December 22, 2018, 11:05 AM
2000Z-71They Call Me Doc - song about corpsman
Posted by a friend of mine today. Really made me think of my brother Christopher. Christopher served as a Navy Corpsman with the 1st Marine Battalion during the battle of Ramadi. Though he didn't make it back, there's a lot of Marines who did and are now raising their families thanks to his efforts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...Rw_Fk9z6KDQigHTAzVk8December 22, 2018, 11:12 AM
PCWyomingThank you posting this.
I have a friend that was a Navy corpsman assigned to a Marine Battalion during the Vietnam war.
I sent the link to him.
PC
December 22, 2018, 12:33 PM
hapevoThank you for sharing.
December 22, 2018, 01:03 PM
bald1Thanks. It truly resonates. Sent to my son who served as a corpsman with the Marines.
December 22, 2018, 01:04 PM
SigLawThat was well done and touching, thanks!
December 22, 2018, 02:01 PM
cworetiredThanks for sharing.
December 22, 2018, 02:05 PM
KarpteachThank you for sharing
Most corpsmen are selfless. We in the Navy have a Special name for them.
December 22, 2018, 02:47 PM
OKCGeneI don’t recall member Doc Steve posting in quite awhile.
December 22, 2018, 05:39 PM
doc45Thanks for that. Sent it to my older son-he spent 10 years as a Combat Medic, now a Flight Medic (E6) with a National Guard unit, also is a Firefighter Paramedic outside the Guard.
Bless them all.
December 22, 2018, 06:07 PM
cgodeWell done....If Dad was still alive I would show it to him....he was a navy corpsman in WWII in some of the big invasions in the South Pacific
December 22, 2018, 07:18 PM
bald1Found the story behind that song:
Walker McGuire Share the Story of ‘Doc,’ Their Heartbreaking Soldier Tributehttp://tasteofcountry.com/walk...doc-soldier-tribute/To write "They Call Me Doc," Walker McGuire had to stop being songwriters. The duo tell Taste of Country they had to ignore their instincts to serve a greater purpose: helping a Navy veteran heal.
The song came out of a partnership with CreatiVets. Shaun Bott was a Navy Corpsman suffering from PTSD, and the organization wanted to bring him to Nashville to write with Jordan Walker and Johnny McGuire in hopes that creative expression would help him heal.
It wasn't easy. Bott wasn't used to pouring his heart out in this way, for starters. As a Corpsman he was responsible for coming in after crisis. He bandaged, counseled, listened to screams of agony and did what he could to triage victims. He did not have a PhD, but everyone called him "Doc."
“The one word every story started with was, ‘Hey Doc!’ We just thought that was a great, great, great start," Walker remembers. The song "They Call Me Doc" debuted four years ago and has become an essential part of the duo's live show. After playing it on the syndicated Big D & Bubba radio show, their conversations with fans changed quickly. One woman came up to the pair in a meet and greet line and thanked them.
“My husband couldn’t tell me anything about the war, about what he’d seen," Walker recalls her saying. "And then he heard your song and he broke down and he really opened up, and it saved my marriage."
In the songwriting room, Bott and the country duo didn't immediately click, but with each passing year the importance of this track becomes more clear. “He definitely took a little time just feeling it out, and the next thing you know there’s five guys crying in a room," McGuire says.
While both Walker and McGuire have family in the military, neither have served themselves — something they like fans to know, as they don't want to misrepresent where the song came from. In a way they were merely conduits of a song on this day, much like a pen or guitar would be. Bott drove with his brutal honesty. The most chilling lines come at the bridge:
"You'll never know the heartache of looking a grown man in the eye / And he asks 'Am I gonna make it' / And you gotta lie," Walker McGuire sing.
“And he would have to lie to them,” Walker says. “Knowing deep down there’s a chance that that person is not gonna make it.”
Songwriters often work from a fly-on-the-wall vantage point, meaning they can see emotion and action they're not necessarily attached to. From there they'll shape a song, adding exaggerations or color in the name of making a hit. That wouldn't cut it during the writing of "They Call Me Doc." Constantly Walker McGuire would ask, "Is this OK? Is this OK?"
“There were moments where we were sitting there and we’d turn into songwriters and we’d want to paint this picture, but then we’d go, ‘OK this isn’t about us," Walker says. "This isn’t about us trying to write a big massive hit. This is us trying to help heal the person across the room.’”
In doing that, they managed to help thousands more find peace as well.
December 22, 2018, 07:22 PM
ontmarkSorry for your loss.
Thanks for sharing
December 22, 2018, 07:34 PM
smithbcAs and old jarhead, who has been patched up a couple of times (mine were not combat related), this song gave me goose bumps.
The Navy Corpsmen that were attached to us Marines were some of the bravest people that I have ever known.
December 22, 2018, 08:09 PM
SSgt USMC/VetHad a Doc (Hospital Corpsman 1st class) last name was Gore fix me up a couple times while deployed (non combat), he was very good at his job and took care of all his Marines.
December 23, 2018, 07:22 AM
RedhookbklynMy condolences on the loss of your brother.
Thank you for sharing this.
December 24, 2018, 01:44 PM
911BossAs a Marine that song really struck me. Corpsmen always hold a special place in our heart.
Thank for your brother’s sacrifice, and thank you for posting this.