Petty Officer 2nd Class Alejandro N. Salabarria earns Silver Star
The Stars & Stripes reports that Petty Officer 2nd Class Alejandro N. Salabarria, a Navy Corpsman with the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Marine Raider Regiment will be awarded the Silver Star Medal for his heroism during 2014 in Afghanistan when an Afghan insugent committed a “green-on-blue” attack on several of the members of his unit;
Several U.S. and Afghan personnel were wounded.
Salabarria engaged the rogue commando and dove between him and a severely wounded fellow corpsman, using his body as a shield to prevent further injuries, the Marine Corps said. Protecting the other corpsman with his body, he engaged and “eliminated” the rogue commando. After securing the area, Salabarria rendered aid to two wounded team members and coordinated their evacuation.
Category: Navy
I am becoming more and more convinced that corpsmen are the Navy’s biggest badasses. Oh, I know that they have always had clangers, but, nowadays, they seem to go well beyond that.
Yep they definitely have huge brass ones 2/17. I treated my Corpsman like gold when I was a platoon commander.
Semper Fi to a tremendous shipmate!
Bravo Zulu, shipmate!
The Corpsman is a badass!
Assigned to Raider Battalion.
BZ Sailor!
Note: His badges are a clue. He is wearing Fleet Marine Force) FMF and Navy Jump wings. In the Navy you can only wear two. No doubt he has is scuba badge and is MARSOC qualled.
But what do I know …
I did not know about the only 2 badges rule Master Chief. Not that I ever had to worry as I was just a basic 0302 with none of the high speed stuff.
This young man is one brave and hard core individual that represents the best of the Navy and the Corps.
What does Bravo Zulu stand for?
I googled it 🙂
Anyway, well done!
Talked to some of his cronies this am…he’s not Combatant Diver/Dive Med qualified yet.
Hopefully between real world demands he’ll get that and more soon.
BZ!
Bravo Zulu! Well done Corpsman! Damned well done.
As a corpsman I normally don’t use a weapon in my duties, but when I do I will shoot anyone trying to hurt my comrades in arms
“As a corpsman I normally don’t use a weapon in my duties”
A MARSOC Corpsman does.
IDC … Ah, that was his point!
Now back to IDC business, it hurts when I pee, what do I do?
Sarc!
Don’t pee.
Depends; Corpsmen are instructed in the following protocols:
Navy personnel = antibiotics
USMC personnel = wire brush dipped in PineSol.
One reason you don’t mess with a corpsman; they have the discretion to determine whether you are Navy or USMC when you are sitting in front of them in just a hospital gown.
No weapons: Guam Naval Hospital, ICU corpsman ’69-’70
M-16, Claymore, grenades: 1st MarDiv, 1st Recon Bn, ’70-’71. Didn’t leave home without them and used them PRN. Good medicine for the VC/NVA.
“Badass” doesn’t do this guy justice.
I am almost certain that as he took out that SOB his words were somthing like “@#$Q#% YOU!! Mother ##$#$@@!!! Try an hurt my guys! *BLAM BLAM BLAM* I will #@$%ing BURY YOU!!!”
That is, if he’s like the corpsman I knew. Those guys really knew how to cuss.
Well done, Petty Officer – damn well done. Kudos.
The quiet man, just doing his job.
Well done, and thank you.
BZ Doc.
Sierra-Hotel PO.
Semper Fi, Doc!
BRAVO ZULU HM2!!!
FYI – he was with 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Marine Raider Regiment when the event happened.
If I may second your, BZ! Indeed, well done!
Damn fine job.
I have a feeling that more than a few of us here know the true consistent Valor of Corpsmen and Medics in combat.
I salute this man and others like him.
One more thing…..one of my sons received a bottle of 18-year-old Jameson Iris Whiskey after getting his Green Beret. Suffice it to say I had a wee bit over a little ice in honor this fine man.
Come to think of it….I may have one more.
OMG! My dearly departed ancestors will hang me for sure….IRISH Whiskey – terribly misspelled!
for a simple typo, no apology needed. Now, had you called it Scotch – you’d burn in Hell.
lol….in Hell, for sure! 🙂
I was fixin’ to jump up into the journalist’s shit due to the “Marine Raider Battalion” and “Marine Raider Regiment” thing.
As far as I knew, the USMC hadn’t had Raider outfits since halfway through the CentPac Campaign circa WW2.
But, I did a google just to check. Due diligence and all that.
Hoist me by my shorts. The Corps has a Raider Regiment. How about them apples?
See how that works, journalists? Check your shit and knuckle-draggers don’t end up wanting to drag you through the knuckle gauntlet.
Anyhoo, on topic for a sec…
Seems to me he was a Corpsman doing what Corpsmen do. Nice he got a medal for it though. FMF Corpsmen tend to just be that kind of guy.
They basically renamed Force Recon Units.
