Peter Hebert, an Algiers, Louisiana native and a former Navy hospital corpsman, speaks at the Navy Hospital Corpsman Birthday cake-cutting ceremony at Marine Corps Support Facility New Orleans, June 17, 2015. The Hospital Corps celebrated their 117th birthday this year. Hospital corpsmen started out as "loblolly boys" on warships, assisting the ship's surgeon with medical procedures. Today, corpsmen function as clinical or specialty technicians, medical administrative personnel, health care providers at medical treatment facilities and as battlefield corpsman with the Marine Corps.