Though the Navy may fight its battles in blue waters, Junior Jasmine Gutierrez’s father Master Chief Petty Officer Jamie Gutierrez and other Navy corpsmen fight diseases and treat injuries in their blue latex gloves.
MCPO Gutierrez isn’t your everyday medical technician. As a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman, he administers immunization programs, performs emergency medical treatments, fills prescriptions and serves as an operating-room technician, just to name a few. However, his job description doesn’t end there: a big part of MCPO Gutierrez’s life is being stationed alongside the Navy.
MCPO Gutierrez has spent the last year stationed in Japan and is set to stay for two more years before his return to the states. His long periods away from home don’t feel all too foreign for Jasmine, since her father has been in the military before she was born.
“Even as a little kid, I understood that what my dad did was admirable,” Gutierrez said. “I never resented my dad’s career, though it can be a burden at times, but I understand he has a duty and service to this country.”
Besides his deployment to Japan, MCPO Gutierrez has been stationed in Texas, Oregon, Mississippi, Nevada and South Korea. In other occasions, MCPO Gutierrez would also be required to operate in ship deployments where he and the rest of the Navy move from station to station by ship.
When his work schedule allows for it, MCPO Gutierrez takes time off from deployment to visit his family for up to two weeks. His last visit was in January of this year and he is planning to visit either during this December or next January. Despite their extended time away from each other, Jasmine and her father still keep a close relationship.
“We text every single day,” Gutierrez said. “I keep him updated on my life and he does the same, and it’s really ironic because even though he’s so far, we’re actually really close.”
Aside from catching up with his family and friends at home, MCPO Gutierrez spends his breaks allotting most of his time with his daughter.
“My dad and I are huge movie buffs so we’ll stay up late watching movies and analyzing them,” Gutierrez said. “We also have similar tastes in music so if we’re driving together he’ll show me new songs and artists he’s been listening to.”