Posted on May 16, 2016
Is combat required to be called a Combat medic?
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When I was in Germany in the early '80s, a fellow medic wrote on a form "Combat Medic" for his MOS. When our Platoon Sargent(a Vietnam veteran) saw that, he made the private change it, and told him that he has never seen combat, and therefore, is not a "Combat Medic". So, does one have to have seen actual combat to take the title Combat Medic, or Combat Engineer or anything else you can put 'Combat' in front of? Or is it enough to simply have served in a combat zone?
68W: Healthcare Specialist (Combat Medic)
Combat Medic
Awards
Edited 8 y ago
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 89
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Titles don't matter.
These three simple truths matter.
There are 3 rules in combat:
1. Good men will die.
2. Doc can't save everyone.
3. Doc will go through hell to change rules 1 and 2.
We'll take whatever title you give us. Even if we hate it, we didn't enlist for the title.
These three simple truths matter.
There are 3 rules in combat:
1. Good men will die.
2. Doc can't save everyone.
3. Doc will go through hell to change rules 1 and 2.
We'll take whatever title you give us. Even if we hate it, we didn't enlist for the title.
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MSgt Paul Brown
I always tried to change rules 1 and 2, no matter what I tried, rule 2 always won out!
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Negative. There is no combat requirement to be a combat medic, or combat engineer. The day you graduate from the US Army's Combat Medic School, You are a Combat Medic. You must have seen combat to wear the Combat Medical Badge.
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PFC Robert Tate
Agreed. When i was in the MOS was called 91B Combat Medical Specialist and was one of 2 MOS (Engineer being the other) w\here Combat was part of the MOS title regardless of every actually seeing combat. We were not trained as EMT's (although I wish we would have been). We were trained for one thing and one thing only....being a life safer in a situation where others are taking lives.. I myself am a product of the Cold War.....basically not seeing any combat. But that does not mean that I do not consider myself a Combat Medic. Combat Vet? No, but Combat Medic? Yes.
Now, with all of this stated, I do feel that the new medics, the 68W's, are far better trained (both for combat and civilian life after) than we 91B's ever wore but that does not make us any less a Combat Medic.
Now, with all of this stated, I do feel that the new medics, the 68W's, are far better trained (both for combat and civilian life after) than we 91B's ever wore but that does not make us any less a Combat Medic.
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SPC Fred Taber
And Actually.... if you pull up the MOS for 68 Whiskey it is now defined as "Combat Medical Specialist" once again. Even on this forum it states 68 Whiskey-Health Care Specialist (Combat Medic). Because that is what you are being trained for. Doesn't matter if you end up in an aid station, hospital or field unit.
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SGT Jeffrey Dennis
SP5 Peter Keane - I graduated from the Department of Combat Medic Training in 2005. They changed the name of it to the Military Education Training Campus, because back then only the Army Medics trained at Fort Sam Houston. Now all medics train there(Army Medics, Corpsman, Air Force Medics). So, they changed the name of Department of Combat Medic Training to on that would encompass all three branches.
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SGT Jeffrey Dennis
Combat Engineers are called Combat Engineers because thats where they do their "engineering", in combat situations. Combat Medics perform their duties in Combat. You are a Combat Medic when you have become qualified in the 68W MOS. To earn the Combat Medical Badge, you must deploy to combat.
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"Combat" is an adjective that describes the environment that medic is trained to operate in. It is not a qualifier.
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LTC Paul Labrador
So my combat medics working ina TDA or in and sud station at BDE level who hold the same MOS, are required to have the same training and qualifications, but don't qualify for the CMP aren't combat medic??? CMB proves nothing other than you happened to have been assigned to a line unit and took fire at least once.
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Personally, as someone who had not deployed I do not refer to myself as a combat medic. I don't think I have earned that title.
