Petty Officer 2nd Class Angelo Catindig, a native of the Philippines, has tasted three different branches of military service. His military career began on the ground side as an infantryman in the Army. However, it was the events at the outset of his next experience – a naval career – that paved a path to eventual service alongside Marines.

His journey took its first turn while he served in the Army. After a few years, Catindig decided to leave active service for the reserves. He had no intention of leaving military service behind. In fact, he wanted to further his military career by earning a degree and later a commission.

This dream did not happen according to plan. While in college, Catindig started a family. When he and his wife first learned they were expecting, he looked back at active service and pushed forward to provide for his loved ones.

Unsure about rejoining the Army, he looked to his uncle, a former Navy Sea Air and Land corpsman, who suggested he join the Navy and try and become a SEAL.

“I wanted to be a SEAL corpsman,” Catindig said. “It was the reason I joined the Navy.”

Catindig had already gained years of experience while becoming staff sergeant in the Army infantry. He completed courses at many specialized training schools, including Army Airborne, Air Assault, and Pathfinder school.

After six years in the Army, Catindig began the transition from land to sea. In July 2001, he headed off to naval recruit training, Navy Special Warfare Division and then onto Hospital Corps School where he learned the trade by which battle-hardened Marines know him today.

But Catindig was not satisfied with being a corpsman. The chance to become a SEAL, more importantly a SEAL corpsman, was his ultimate goal.

After nearly six grueling months of toiling through Basic Underwater Demolition School, the SEAL training school, Catindig took a 30-foot-fall from the top of an obstacle course, fracturing his ankle.

As much as Catindig wanted to become a SEAL corpsman, fate, it seemed, had other plans for him. His life and his military career as he knew it shattered along with his ankle.

“I was dazed and incoherent,” said Catindig. “I took a pretty big blow to the head along with fracturing my ankle.”

Two weeks – that was all Catindig had left of training before the fall landed him in the sick bay.

Still, Catindig would have to start training over from the beginning if he wanted to fulfill his dream of becoming a SEAL corpsman.

“My uncle said that getting into the training was easy,” said Catindig. “Staying in it is the hard part.”

Undaunted, Catindig pushed forward toward his goal.

“I healed up and tried again,” said the kind-faced Doc.

This time around Catindig did not have too run far to earn another disappointment.

“During a run, I re-fractured my foot and couldn’t complete the training,” he said.
With his ankle and his goal in shambles, he remained upbeat and positive about the direction his career would now take him.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “If I got that far and didn’t make it because of one incident, I must have been needed elsewhere.”

For Catindig, elsewhere meant back to land, but this time he had a chance to serve with an amphibious group of warriors – the Marines.

“It suits him,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Jed Cayanan, hospital corpsman, battalion aid station, MARFORPAC. “Sometimes I see him more as a Marine than a corpsman.”

Catindig’s first taste of the Corps was with the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

As a corpsman, his job is to care for the lives of the Marines in his care. When the words, “corpsman up,” are yelled on the battlefield, it is his sole duty to rush to the aide of any wounded comrade.

With this job specification, “Cat,” as he is known here, spent his time serving with Marines in areas of intense combat in Iraq.

According to Petty Officer 2nd Class Omar Provencio, the Marines are fortunate that Catindig took the path he did.

He is willing to lay his life down for those Marines,” said Provencio. “He is a highly dedicated individual.”

Catindig served his first deployment to Iraq with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit landing team. He conducted patrols and raids right alongside his Marines during the rise of insurgency after Saddam Hussein was captured.

His first tour to Iraq was only a couple of weeks long. Within those weeks, however, he saw his fair share of action.

“We went on three or four patrols during the day,” said Catindig, who was raised in San Diego, Calif. “We would come back, sleep for a bit and then do reconnaissance at night for the raid we would do the next day.”