Should I go for a job as a combat medical technician? ?

Question

I am interested in pursuing a medical career in the armed forces, and was looking at a few army jobs involving medical stuff, and a combat medical technician seemed to appeal to me, for starters, there's the kind of "being out there" action, (or so it says) and second, no qualifications are needed, this sounds too good to be true, and the fact that no qualifications are needed made me think a little, is it really all its cracked up to be? if anyone has experience or knowledge on job I would greatly appreciate it if you could answer. thanks x

Answer 1

From the description I'm assuming you are talking about the 68W Healthcare Specialist.

No prior training is needed because you are first trained as an EMT-B, and are then giving some more advanced skills. It has a pretty desent failure rate (i'm not saying it's the most difficult MOS, but all alot of people failed when I went through).

There is the possibility of the "out there" action, but there is also the possibility of being placed in a hospital and seeing nothing but bed-pans for awhile. You will receive combat training, perhaps more than some other MOS's because you can be attached to Combat Units, but that doesn't always mean you will be in a Combat Unit.

From my experience it is a very good MOS. Due to the EMT-B portion of the class being crammed much shorter than the civilian class, people who pass are generally pretty smart. It has a lot of room for growth as well. You can go on and get a M6 additional skill, which would make you a nurse, or any other additional skills, such as immunization specialist, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.

It is not too good to be true, so long as you are able to meet the challenge.