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SPC Brian Mason
I agree. I have deployed twice and have seen combat both times with a CMB to prove it. I didn't consider myself a Combat Medic until I had seen combat. When someone calls themselves combat, yet are in a hospital or aid station the entire time, it cheapens and insults the ones who died as such and those of us who have seen combat. Fort Sam even has a Combat Medic Museum and I've been to it; will change one's perspective.
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SSG Byron Howard Sr
When I was a student I went though and as an instructor I taught 2 of the classes dealing with photography in a combat situation. They learned how operate an ES82A mobile photo lab dome of that was done in MOP gear. A combat photographer does not mean they were in combat it means they were taught how to preform their duties in a combat environments.
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The day you graduate from the "Department of Combat Medical Training", you are a Combat Medic. Your instructors and commanders hand you a Combat Medic certificate, and tell you that you are, and will always be a "Combat Medic". Just like receiving your "Combat Engineer" MOS. Healthcare Specialist came around when they changed the MOS code, and made you get EMT-B qualified. That added responsibilities to your title, It didn't remove "combat" from it. I was prior service, and already had deployed, so I didn't face this dilemma. Also, you will be called "Doc" before your deployed, if you earn it. The EFMB is the Expert Field Medical Badge, not the Expert Healthcare Specialist Badge. I've been shot at, but that is not what made me a Combat Medic. Your skill makes you a combat medic, not being deployed. That is the whole reason they came out with the CMB, to distinguish between "Soldier Medics" who have been deployed and those who haven't.
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SSG Darrell Peters
I went through the OLD Combat Medic Academy. 91B. Then it changed to 91A then again 91W this is when the Combat Medic School Combined with the LPN School for a designator of 91WM6. Then it changed again 68W because most medical MOS from what I was told on the Officer side of the house was a 60 series MOS. Then another Change the LPN's who were designator M6 again got their own 68 series MOS> When I went through the "Combat Medic Academy" yes that was the title. there was no NREMT requirement. This happen 20 years after I joined where it was decided ALL Medics in the Army and Airforce , Navy and Coast Guard would have the Same Basic Training starting with NREMT then going on to their separate MOS phases. The one thing I learned and experienced first hand You earn the name "Doc." When you are a Line Medic and you take care of soldiers to the best of your ability you earn their respect.
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SGT (Join to see)
The MOS title before 68W was Medical Specialist (91B then briefly 91W). Combat Medic is more a description of duty positions.
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SGT Jeffrey Dennis
SGT (Join to see) The MOS before 68W was 91W Healthcare Specialist. I was a 91W, then it changed to 68W in 06.
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SGT (Join to see)
SGT Jeffrey Dennis yeah I was still in the guard when they switched 91B to something probably 91W but I was just very brief it seems to me. I was a defense industry employee just a few years later and they seem to have switched it to 68W. When I initially signed up and was in delayed entry program it was actually 91A and then when I got to AIT they changed it to 91B. I'm just glad that our army's leadership is able to see the enormous national security value in constantly changing the designation of different in MOSes.
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Personal experience-anecdotal at best ;) : When I joined the actual MOS on initial orders was either "Combat Medic" or "Health-Care Specialist" depending on whose orders you were looking at, but were still both 68W.
I went to AIT at Ft Sam and that was a lot of confusion between the Soldier Medics saying "I don't belong here...I'm a health-care specialist" or "I don't belong here, I'm Combat Medic"...and the instructors had to explain to us that they were one and the same. This is when they had combined the two aspects of the MOS into the single 91W (where before it was divided into essentially two MOS' one combat oriented, one hospital oriented).
I can understand taking issue with the term "combat" if someone has never seen combat however, this is their job. Would you change the title for any other MOS because they hadn't seen action? Their primary job is to provide medical care in a combat environment, I think it's an appropriate term. An additional concern is that you take away the term "combat" and suddenly a Soldier Medic might forget (become complacent) that their primary duty is to serve in a deployed environment.
Much like MAJ Andrew Ready suggested earlier, I think combat should be added to every MOS to serve as a reminder.
