By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
'I Still Want to be That Ideal Corpsman'
Jacobs eventually decided to remain on active duty with the encouragement of the Navy, which has promised to keep sailors who can still contribute in the service.
After 42 surgeries, Jacobs has recovered to the point that he can pass a Navy fitness test with his prosthetic leg. He can run, swim and bicycle.
And, he is again serving with Marines at the Marine Combat Training Center here, in charge of 14 junior corpsmen and caring for five companies of young Marines attending the infantry school. In that role, he is a teacher who has "been there, done that" and knows what's going on, he said. Jacobs also ensures that all Navy staff at the school clinic is current on required training.
Navy corpsman Petty Officer Daniel "Doc" Jacobs chats with fellow corpsman Petty Officer Adam Petree during the morning meeting at the 52 Area Branch Medical Clinic at the West Coast Marine Infantry School of infantry at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Jacobs overcame his injuries and subsequent post-traumatic stress disorder to stay on active duty.
DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III Hi-Res
Before his injury, Jacobs said he never really pushed himself physically. Now he is more apt to stay fit, just to prove himself as an amputee among able-bodied peers, he said.
"If I let a week go by that I don't work out or try and stay in shape, I think it will take me longer to catch up than it will everybody else," Jacobs said.
And the fitness pays dividends as he mingles with his Marines, Jacobs said.
"I take pride in my uniform… and that's what the Marine Corps wants," Jacobs said. "They want a corpsman that looks sharp in the uniform and he's Johnny-on-the-spot. I still want to be that ideal corpsman."
His combat experience also comes in useful when training the junior corpsmen on combat trauma and teaching them to treat blast injuries and gunshot wounds, Jacobs said.
Jacobs said most of his junior corpsmen are surprised to find out he's an amputee. Because he wears a prosthetic leg with a boot, his injury is transparent to anyone who doesn't already know about it.
In most instances, Jacobs said, he waits a while before divulging the information to a new corpsman.
"Initially, I try to keep it from them just to shock them one by one," he said. "'Oh you think you have it bad,'" Jacobs said he tells them when new corpsmen whine. "Well I'm out here with one leg. This is nothing. This is a cakewalk. I always try to emphasize the fact that there are always people in worse off situations than they are in."
For the most part, though, Jacobs said he wants to be seen as any other corpsman out in the field taking care of his junior corpsmen and Marines.
"In my eyes, I don't think of myself as being different. I come out here and I do the tasks that everybody else does," Jacobs said. "It shows a lot to them that I can hike with one leg and I can finish a 15 (kilometer) hike with all my gear and only one leg."
Man's best friend is also great therapy for his post-traumatic stress disorder, said Navy corpsman Petty Officer Daniel "Doc" Jacobs who was seriously injured in Iraq in 2006. He holds his puppy, Romeo. Also pictured is his fiancé Jenean Compton.
DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III Hi-Res
Jacobs plans to make the Navy a career and hopes to put in an application to Navy medical school to become an anesthesiologist. He wants to see the other side of the operating room, he said. The Navy's Seaman-to-Admiral program, which allows enlisted to become officers, recently expanded its eligibility to include corpsmen.
In addition to his physical breakthroughs in recovery and exercise, Jacobs has made personal breakthroughs as well. In June 2007, he met his fiancé, Jenean Compton, and the two live near base with their puppy, Romeo.
Jacobs said he is no longer depressed, but hopeful. And while he can't say he is cured, he knows now the signs to look for to keep his PTSD at bay. It's not the big things, he said, it's the little things that can make a good day go bad. But instead of turning to alcohol and pills to numb the pain, he turns to family - and man's best friend.
Jacobs said he found that having a dog around helps him deal with his PTSD.
"You can wrestle around with them. Go for a jog with them. Talk to them or whatever, and they're not going to judge you. They're not going to talk back to you or think of you differently," Jacobs said.
