Air Force medic vs Navy Medic?

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Does anyone know who has a better prgram?

I was in the Navy and from what I heard as I did my time there, the Naval Hospital school has one of the best programs. It isnt called a navy medic. You are callled a Corpsman. You can get the extra training for being something like an EMT but alot of that is already covered at the corps school.

the navy has the best basic program in the military hands down. this is because a navy corpsman can find themselves on a ship in the middle of nowhere or in the field with marines behind enemy lines facing a complicated medical situation. the navy corpsman needs to be prepared to deal with more of these complicated situations, in most cases without the help of a doctor or other higher care source.

however, this does not mean the other programs are poor. i used the word "basic" because all branches have advanced schools to meet the needs of the special operations forces and other special needs. for instance navy seals, marine force recon, army rangers, and air force search and rescue medics all need paramedic or above level training since the are often isolated form the civilized world during their missions. after you receive basic training you can request this advanced training but in most cases have to meet some very specific criteria.

hope this helped and good luck.

Let me reword my reply, the Navy has the most "indepth" basic medical training school out of both the Air Force and the Army.(Corpsman serve with the Marines because 1) The Marines fall under the Department of the Navy and 2) they do not have there own medics)

Before I said "best" and that implies the other programs are of sub-standard or lesser quality. In my over 9 years as a Navy Corpsman I have worked with both Army and Air Force medics and they have all been good people with quality training and motivation.

Hey I am a Air force flight Medic and did 4 month at Balba in So Cal and the training was great but in San Anton TX at the Air force Hospita itl is a trauma one center and the training there is very good. Now the Navy is all around well train so a corpsman can work just about anywhere but the schools is about 14 weeks the same as the Air Force but we have a second part which is 8 week long in a Hospital. In the Air Force the Medic special in areas ICU, Medsur, etc, and you have the IDMT (independent Duty Medical Tech) where as a corpsman have IDC (independent Duty Corsman) unlike the Army medic Trains more PA as Warrent Officers. then the Navy and Army have a combat medic schools which the Air Force can attend the Army Combat Schools where as the Air Force don't one but we do have the PJ's which are the best of the of all the special forces and the flight medic which is one of the best jobs in the military so if I have rank them the top will be the PJ, IDMT/IDC, Flight Medic, Combat medic/Corsman, Corpsman, Army/Air Force Medic (hospital base) and that about it. What the military should do is give them all their LVN/LPN they are all over trainined for the LVN/LPN and EMT-B.

B141emt said:
Hey I am a Air force flight Medic and did 4 month at Balba in So Cal and the training was great but in San Anton TX at the Air force Hospita itl is a trauma one center and the training there is very good. Now the Navy is all around well train so a corpsman can work just about anywhere but the schools is about 14 weeks the same as the Air Force but we have a second part which is 8 week long in a Hospital. In the Air Force the Medic special in areas ICU, Medsur, etc, and you have the IDMT (independent Duty Medical Tech) where as a corpsman have IDC (independent Duty Corsman) unlike the Army medic Trains more PA as Warrent Officers. then the Navy and Army have a combat medic schools which the Air Force can attend the Army Combat Schools where as the Air Force don't one but we do have the PJ's which are the best of the of all the special forces and the flight medic which is one of the best jobs in the military so if I have rank them the top will be the PJ, IDMT/IDC, Flight Medic, Combat medic/Corsman, Corpsman, Army/Air Force Medic (hospital base) and that about it. What the military should do is give them all their LVN/LPN they are all over trainined for the LVN/LPN and EMT-B.

The Army has not trained a PA to become a warrant officer since 1992. They have ALL become commissioned officers just like the other services that have PAs.

I hope this is relevant to the post, but i remember way back in the philippines all the Nurses graduating from Angeles University who are BSN are being trained by US Air Force in their complete facility,it a must, for preparation to go to USA..they have Naval base in Subic base but they are trained by the US Air Force .Their Hospital have the same size of kaiser hospital here, boy i miss those day working in military base.

Nat

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

Do your research well. I am an ex AF medic (corpsman), and absolutely loved it. Training was superb, and continuous OJT as you serve your time.

After active, I joined the AF Reserves as a Flight Medic doing Air Evac... fabulous again, no regrests. Often wish I was still doing that.

But yes, Navy definately has excellent training as well, so check them all out.. spend some time with the recruiters and get the FULL story.

Best of luck ! ?

TrinaRoschelle said:
Does anyone know who has a better prgram?

Both programs are good and rules and standards are based on national standards normally in conurrance with the toughest state. So the quality of training is very comparable amongst the services. The mission of the branch of service will determine how and where the specific job is accomplished. When deciding amongst services you have to look at the mission of the service how your job fits into the mission, what you want to accomplish while your in and also which branch best suits who you are. A med tech is a med tech is a corpman they are interchangeable as far as the core job description goes.. Everyone has a personal preference and you will too.

Give me a Navy Corpsman. Both are good programs so join based on what you think is best for you.

Specializes in med/surg, cardiac.

How about the Coast Guard. I have a friend in for a year or two more and is HS3....looking to get into PA program. Also he's thinking about going higher to HS2 or 1. Has to decide to re-sign another 4 years for PA school. What are the equivalents in civilian healthcare re: HS3's, 2's and 1's? Anyone have a clue?

Specializes in Med/Surg..

Hi,

As a former HM2, have to say the Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes was excellent. Not sure how much it's changed over the years, but we went for 4 months. Doesn't sound like a lot of time, but when you're in class full-time, 5 days a week and live practically on top of the school (couldn't live off base)- the whole 4 months was constant classwork, clinicals and studying - really in-depth program. Just a walk down memory lane for any old Corpsman like me that spent time there. I was there during the winter - what a place, never less than 10 feet of snow on the ground. Only fun we had was trudging through the snow to the bowling alley on the weekends to hang out, ""study"" and drink 3/2 beer. Stupid question, maybe another older Navy Vet on here might know - I've always wondered, what the heck is 3/2 beer? They used to serve it at all the bases and I remember being forced to drink a lot of it against my will, hee, hee. They used to say it was just watered down stuff, but never knew for sure what the heck we were drinking.

When I was working as a Corpsman, with the exception of passing Meds, we basically did the job of a Nurse. One ER on a Sub-Base I worked in had 1 Nurse, 1 Doc and about 10 Corpsman, so we were triaging, suturing patients, starting IV's, etc. They trained us to do basically everything in case we were sent somewhere without any help. Not sure if they still have it, but a lot of my male classmates that were heading out with the Marines went on to FMS school in CA - tons more training.

Despite all the training, if you get out as a Basic Corpsman - the Civilian world considers you a glorified CNA or Med-Tech. If you go into a Specialty you're much more likely to transfer that job into a civilian one. My husband lucked up and was one of the very few Navy Corpsman (back then) that qualified for Respiratory Therapy School run by the Army at Ft. Sam Houston. He's been a Peri-Natal RT for 25 years, so the Old Navy definitely gave him a good career start. I was in during the horrible "VEAP" years, no money for college when I got out after 6 years on active duty. Took me years to afford to go back to school and get my RN - Zero help from the Navy, so I really envy everyone lucky enough to get the new GI Education Bill...

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