Great Medical Opportunities for Nurses and EMTs Within The Military

[ActualBobcat]

Good afternoon y’all,

I would like to preface this thread by stating that I am currently an EMT student as well as a BSN student. These programs are expensive and quite frankly I really have the itch to serve but want to finish these programs. That being said I previously talked to SOSTCRNA about SOST and the opportunities they offer. However considering my goals and aspirations might change. I was hoping y’all might have some information on great opportunities across the DoD for someone either going in as an EMT or as a nurse. I want something where I can deploy a lot, get great experience and training, as well as put my schooling to its full capacity. Thank you all for your time and stay safe.

 

[Devildoc]

Going in as an EMT? Not really. I mean, you'd be a medic or a corpsman and have a bit of a leg-up with some training, but it's not enough to push you ahead of your peers for cool opportunities. Don't get me wrong, I was a corpsman, I loved my job. Nothing shabby about being a medic or a corpsman. Cool schools, you can go in a lot of different directions, but you are a small fish in a big sea.

Going in as a nurse? You can work clinically in some great areas, you can do operational medicine afloat, you can attach to Marines, you can fly. Nothing beats being a team doc or a platoon doc, but I had more school and deployment opportunities as a nurse. I found as a nurse I had more opportunities because it's a female-rich environment, and a lot of them simply did not want to do anything operational or not in a hospital or clinic. Plus, there are a lot of scholarship opportunities for grad school. There are some very cool non-nurse billets as well, you can work for a flag as flag staff, joint staff, stuff like that.

I was Navy, enlisted as a HM then commissioned into the nurse corps, so if you have any Navy-specific questions I can try to answer them.

 

[ActualBobcat]

Going in as an EMT? Not really. I mean, you'd be a medic or a corpsman and have a bit of a leg-up with some training, but it's not enough to push you ahead of your peers for cool opportunities. Don't get me wrong, I was a corpsman, I loved my job. Nothing shabby about being a medic or a corpsman. Cool schools, you can go in a lot of different directions, but you are a small fish in a big sea.

Going in as a nurse? You can work clinically in some great areas, you can do operational medicine afloat, you can attach to Marines, you can fly. Nothing beats being a team doc or a platoon doc, but I had more school and deployment opportunities as a nurse. I found as a nurse I had more opportunities because it's a female-rich environment, and a lot of them simply did not want to do anything operational or not in a hospital or clinic. Plus, there are a lot of scholarship opportunities for grad school. There are some very cool non-nurse billets as well, you can work for a flag as flag staff, joint staff, stuff like that.

I was Navy, enlisted as a HM then commissioned into the nurse corps, so if you have any Navy-specific questions I can try to answer them.

I was really interested in the Air Force but I never have done much research into the Navy side so I would love to learn more. Would it be alright if we had a conversation in PMs or you would rather be it more public in case someone wanted to use this thread?

 

[Devildoc]

I was really interested in the Air Force but I never have done much research into the Navy side so I would love to learn more. Would it be alright if we had a conversation in PMs or you would rather be it more public in case someone wanted to use this thread?

I am happy to answer whatever I can. We could probably be okay on this thread, unless a mod says otherwise.

 

[Kaldak]

Good to go here in the open.

 

[SOSTCRNA]

I always thought it would have been fun to do one tour on an aircraft carrier as a CRNA. Something completely new and different from anything I had ever experienced. End of thread drift!

 

[Devildoc]

I always thought it would have been fun to do one tour on an aircraft carrier as a CRNA. Something completely new and different from anything I had ever experienced. End of thread drift!

In the Navy CRNAs and ACNPs can write their own tickets. Sea duty? Attached to special operations? You want a billet at an embassy? They really do have some exciting billets.

 

[ChangeSocks]

In the Navy CRNAs and ACNPs can write their own tickets. Sea duty? Attached to special operations? You want a billet at an embassy? They really do have some exciting billets.

I know I'm not vetted so if I'm out of line I apologize, but the CRNA that attached to us for our SPMAGTF said similar things. They get great selection of orders, especially with sea duty IIRC.

 

[Stretcher Jockey]

As a 4N0 (Air Force medic) there are some cool things you can get in to, but most of them take time. They are offering slots to IDMT school straight out of tech school now, and IDMTs tend to get the best assignments. While they are not all assigned to AFSOC units, they tend to work in smaller teams unless they get unlucky in a Flight Medicine Clinic.

I'm a paramedic, and got extremely lucky with an amazing assignment working mostly out in the field doing different types of support. But unless you get your paramedic certification or go to IDMT, personally I think the only other worthwhile mention is air evac. Think hospital in the back of planes. Either way, you pays your dues and take your chances.

