Combat medics transition to paramedics

[Just Plain Ruff]

I'm going to leave the military information to the experts which we have several here, thanks Mike, Island and Triemal and I'm going to focus on another aspect.

Ghost, I'm really trying to wrap myself around the defensiveness of your posts these past couple of days. I'm not sure where it's coming from other than the possibility that you think we are attacking you personally but this really makes me question whether you are really suited for management in EMS.

If you are becoming so quickly defensive and offended with what we are saying here, how will you react when you are faced with criticsim from the people you manage?

I do not know you from Adam or Steve or whoever but I would take a step back and look at how you have responded to these threads and then think about it if these were real life management issues.

Might be an eye opener.

Some mentorship with a successful manager in EMS or business might be a great thing for you. Do you think you would be willing to do that?

[ghostmed3]

From what is sounds like to me is a group of old time paramedics that cant stand the fact that everybody doesn't have to take the same path as you have. Im damn proud to have been an army medic and if what you gentlemen have displayed here is an accurate account of most paramedics I am DAMN sure glad I am not one myself, thats one group I would not want to be associated with. Now having said that, no I dont believe a military medic can come right out to paramedic I do however see great benefits in a transition program. These men can be true leaders not the lousy crap many services have today. My final comment is to the comment made about a paramedic could do the trauma the same as a military medic. I say this, drop one in a hot zone and lets just see.

[paramedicmike]

From what is sounds like to me is a group of old time paramedics that cant stand the fact that everybody doesn't have to take the same path as you have.

We don't set the path. That you don't like the path is not the point. The path is what it is. If this is what you want to do you will follow the path.

What's more, that you don't like the comments that you solicited doesn't make any of them wrong.

Im damn proud to have been an army medic and if what you gentlemen have displayed here is an accurate account of most paramedics I am DAMN sure glad I am not one myself, thats one group I would not want to be associated with.

Nobody has belittled your service. Nor does your military service have anything to do with what you don't like in the civilian world.

Now having said that, no I dont believe a military medic can come right out to paramedic I do however see great benefits in a transition program.

Good for you.

Just like the Army trained you their way to do their job, civilian EMS trains you to do things their way in their job. It's no different. Want to do the job? You earn it.

You may have little experience with this yet, but EMS has a pretty bad rap for people wanting things for nothing. It hurts the profession when people take shortcuts or try to beat the system. There are times when a workaround to solve a problem can be a good thing. When it comes to education, however, it creates bigger problems.

These men can be true leaders not the lousy crap many services have today. My final comment is to the comment made about a paramedic could do the trauma the same as a military medic. I say this, drop one in a hot zone and lets just see.

What's interesting here is that you have no idea who you're talking to. You don't know our backgrounds, our experiences, our education, where we've been or what we've done. Yet you're presuming an awful lot.

What's more interesting is that just about every combat vet I know or work with none of them make a big deal about it. Downplay it, even.

It's the loud one's you need to look out for.

[triemal04]

What are you, 12 years old? Because that's how you seem right now.

Now, I can't tell if you are just trolling to stir things up (I think you're trolling; it's been a long time since I heard anything about this type of deal, though I'm not exactly omnipotent and could be wrong) or being serious, but either way, it's a poor showing on your part.

If you are being serious, you need to start showing some common sense and intelligence. Right now you aren't showing either, and are contradicting yourself.

You asked a question...were given an answer with several reason for that answer...and you have yet to come up with why any of those reasons are invalid.

Once again, if anything I, or anyone has said is wrong, please, by all means point out how it is wrong, and what the reality is.

Or you can just go on thinking that someone has been insulting military corpsmen (nobody has) and thinking that you have some mystical knowledge that nobody else has.

[chbare]

Hi Ghost. I am saying this as a former 91B who reclassified to the newer MOS designation. I joined the military back in the 1990's and was in until the mid 2000's. I started as an E1 and worked my way into the NCO ranks/grade. While I never deployed OCONUS I did do a contract in Afghanistan a few years after I got out.

Here's the issue; being a civilian paramedic isn't about providing trauma care in a non-permissive environment. Medical cases abound and the patient populations are incredibly diverse. Additionally, the trauma patterns tend to be more blunt in nature. You are dealing with complex chronic pathology, significant medical issues and a civilian operational environment. This is markedly different than what many 68W series guys get. Certain ASI's such as the M6 have significant civilian crossover however and the newer flight medic programme looks to provide NR-Paramedic credentials. So, as a soldier you potentially have other schools and options that you can choose from with better civilian crossover. However, as a soldier, you are there to serve Uncle Sugar and he's under no obligation to hand you a civilian credential that you may not fully understand but believe you deserve.

I believe military medics have much to offer, but they will likely need to attend the proper training and education programmes to successfully make the civilian paramedic transition. Luckily, the military is usually pretty good at offering assistance to combat vets as they transition into the civilian workforce.

Unfortunately, I fear you simply do not know what you do not know. Please attempt to look at the bigger picture and appreciate the fact that you may not have a fully developed appreciation of the role of the civilian paramedic.

