn’t have loose straps and your load bearing vest or H harness should fit correctly and be neat. Keep your gear in good condition.
12. Purchase USMC PT gear for battalion runs.
13. Officer collar devices are worn the marine way on the camouflage uniform.

1. Field Craft Skills/Customs:

1. learn how to function in the field
2. No suitcases or civilian luggage- you’ll look like a fool plus you have to carry whatever you bring. Be prepared to hump all of your gear long distances
3. Don’t complain !
4. Salute only first thing in the morning.
5. When the unit goes tactical- rank is usually removed from your uniforms and the sleeves of your camies are rolled down.
6. Make sure you know the uniform appropriate for each training evolution. Some activities require a flak jacket and a hard cover (helmet). If you don’t have these you won’t be permitted in the area.
7. Eat the meal of the day unless the commander has approved the consumption of outside food
8. Make sure POV have been authorized before assuming you can drive to the training site. It is wise for medical to have at least one POV so follow up on training casualties can be done
9. Someone from medical stays with the casualty wherever they go.
10. If you fire a weapon- clean it yourself.
11. Medical personnel only stand medical watches.
12. There always has to be a corpsman present for every training evolution.
13. Junior enlisted always eat first, followed by SNCO and finally the Officers eating last. Don’t break this rule!

• RECCOMENDED TRAINING:

1. The Medical Officer of the USMC Homepage has a lot of resources you will need. This site also serves as a good welcome aboard, introduction.
2. The training section of this web site has a link for medical correspondence courses online. Utilize this site for at least the following courses:

1. Casualty care
2. Medical Regulating
3. Food Service Sanitation
4. Preventive Medicine for ground forces

1. The Marine Corps Institute has many excellent correspondence courses
2. Regardless of rank, I recommend enrolling in the first series for junior enlisted. It is comprised of multiple courses including land navigation, customs, courtesies, leadership and weapons.
3. The Officer that would like to learn more- the Amphibious Warfare School Nonresident Program offered through the MCI is excellent.
4. Once that program is completed you can enroll in the Command and Staff college nonresident program. This is a graduate level program.
5. The Battle Skills Training books are an excellent resource for day to day survival tips. It is good for hip pocket training, and an excellent primer preparing for the Fleet Marine Force ribbon 

I am honored to have an opportunity to serve with the USMC. I have learned more about leadership, responsibility, and honor during my years with the Marines than at any other time in my life. I hope your tour with the Corps is as memorable as mine.

SEMPER FI – DEVIL DOCS!