Hospital corpsman

A Hospital Corpsman is a rating of the UNSC Navy.

Background
Hospital Corpsmen serve as enlisted medical specialists for the UNSC Navy and UNSC Marine Corps. They serve in a wide variety of capacities and locations, including shore establishments such as naval hospitals and clinics, aboard ships as the primary medical caregivers for Sailors while underway, or with Marine units as battlefield medics.

Operationally, Hospital Corpsmen assume the duties normally assumed by Medics in an Army. Marines can still be heard calling for medics when hit, despite the fact that the Marine Corps uses Corpsmen.

Corpsmen wear the same battledress as the UNSC Marines. While some are only distinguished by a red cross on a white background on their helmets and pauldrons, others are known to sport all-white combat utilities and armor with red details.

Gameplay
Corpsmen do not aid the player in any way in the FPS games. In Halo Wars, however, one has the option to research Medics at the Barracks, which adds a medic to each squad of Marines. He will fight alongside the others with an assault rifle, and when the squad is idle, will automatically begin healing it. While the medic is healing the squad, an Easy difficulty shield will appear over the squad with a green cross over it.

Medical personnel make a common appearance in Halo: Reach, though they are Army medics, and not Navy Corpsmen. Roughly one in every five Army troopers encountered will have an asklepian on their helmet and pauldrons. These medics, however, fight exactly like normal troopers, and will not aid the player or any allies in gameplay whatsoever.

Known Corpsmen

 * HM1 Healy
 * HM3 R. Coney
 * "Doc" Valdez
 * Unnamed Corpsman
 * Ngoc Benti

Trivia

 * Hospital Corpsman have been seen in the field in the E3 Announcement Trailer for Halo 2, Sierra 117, and Crow's Nest, Tsavo Highway, and The Storm. All were perceptibly treating the wounded during gameplay or cutscenes.
 * The medic in Halo Wars appears to be holding a battle rifle in the circle menu, although they end up using an assault rifle like a standard Marine.
 * "Corpsman" appears as a name option for custom Loadouts in Halo: Reach.

Related articles

 * United Nations Space Command
 * UNSC Navy
 * UNSC Marine Corps