US Navy SAR Corpsman Search And Rescue EMT HM 8401 Patch Color

A Navy search and rescue medical technician is a hospital corpsman who flies as aircrew, giving emergency care on SAR, MEDEVAC and CASEVAC missions. The path runs through Hospital Corpsman A School and then a 27-week SAR Med Tech course. Those who finish carry certifications such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Advanced Trauma Life Support, and many hold EMT certification and work toward paramedic. The Navy tracks the specialty today under NEC L00A. This patch carries HM 8401 at the bottom of its gold disc and SAR CORPSMAN on the lower scroll.

At Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 31, VX-31, at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Ridgecrest, California, SAR corpsmen fly in the MH-60S helicopter on inland search and rescue across the high desert. The squadron supports military and civilian authorities over country that runs from Mount Whitney to Death Valley. The work is a hoist, a hover and a patient who cannot walk out, and the corpsman is the one who keeps that patient going until the helicopter lands. SAR corpsmen train alongside the aircrew they fly with, and at NAS Fallon, Nevada, corpsmen have played the survivor in rescue exercises. It is aircrew work and medical work at the same moment.

This one measures 4 inches wide by 4.25 inches tall, with a cut edge that follows the outline: a round center with blue scrolls breaking out at the top and bottom. U.S. NAVY is stitched in red across the top scroll and SAR CORPSMAN across the bottom one. Inside the blue ring, SEARCH AND RESCUE arcs over the top and EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN wraps around the lower half, all in red. The center is a gold disc with a blue six-pointed EMS star, a white staff and serpent running down the middle, and gold aircrew wings with AC on their center disc spread across it. It has an iron-on backing and can be sewn on as well.

The Hospital Corps has always gone where the Sailors and Marines go, and the SAR corpsman takes that into a helicopter. The training is long and the standard for physical conditioning is high, because the job is done in rotor wash, on a cable, or on a hillside at night. The wings and the EMS star on this patch sit together for a reason: neither half of the job works without the other. Hikers, aviators and accident victims have come home because a corpsman was aboard.

It fits a shadow box with your aircrew wings and a squadron photo, or the flight jacket or vest you wear to a corpsman reunion. It also makes a good gift for a corpsman, an EMT or a son or daughter headed into Navy medicine. Blue, gold and red, with SAR CORPSMAN along the bottom.