Combat Medics
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Yo Hi All.
Reading what has been written here just brings me back to my time in SMM.
Ya, anyway, SMM is now known as IMT if i remembered correctly.
Hope the below explain how a life as a medic is;-
Life as a trainee in SMM.
Basically, first week will be quite weird as no one knows each other, but by 2nd week to the last day of ur trainee life, it will be heaven.
Throughout the medic course, you will book in @ 10pm sharp on sunday night and book out @ 5pm sharp (it wont be later than that! never! haha).
Specs there are usually very friendly and nice except for the minority which is so obsessed with the Sergeant authority to pump us, fresh pop privates.
Basically u wake up @ 5.15 every morning, do some light 5BX (which in my course was 20push up, 20jumping jack and 20 situp). Go for breakfast, come back to bunk (supposedly to do area cleaning) to sleep till 7.15.
7.30am -> First Parade with our beloved medic song.
Medics all are we, the medics of the field, we serve the wounded and the sick~
kk, enough.. =\ You'll learn the pledge and song soon.
By 8am you will be sitted in the audit for lectures, which 80% of my course-mate slept throughout the whole course. 9.30-10am usually is canteen break and getting back to audit, lectures again till 11.30 than go for lunch. Back to bunch to sleep till 1.15pm, pack abit, fall in for practical lessons held in training shed @ 1.30pm. 3pm-3.30pm again usually are canteen break than back to study at training shed till dinner which is @ 5pm. Usually after dinner, you will just wait for last parade or not, it will to computer lab for some revision on medic stuff. So basically, is the life shiok? To me it was =) Love my life there.
Anyway, the tricky one in the course in the exams, but somehow rather, mug for a lil bit and you will get your way out =D
--Anyway, i just graduated out.. less than a year--
Life as a medic really start when you're posted to units.
Let me elaborate abit from here on, (Splitted into different groups).
Combat Medic;
HQ Medic- I would say you will be very lucky to be a HQ medic than. HQ medic do basic covering of activties and building on the BCS in ATEC. BCS would be deployed with your HQ Medical Platoon with MOs and so usually kind of shiong. The good part here is that you stayed in the Medical Center 90% of your time and will be task, given roles. (Eg, treatment i/c, dispen i/c, MOPA).
When coy medic do live I/V outfield, under the hot sun, you shoot I/V in sickbay with the cool aircon blowing at you.
Coy Medic- Which is what i am now. Commonly known as Platoon Medic. To be frank, it's very shiong to be a coy medic as you're tasked with combat duties adding onto ur medical duties. For eg, people chiong with SBO rifle helmet, you add on ur MOP, Strecher and follow the Platoon Sergeant. You dont frequent the medical center that often but you'll always take chance to go there and slack. keke. Most of the time, in a combat active unit, you're just like normal MAN. Doing sai kang most of the time, and if not, training with them under the hot sun. A coy usually has 4 medic so it rotate. 1 will be doing cover whereas the other 3 will be chionging as well, which is quite shiong and shag for medics. So all coy medic, please take care of yourself and train up. IMO, it's very important.
Service Medic;
Well, Basically stay in the medical center. 8-5 job. Just wait for ORD.
I hope the above give you guys the understanding of being a medic and what it go through. Of course, small detail stuff i've left out but these is wat roughly it is.
Last and for most,
Be proud as a medic as what you learn is a life-long skill.
80% of my course mate doesnt want to be a medic but till we pass out of course, we pass out with honor and pride.
Drill this in ur brain and spread it around,
" Medics are not weakling. You think medics are sissy than help your platoon medic carry his strecher in exercise and stop whinning. Stop shouting for medic when you only need them "
Seek Save Serve, MEDIC! -
All typos above, just ignore it please.
Too lazy to do correction on it.
Thanks! -
thanks augustkyle for the informative write-up.
ya it's true that most sergeants (instructors and those from MRF) at SMTI (former SMM) are indeed a nice bunch of people. majority of them are former men and got their strips after going through Spec II course. so they understand what their man are going through. -
augustkyle:
v misleading...
Let me be blunt:
It is opinions and rumours like that which makes medic trainees slack and the instructors' life more difficult.
Whatever you went thru during your course, let that stay in your course. Course to course, instructors and instructions from above change.
Whereever you go, assume it is siong first. Finding out the course or place is slacker than expected is better than otherwise.
Not to bash you or anything; times and places both change.
(Oh, and you know what, those specs that pump you are actually those that are doing their job. Its waaay more tiring to bother to enforce these things than just to bo-chap.) -
Being a BHQ medic ,
"Not mentioned in the above" , you also have to deal with helping your fellow NSmen to go thru the proper channels of "Downgrading", getting a "Medical Status" etc , otherwise encourage them to turn up with proper mindset for reservist as it is a normal thing to do as working adults help one another in service, not make things difficult for fellow Singaporeans.
Of coz we will face Die Hard want to Keng out people. But they too are fellow Singaporeans. We're all products of 'Independent Singapore'.
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wa mine is very different leh ..my 1st week is very packed alot of lect n espeically practices....overstuff with info n things we learn i think is too tough for me...always dont understandOriginally posted by augustkyle:Yo Hi All.
Reading what has been written here just brings me back to my time in SMM.
Ya, anyway, SMM is now known as IMT if i remembered correctly.
Hope the below explain how a life as a medic is;-
Life as a trainee in SMM.
Basically, first week will be quite weird as no one knows each other, but by 2nd week to the last day of ur trainee life, it will be heaven.
Throughout the medic course, you will book in @ 10pm sharp on sunday night and book out @ 5pm sharp (it wont be later than that! never! haha).