[island emt]

From what is sounds like to me is a group of old time paramedics that cant stand the fact that everybody doesn't have to take the same path as you have. Im damn proud to have been an army medic and if what you gentlemen have displayed here is an accurate account of most paramedics I am DAMN sure glad I am not one myself, thats one group I would not want to be associated with. Now having said that, no I dont believe a military medic can come right out to paramedic I do however see great benefits in a transition program. These men can be true leaders not the lousy crap many services have today. My final comment is to the comment made about a paramedic could do the trauma the same as a military medic. I say this, drop one in a hot zone and lets just see.

Not a single person here has said that combat medic is not a good training to have ,

For someone in the Army is is a great thing to have with all the stupid wars the politicians insist on having.

It's just that the trainings you get as a combat lifesaver do not crossover to practicing Emergency prehospital care of the sick & injured as set down by the D.O.T. and the national standard required for licensing.

It really is that simple.

Unless you are working the mean streets of an urban ghetto , you can go years/decades in an EMS career without ever seeing a GSW or concussive trauma caused by explosion.

You will however spent a lot of time with little old men who served this country honorably, way before your parents were born that have a chronic case of abdominal pain, diarrhea , and a slight GI bleed going on while having chest pain and shortness of breath along with some slight side effects from Agent Orange exposure.

You will spend far to much time helping large elderly naked ladies out of the tub after they pushed their" help I've fallen and can't get up " button.

As far as leadership: Your head has been swelled by the force feeding of HOORAH that the army crammed into you on a daily basis.

You are no more special than the hundreds of thousands of us who went before you in serving our Country, who have the sound of shots fired in anger at us and who have suffered the loss of brothers in battle.

Your is not the first generation to fight & die overseas for a cause that only a few in power pretend to understand.

You state that you want to move up into management at a service. If you enter the Jr. manager position and attempt to move up the food chain , you will find that outside civilian life is completely 180 degrees out from what the Army philosophy has pounded into your brain.

You can't give orders to the employees, you need to be a member of the team that takes them by the hand and asks them to produce a profit for the company on a daily basis, so that you look good to the next person up the food chain , your manager who looks good to his boss. and on up to the top of the heap, where the CEO has to look good to the stockholders.

Fuck up once and be out on the street looking for another transfer service to slave for. They don't owe you a lifelong job.

show up with the big chip on your shoulder as a former soldier and you will see a lot of shitty transfer service jobs.

Take it from someone who's been there: open your mind to the joys of life and let the violence of war flow behind you down the stream into the great oceans.

Besides that the only advice is to put on your big boy pants and welcome to life in the civilian world

[Just Plain Ruff]

My final comment is to the comment made about a paramedic could do the trauma the same as a military medic. I say this, drop one in a hot zone and lets just see.

No don't drop me in a hot zone, I don't wanna go there. Of course most medics couldn't do trauma the same in a hot zone as a military medic because we are NOT trained to do the job as a military medic just the same as a military medic is not trained to do the job of a civilian medic. I don't see that a military medic would be at all comfortable taking care of a critical CHF patient with an MI goin on and the CHF Patient crashing down the tubes. Could that military medic handle that patient? Prolly not.

Our hot zones are similar just in different parts of the world.

Hoping you are done ranting and ready to do some listening and realize that we never slammed your service or the fact that you didn't do valuable work at what you were trained to do, just that you weren't trained to the level that is required to be on the streets in the states.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Ruffmeister Paramedic

[ghostmed3]

As im sure most of you can tell im rather easily heated over a variety of issues. Yet I can admit to the fact I am indeed very hot headed and an even shorter fuse, which I can also say im getting help for. I cannot sit here and say that most all of you are wromg as, honestly, you are not and thst I can also admit. Times have risen when I questioned going back into the army, but I feel I make a difference here as well. So what it comes down to once again on a different note is yes I am sure I carry added weight on my shoulders though I can truthfully say why fully.

[island emt]

PLEASE DON"T take this personally

Actually DO take this personally

You have many signs that your service has affected your personality. Seek out some one at the VA to talk to. If you are not near a VA medical center find a Veterans group in your area that can give you some leads .

I say this with all sincerity as a fellow Vet from a conflict long ago with the same results.

Getting young men killed while large corporations make Billions of dollars selling materials to the govt. & the rich line their pockets on our blood.

Edited August 1, 2014 by island emt

[Just Plain Ruff]

As im sure most of you can tell im rather easily heated over a variety of issues. Yet I can admit to the fact I am indeed very hot headed and an even shorter fuse, which I can also say im getting help for. I cannot sit here and say that most all of you are wromg as, honestly, you are not and thst I can also admit. Times have risen when I questioned going back into the army, but I feel I make a difference here as well. So what it comes down to once again on a different note is yes I am sure I carry added weight on my shoulders though I can truthfully say why fully.

I'm glad you came back and I echo what Island said. I've never been in the military but I have many soldiers who are friends of mine and several of them have not come home. Several others have come back with what I believe the same issues as You. And some of those who have come back with those issues have gone on to commit suicide.

Again, like Island, take this personally - get some help for your own personally identified issues. There are many good quality groups out there that can help you. With reeducation, personal issues and PTSD if you have it.

If you are willing to give a general location that you are in, I'm sure that we can help you find a group near you.

We really are not a group of assholes.