[4] Attracted by the Coast Guard's image as the country's "premier search and rescue agency" he joined the U.S. Public Health Service in order to pursue his interests in emergency medicine.

[2][3][4] Following graduation from the U.S. Navy's aerospace medicine school at NAS Pensacola in 1973, Steinman qualified and served as a Coast Guard flight surgeon.

[3][5] In 1989, the Aerospace Medical Association awarded Steinman its annual Arnold D. Tuttle Award in recognition of " 'his extraordinary series of studies which characterized the protective properties of antiexposure suits under real-world conditions,' culminating in the 1987 publication in Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine of 'Immersion hypothermia: comparative protection of anti-exposure garments in calm vs. rough seas.'

"[5] Steinman also co-developed an underwater escape breathing device and anti-exposure garment for use by helicopter crews and "a heated, humidified oxygen system for treating hypothermic patients.

[8] After his retirement, Steinman came out publicly as a gay man in a 2003 New York Times news article featuring Brigadier General Keith Kerr (CSMR, ret.)

[1][3] At the time, Kerr, Richard, and Steinman were the highest-ranking members of the military to publicly acknowledge being gay and they did so in an attempt to foment dialogue with the aim of getting DADT changed.

[9] In 2014, Steinman joined with former US Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders to co-chair the Transgender Military Service Commission, sponsored by the Palm Center.