 

[Kaldak]

I know I'm not vetted so if I'm out of line I apologize, but the CRNA that attached to us for our SPMAGTF said similar things. They get great selection of orders, especially with sea duty IIRC.

It be appreciated by all if you did get vetted, so that your advice/information is viewed as more than anecdotal.

 

[Devildoc]

As a 4N0 (Air Force medic) there are some cool things you can get in to, but most of them take time. They are offering slots to IDMT school straight out of tech school now, and IDMTs tend to get the best assignments. While they are not all assigned to AFSOC units, they tend to work in smaller teams unless they get unlucky in a Flight Medicine Clinic.

I'm a paramedic, and got extremely lucky with an amazing assignment working mostly out in the field doing different types of support. But unless you get your paramedic certification or go to IDMT, personally I think the only other worthwhile mention is air evac. Think hospital in the back of planes. Either way, you pays your dues and take your chances.

For us non-Zoomies (), what is IDMT?

 

[Stretcher Jockey]

I resemble that remark! Wait...

IDMT is Independent Duty Medical Technician. Its essentially a shorter (and much less cool) version of IDC that the Navy does. Learn how to do some more clinical things, such as having an empanelment, prescribing a wider range of medications, and treatment plans. I've always viewed it in the lens that such as a paramedic is an expert in emergency medicine, an IDMT is an expert in clinical medicine.

I will say, IDMT's are coddled by the Air Force. They get told they're special from the time they begin training, so its unfortunately common to find IDMTs that believe they're equivlent to a SOCM. That being said, because they are trained to work as a PA (I hate saying that, but its the only equivalent) they get great assignments to work in small teams in geographically seperated units.

 

[Devildoc]

I resemble that remark! Wait...

IDMT is Independent Duty Medical Technician. Its essentially a shorter (and much less cool) version of IDC that the Navy does. Learn how to do some more clinical things, such as having an empanelment, prescribing a wider range of medications, and treatment plans. I've always viewed it in the lens that such as a paramedic is an expert in emergency medicine, an IDMT is an expert in clinical medicine.

I will say, IDMT's are coddled by the Air Force. They get told they're special from the time they begin training, so its unfortunately common to find IDMTs that believe they're equivlent to a SOCM. That being said, because they are trained to work as a PA (I hate saying that, but its the only equivalent) they get great assignments to work in small teams in geographically seperated units.

Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. I just learned more about that than I have ever known about it in my life.

I love the IDC role, If I was 20 years old again I would seriously consider it. But there are two major hurdles: one, it's very competitive, one of the harder HM NECs; and two, once upon a time PA schools would use the IDC school as a first year equivalency so all you had to do was your second, clinical year. They stopped doing that. So now you become IDC and you get out of the Navy and you are... nothing in the civilian world.

 

[Stretcher Jockey]

Thanks, that's kind of what I figured. I just learned more about that than I have ever known about it in my life.

I love the IDC role, If I was 20 years old again I would seriously consider it. But there are two major hurdles: one, it's very competitive, one of the harder HM NECs; and two, once upon a time PA schools would use the IDC school as a first year equivalency so all you had to do was your second, clinical year. They stopped doing that. So now you become IDC and you get out of the Navy and you are... nothing in the civilian world.

Thats exactly how IDMT is too. A lot of people use it as a stepping stone before going to IPAP, but even IPAP doesnt recongize it as anything. Im still shooting for the IDMT route becasue AFSOC wants IDMT-Paramedics, but I went paramedic first because of exactly what you said. If I did decide to get out I wanted a certificate to follow me, and IDMT doesnt do that. For staying active duty, its awesome. Civillian side, worthless.

 

[Devildoc]

@ActualBobcat , so you have options. EMT won't really give you a leg up as a HM, and if you are in nursing school I'd advise against HM. But if you really want to go HM, there are some cool options, if you bide your time. IDC mentioned above is a great NEC. But when you're done, you got bupkis (although the experience would be helpful should you want to be a PA or MD).

As a nurse there are just more options.

 

[ActualBobcat]

@ActualBobcat , so you have options. EMT won't really give you a leg up as a HM, and if you are in nursing school I'd advise against HM. But if you really want to go HM, there are some cool options, if you bide your time. IDC mentioned above is a great NEC. But when you're done, you got bupkis (although the experience would be helpful should you want to be a PA or MD).

As a nurse there are just more options.

Thank you very much for that and for everyone that took part in it. I got caught up in my job so I forgot to even review this thread, but again thank you.