12 weeks in San Diego’s Balboa Park. That was where I lived during the time I spent as a student in Hospital Corps School. It was a beautiful setting; steep canyons with lush vegetation everywhere. A brand new hospital to work in and no marching! The classes were interesting and I found myself making good grades because of that. Plus the fact that I had been told that anyone graduating in the top 5% of the class, or with at least a 95 grade point average, would have their choice of duty stations. And mine was going to be the Naval Hospital in Long Beach, California, about 45 minutes from home. All I had to do was study subjects I enjoyed and do well on the tests.
About halfway through the course, we were put into real-life situations by being assigned to ward duty at the new hospital (Bldg 26). Real patients. Really sick and injured. And I found that I was good at it.
The ward duty only took up a few hours each day and the rest was spent in class. After class, we were free to go into town (San Diego) and even allowed to wear civilian clothes while we were away from the base. The weather? Well, it was San Diego! You couldn’t ask for nicer duty than this…
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