The 23-year-old Altus, Okla., native said he had been trying to deploy to Afghanistan since he enlisted in the Navy four-and-a half years ago, but this was his first real chance to go.

“When I heard a team was being formed, I started making calls to get on it so I could go to Afghanistan finally,” said Hammonds. “My main goal was to get to Afghanistan, but knowing the ETT [embedded training team] had a different goal from other units that deployed to Afghanistan was another factor for me to go.”

“This is not what you would call a normal deployment. People can volunteer or commands send them to us saying, “Hey, I think this guy would be well suited to for this,’” said Lt. Col. Jeff Tlapa, chief of staff for RCAC 3-7. “I feel the guys we had on this one were very high caliber across the board.”

Hammonds returned from this first deployment with ETT 4-5 April 20.

ETTs spend months living and working alongside their Afghan counterparts mentoring and teaching them how to professionally carry out the military aspects of their mission, whether they are with the Afghan National Police or, as in this case, the Afghan National Army.

As a part of the embedded training team, he worked with a lot of Marines from different units out of Japan, Hawaii and California.

Hammonds and other corpsmen learned the job skills of Marines involving communication, weapons systems and patrolling during pre-deployment training in Okinawa and Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center at Bridgeport, Calif. The Marines did this as well as but also received medical training from combat lifesaver instructors, Hammonds and other team corpsman.

Three months later, Hammonds found himself on a deployment in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan, working with the Afghan National Army and the U.S. Army.

“My job was along the medical aspects of it, mentoring the doctors and medics there,” Hammonds said.

Hammonds assisted in helping set up a medical supply system and training evolutions for the medics, as well as sick call protocols.

“I would say the CLS [Combat Life-Saver] training was a huge step for them and their medical capabilities,” he said. “The medics we taught were willing to learn to become better soldiers for their country.”

Hammonds said when not assisting in the field of medicine he assisted the team in other ways as well.

“Being in an embedded training team, you had to do everybody’s job at one time or another,” he said.

Hammond’s unit, like others, often practiced patrols with the ANA in coordination with the U.S. Army. U.S. soldiers were slated to replace the Marines’ ETT in the area upon their departure.

“One of the biggest challenges was working with the Afghans. They are a completely different culture,” said Tlapa.

The Afghan people are a group made of many different ethnicities and tribes, he added.

“It was a unique experience because we all got a chance to do things outside of our [military occupational specialty],” he said. “At times it was challenging, but in the end it was good because I saw them improve as a military.”

They lived in close proximity to each other and would eat dinner, play volleyball and patrol together so of course they became close to each other, he said.

Hammonds became friends with several of the soldiers of the ANA and their interpreter during his time there.

“We lost Marines and sailors over there, but we also lost friends from [the ANA] as well, including one of our interpreters,” he said. “He was one of the first people that I met when I got there because he was one of the lead interpreters. So I had quickly gotten to know him during his time there.

“As part of the military, I have always felt like going to Afghanistan was something I needed to do. So this deployment was definitely fulfilling for me,” Hammonds said.