Psychological effects suffered by combat medics

Be really careful when it comes to research that is "ground-breaking" or "pioneering in the field." It is rarely followed up with significant supporting studies. Rather, it serves as a basis for how to conduct the follow-on research that the results will gather. The simple wording of a question can change the value from a-z, x-y, Y-N, to even right or wrong. Line troops create carnage. Medics deal with effects of carnage. Mortuary affairs deals with aftermath. Each of these types of jobs is at VERY high risk for developing PTSD. The defense mechanisms and coping skills can widely vary between the groups. The way we bottle up the emotions and file them in our brain housing groups can vary, but they will need to come out. Longitudinal research may show that in 20 years post military/combat experience that medics have substance abuse rates that are off the charts compared with other specialties. In other words, are they better at masking their symptoms than others because their job couldn't be done without mastering that skill? Always keep an open mind. Great intel for the group. Thanks for sharing!

As a former whiskey of 5 1/2 years, I can tell you this. It drained me, physically and emotionally. I probably could have done 10 years civilian side EMS and not felt as worn and beat down as I did in those 5 1/2 years I spent as a military medic.
Why? Because we never got to eat, sleep, shower, relax, or do anything like the rest of the members of the unit did. Part of it was the tempo of the job, which I’m not complaining about, The part that I hate to this day is that command didn’t give a shite.
Platoon Sgt (non-medic) “Oh hey medic, you aren’t doing anything right now (aka you aren’t out on a mission, here go do a 12 hour guard shift”
Medic “Actually I have done something, I ran sick call at 0700, did PT with the other medics and our provider because he’s in charge of us and he loves to do that sort of stuff so we did an hour of that 0600. You only let me have 15 minutes to wolf down some cold chow because you had me help the engineers clean out the connex box at 0800. It’s 1000 now and I’ve been busy documenting my last 8 patients Form 600’s from last night, 1 of those I had to tend to the entire night, while you slept because they were constantly throwing up and their blood pressure was up and down and back up and the provider wasn’t available so I had to tend them alone. I’ve only dozed for maybe 30 minutes, but sure let me go do 12 hours of guard duty instead of the Carpenter that just came back from stateside leave. Oh and did I mention that the rest of our assigned medics are either on leave or out on missions so I don’t have anybody else to cover the people here on base? Sure 12 of sitting at an ECP, no problem. I’ll be well rested and able to provide the best care possible when you have a problem”

You’d need to find the article for us so we have some background.

I can say more broadly that PTSD in some form or another is very common in the first responder community. JEMS last year had a monthly devoted to this. It’s severely under reported more so due to stigma and lack of awareness, though perhaps given the profession and having to put on a brave face is another factor. It’s not a far stretch to think it applies to military medics.