How does the training differ between a regular doctor/surgeon and an army doctor/ surgeon?
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Now are you thinking of a combat medic, it Army Doctor? Because if you’re thinking Army Doctor that works at a TMC or on post hospital, then nothing. They are often people who became doctors as civilians, then obtained a special medical commission with a branch of the armed forces and practice under their banner, or are just civilian doctors who are employed by a hospital that just happens to be on a military post.
Now if you’re taking Combat Medic, or as the Army calls them 68 Whiskey, then yeah there’s a whole lot of difference. A combat medic is trained for 10 weeks of Army Basic Combat Training to learn soldiering skills, then upon graduation travels to another base for 16 weeks of Advanced Individual Training to be a combat medic.
Here they are taught two skill sets: the first of these is what they will more commonly be using, and it’s essentially how to be a nurse, doing medical busy work and the line, which is what 68W’s end up doing the vast majority of their time, and hate their lives for it since they could make a lot more doing it as a civvy.
The other more exciting thing they are taught is how to keep a combat casualty alive until they can be evacuated to a proper medical center, which is a very specific skill set that pretty much operates on flow-chart logic that aims to stop bleeding, retain consciousness, stabilize heart rate, and prep for evac. This is what most enlist as a 68W to do, but again most just end up as glorified nurses unless they’re deployed to an active combat zone.
A 68W would not know how to diagnose diseases or treat conditions, or perform surgeries more complicated than what is needed to stabilize a trauma injury. Hopefully we can get one in this thread to talk more specifically about what AIT is like, and how much they hate their lives.
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