Yes OLD DOG you are correct they went to MARSOC in 2006 I believe Marines being Marines have created another special element sense they Lost Recon and I believe it is something like Marine Special Task or something like that because we attach to support them.They belong to the Fleet and Marines not SOC.
There’s still a need for reconnaissance just like when there was still regimental recon when we had Force and BN Recon. I believe what you’re talking about is at the MAGTF level.
Yes MAGTF-Special We now fall under that so they wont have to have a MEG. Thank you..
Got it SP-MAGTF-CR Special Purpose Crisis Response.
Stud. Can someone help me out on this a little as I plead ignorance. In a nutshell, does every Marine Unit have Navy Corpsman and why have not the Marines taken over this for themselves? Also, do the Corpsman assigned to Special Operation Marine Units have to got through the same training in addition to the medical stuff? ie: if a Corpsman is assigned to a SEAL unit for example does he have to go through BUD/S?
The Marines have always used Naval Personnel for their healthcare needs, because they have fallen under the department of the Navy. Were they to start using Marines, they would have to give up their own personnel for such things and create an infrastructure to support them.
Short answer follows here:
The FMF Corpsmen HM8404 are the basic “field medic” and are assigned to any unit that has a need for them. Their legacy is well established, however:
These Raiders are a special breed of FMF corpsmen(HM8427/8403). A smaller dedicated community designed and trained from the beginning to be operators. The pipeline for gaining the credentials is long and arduous. They are integral team members first, Corpsmen second. Same as you would find in the SF, or SEAL Teams. They are shooters, communicators, parachutists and combatant divers, etc. The medical portion is in fact, identical in SOF (all trained at FT Bragg) and much more substantial than FMSS.
Thanks for the quick answer. I could have spent several hours with my sketchy google fu but asking a military related question on this forum is not only faster but likely to be answered by someone with direct knowledge.
“The SEALS have been taking non SEAL corpsmen along for medical support, but they are not operators. ”
My question in a nutshell. Thanks
Corpsmen are either badass or very weird and lazy fucks. There really isn’t any inbetween.
Combat arms units tend to send the really bad ones packing. The Corpsman in the units police their own pretty well. They don’t like to have their rep bought down by a shitbag.
Good Corpsman, bad Corpsman…
One of the reasons you get so much variance is that many Corpsmen go to Field Medical Service School(FMSS) involuntarily and then are sent to FMF units.
At least the special duty communities have the advantage that you’re getting people that (at least initially) want to be there.
IDC Sarc: Exactly what occurred during Vietnam. In my case involuntarily sent to FMSS. On day 1 in Nam, I, and 4 other corpsmen friends, volunteered for Recon with absolutely no clue what it was. The first two weeks were RIP training, then out in the bush we went. I’m of the mind we all did our job well. I still think jarheads are nuts, but I love them dearly and am honored with the way they adopt corpsmen as their own. Today’s SOF corpsmen get a lot more training – impressively so compared to what we got. Have a nephew who was 1st Recon in Iraq/Afghanistan. The docs on his team(s)went through all the same training as the Marines plus some very good extra medical training.
The new NEC and creation of the pipeline was a great step. Prior to that, getting into Amphibious Reconnaissance was as you described and follow on training was mostly for the HMs by permissive orders only and catch as catch can. Guys often went years without getting the qualifications of their Marine peers, but nonetheless kept doing the job with dedication.
…and yes if the Corpsman became a SEAL he graduated BUDS. The SEALS have been taking non SEAL corpsmen along for medical support, but they are not operators. SOF requires team integration for many reasons which would make it difficult and dangerous to just put a Corpsman into a platoon in an ad hoc manner.
Well done, Doc. Most respect for all Corpsmen.
I believe you guy’s have the most MOH’s out of any Crops in the Navy. I take that back with the Last SEAL that just got it I think they may have taken you. I know Nam you guy’s were at 4 or 5 and SEAL’s had 3. Don’t know about the other two conflicts but Navy Corpsman are the most decorated per CORPS.
We only have one MOH but he did some bad ass shit like charge a VC Machine Gun Nest. Corpsman are good to go that is FMF and SOF and the guy’s that support us for the most part are good. They started to make it a requirement to have at least two per Battalion that are FMF before they come to us because we can get FMF from time to time if directly attached to Marines this why we can use them for sign offs.
Total of 22 Navy Corpsman have been awarded the Medal of Honor
Ok then I take it back Corpsman #1 and SEAL’s # 2 maybe because WWII has a lot of reg fleet but also UDT.
I believe there are 5 SEALS who were awarded the MOH. I am not sure if any of the SEAL predessessors (UDT /Combat divers) from the Korean War or WW2 were awarded any.
A lot of the real Bad-Ass guys ended up working with the OSS in North Africa, Italy and other parts of Europe.
A steel-balled hong badass for sure. BZ, Doc!!!
Well done, doc!
I wonder why this guy doesn’t have a COMM or NAM?? Great job shipmate!!