What are the opportunities for doctors "outside the wire" and in the field?

[HighPriest]

Troll city

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[pgg]

While I was deployed our brigade PA was a former service guy from way back (he rejoined as a PA in his 50s). He got the idea that he wanted some of that hooah crap and instead of doing his job he took a medic's job and went on the convoys. The command loved it because of the optics (they were *****s, but another story). In the meantime, who did his job as the brigade PA? Nobody. Being a military doctor is an important job and soldiers rely on you to do it and do it well. What they don't need is a doc who wants to be Rambo. Can you do the cool sh$t as a military doc? Sure. But as has been enumerated above, if you don't have prior experience it's unlikely and most of the time you provide more value to the soldiers by just being a good doctor as opposed to a bad@ss one.

2002 I checked into 2MARDIV as a GMO and the first guy they had come talk to us at field med svc school was some idiot senior GMO who blathered on about how proud he was when he was out running with his battalion XO and was complimented on his haircut and how he could've been a Marine. He told us, while tapping his collar devices, that the main problem new GMOs have is being "too much this [corps device] and not enough this [rank device]" ...

Most of us just exchanged quiet incredulous looks but I'm sure there were some who bought it. As if a USMC infantry battalion and its 20-something Marine officers are in desperate need of a newly minted Navy officer more than a doctor.

 

[pgg]

I can’t believe this thread is still going.

T-minus approximately 4 years until the "I didn't match, how do I get a military internship" thread ...

 

[HighPriest]

T-minus approximately 4 years until the "I didn't match, how do I get a military internship" thread ...

Nah, he’ll just get a job with Blackwater. Better pay and they don’t expect you to ruin your knees.

 

[DrMetal]

2002 I checked into 2MARDIV as a GMO and the first guy they had come talk to us at field med svc school was some idiot senior GMO who blathered on about how proud he was when he was out running with his battalion XO and was complimented on his haircut and how he could've been a Marine. He told us, while tapping his collar devices, that the main problem new GMOs have is being "too much this [corps device] and not enough this [rank device]" ...

Most of us just exchanged quiet incredulous looks but I'm sure there were some who bought it. As if a USMC infantry battalion and its 20-something Marine officers are in desperate need of a newly minted Navy officer more than a doctor.

We in the medical corps (and only we) keep perpetuating this myth that it's more important to be a good officer than a doctor.

The line community sees us as doctors first, and they're glad for it (they have a million LT/LCDRs running around, don't have a million doctors). In the mind of a line officer, the intellect and capabilities of a doctor far exceed that of most line officers. They've personally told me so.

It would be nice if we in the medical corpse could stop s#$tting on ourselves.

 

[d2305]

Back when there was a survival field school, we had SF come through. Unlike all the other students, their campsite was deadly quiet. They kill without anyone knowing they're there.

 

[Legion1]

I work in this realm. Getting here is no different than anything else you should be doing as a military physician: be a good doctor, put your patients first, be a good team player, be a good Soldier, and slowly network and add skills and experiences that would make operational minded people trust you. That’s it. What makes the SOF community unique in the military is that you get fired if you don’t do your job to a high level. That includes doctors. Don’t give a damn about the guys and/or being a good doc — you are done. There is no magic formula to getting here. Just do the little things rights, be a good human and physician, know what you want and find a way to get it and don’t quit along the very very long road it takes to get here.

 

[d2305]

I was amazed the SF soldiers pull teeth. Not medics but SF soldiers. I've never done a dental block. Guess it's see one, do one, and teach one.

 

[HighPriest]

I was amazed the SF soldiers pull teeth. Not medics but SF soldiers. I've never done a dental block. Guess it's see one, do one, and teach one.

It’s not hard unless you crack a molar.

 

[d2305]

Then you have to get what's left out.

 

[HighPriest]

Then you have to get what's left out.

I imagine in a field setting you dig around a bit without a drill until you feel the mandible crack and then you give up and stuff some cipro in him and hope he makes it back to wherever they have access to care. Fortunately I imagine it isn’t something that comes up often.

 

[TheEarDoc]

Nah, he’ll just get a job with Blackwater. Better pay and they don’t expect you to ruin your knees.

You need to give coffee spit warnings for these posts hahahah

 

[IlDestriero]

T-minus approximately 4 years until the "I didn't match, how do I get a military internship" thread ...

Savage.