I went to AIT at Ft Sam and that was a lot of confusion between the Soldier Medics saying "I don't belong here...I'm a health-care specialist" or "I don't belong here, I'm Combat Medic"...and the instructors had to explain to us that they were one and the same. This is when they had combined the two aspects of the MOS into the single 91W (where before it was divided into essentially two MOS' one combat oriented, one hospital oriented).
I can understand taking issue with the term "combat" if someone has never seen combat however, this is their job. Would you change the title for any other MOS because they hadn't seen action? Their primary job is to provide medical care in a combat environment, I think it's an appropriate term. An additional concern is that you take away the term "combat" and suddenly a Soldier Medic might forget (become complacent) that their primary duty is to serve in a deployed environment.
Much like MAJ Andrew Ready suggested earlier, I think combat should be added to every MOS to serve as a reminder.
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SGT Tom Middleton
Another approach might be to do as the Marines do, SFC. I remember overhearing the phrase "Every marine into the fight".
Of course the Marines are different, since the Navy fulfills their support roles, but your point is valid. All of us need to bear in mind that we are soldiers first.
The CIB, CAB or CMB on the front of the uniform speaks for itself.
Of course the Marines are different, since the Navy fulfills their support roles, but your point is valid. All of us need to bear in mind that we are soldiers first.
The CIB, CAB or CMB on the front of the uniform speaks for itself.
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SSG Dave Johnston
'76 I was a 91B10, I also earned my EFMB, in '85 I took the 91W training and all was good thru '93. As a reservist, I had to take a MOS refresher in '05; the MOS refresher reminded me of the CBT Lifesaver course from '82 to '84 in Grermany. Why did MEDCOM dumb down the MOS?
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Back in 1971...I EARNED the MOS of 91-B (Bravo)...or "Combat Medic"...that was the official designation for 91-B..."Combat Medic"...I was trained to do "dirt medicine"...I never saw combat...but that doesn't change the MOS title the Army attached to 91-B..."Combat Medic"...that Platoon Sgt was wrong...my C-File says "Combat Medic" in the MOS line...so, let the ignorant Platoon Sgt. tell the Army they're wrong...LOL...
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Why get worried about the little stuff? What's on the MTOE? Healthcare Specialist? On the field, no one yells "Combat Medic!" Doc is a term of endearment you earn, medic is the usual nickname, healthcare or trauma specialist is what would be on your resume. I respect the EFMB way more than the CFMB. one is seeking greatness while the other might be having greatness thrust upon you.
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SGT Jeffrey Dennis
One of the happiest days of my life was when my Platoon Sgt. said "Doc, get your narrow ass over here." I was so happy that he called me "Doc" that, I couldn't care less what the MTOE or my orders said.
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SPC (Join to see)
Definitely going to give it a watch then! Lol he was funny or at least when he acted with Brendan Fraser
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SGT (Join to see)
You may be thinking of the Combat Lifesaver Program. I agree that it should be agressively implemented across the service.
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"Combat" Medic is earned otherwise just a medic...line-medic, evac-medic, infantry-medic & so on. The MOS is exactly Health-Care Specialist.
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SPC Joseph Morgan
SPC Brian Mason - You deserve a metal for that reply! I could not put that in better words!
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Suspended Profile
SPC Joseph Morgan to earn a CMB doesn’t a medic have to be attached to an infantry unit? I was an MP and saw combat, had soldiers go down while the medic took care of the wounded and I don’t think the medic could be awarded a CMB because he was attached to a “Combat Support” unit.
SPC Joseph Morgan
The Combat Medical Badge is an award of the United States Army which was first created in January 1945. Any member of the Army Medical Department, at the rank of colonel or below, who is assigned or attached to a ground combat arms unit of brigade or smaller size which provides medical support during any period in which the unit was engaged in ground combat is eligible for the CMB. So You are Right!
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