Specs there are usually very friendly and nice except for the minority which is so obsessed with the Sergeant authority to pump us, fresh pop privates.
Basically u wake up @ 5.15 every morning, do some light 5BX (which in my course was 20push up, 20jumping jack and 20 situp). Go for breakfast, come back to bunk (supposedly to do area cleaning) to sleep till 7.15.
7.30am -> First Parade with our beloved medic song.
Medics all are we, the medics of the field, we serve the wounded and the sick~
kk, enough.. =\ You'll learn the pledge and song soon.
By 8am you will be sitted in the audit for lectures, which 80% of my course-mate slept throughout the whole course. 9.30-10am usually is canteen break and getting back to audit, lectures again till 11.30 than go for lunch. Back to bunch to sleep till 1.15pm, pack abit, fall in for practical lessons held in training shed @ 1.30pm. 3pm-3.30pm again usually are canteen break than back to study at training shed till dinner which is @ 5pm. Usually after dinner, you will just wait for last parade or not, it will to computer lab for some revision on medic stuff. So basically, is the life shiok? To me it was =) Love my life there.
Anyway, the tricky one in the course in the exams, but somehow rather, mug for a lil bit and you will get your way out =D
--Anyway, i just graduated out.. less than a year--
Life as a medic really start when you're posted to units.
Let me elaborate abit from here on, (Splitted into different groups).
Combat Medic;
HQ Medic- I would say you will be very lucky to be a HQ medic than. HQ medic do basic covering of activties and building on the BCS in ATEC. BCS would be deployed with your HQ Medical Platoon with MOs and so usually kind of shiong. The good part here is that you stayed in the Medical Center 90% of your time and will be task, given roles. (Eg, treatment i/c, dispen i/c, MOPA).
When coy medic do live I/V outfield, under the hot sun, you shoot I/V in sickbay with the cool aircon blowing at you.
Coy Medic- Which is what i am now. Commonly known as Platoon Medic. To be frank, it's very shiong to be a coy medic as you're tasked with combat duties adding onto ur medical duties. For eg, people chiong with SBO rifle helmet, you add on ur MOP, Strecher and follow the Platoon Sergeant. You dont frequent the medical center that often but you'll always take chance to go there and slack. keke. Most of the time, in a combat active unit, you're just like normal MAN. Doing sai kang most of the time, and if not, training with them under the hot sun. A coy usually has 4 medic so it rotate. 1 will be doing cover whereas the other 3 will be chionging as well, which is quite shiong and shag for medics. So all coy medic, please take care of yourself and train up. IMO, it's very important.
Service Medic;
Well, Basically stay in the medical center. 8-5 job. Just wait for ORD.
I hope the above give you guys the understanding of being a medic and what it go through. Of course, small detail stuff i've left out but these is wat roughly it is.
Last and for most,
Be proud as a medic as what you learn is a life-long skill.
80% of my course mate doesnt want to be a medic but till we pass out of course, we pass out with honor and pride.
Drill this in ur brain and spread it around,
" Medics are not weakling. You think medics are sissy than help your platoon medic carry his strecher in exercise and stop whinning. Stop shouting for medic when you only need them "
Seek Save Serve, MEDIC!
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IV till very song. Spec II also poke but Spec II course scrapped liao. The comp at the guard house still working. U'll get the latest movies den first before u see them in cinemas.
ANyway.. juz pray u dun end up in the special unit after CMC. Or else u'll be ruined like me.
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N i forgot.. things like route march n regular soc stretcher bearing as been added into the syllabus. Good luck.
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Every unit you go, there'll always be people who will enforce discipline; in one way or another, the bottomline is, we want to have good medics, not bad ones. Disciplined medics, not slackers.
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Not that we want to be slackers, Medics who gets into action too often means somebody is abusing safety , or abusing power, or have nothing better to do but use the stop-watch and check the timing of setting up BCS etc.Originally posted by RvnRooRon84:Every unit you go, there'll always be people who will enforce discipline; in one way or another, the bottomline is, we want to have good medics, not bad ones. Disciplined medics, not slackers.
Best way for teamwork is the Team Leader(senior-medic) assigns roles befitting the soldiers. Somebody have to do the work. -
So troublesome.. juz chaokeng wayang OOC n excuse army. No headache.Originally posted by NotFromVenus:Not that we want to be slackers, Medics who gets into action too often means somebody is abusing safety , or abusing power, or have nothing better to do but use the stop-watch and check the timing of setting up BCS etc.
Best way for teamwork is the Team Leader(senior-medic) assigns roles befitting the soldiers. Somebody have to do the work. -
yes...so far i've only known one guy who's been sent to the us marines corpsman course. he's 1wo hanafi, i dunno whether he's still at smm. very shiong course, physically n mentally. gruelling pt everyday plus the medical stuff u have to digest, its quite demanding from what i know. if i can recall, its a 6 mths course n its quite extensive in terms of the medical know-how dat can be gained. no badge given at the end of the course if i'm not wrong. perhaps someone can correct me if i made an error in my posting.Originally posted by bendito.L:wonder if our medics get to attend the U.S Navy/Marines corpsmen cse
(if theres such a cse) -
Most welcome =)Originally posted by Gordonator:thanks augustkyle for the informative write-up.
ya it's true that most sergeants (instructors and those from MRF) at SMTI (former SMM) are indeed a nice bunch of people. majority of them are former men and got their strips after going through Spec II course. so they understand what their man are going through.
I get what you trying to put across.Originally posted by dk999:augustkyle:
v misleading...
Let me be blunt:
It is opinions and rumours like that which makes medic trainees slack and the instructors' life more difficult.
Whatever you went thru during your course, let that stay in your course. Course to course, instructors and instructions from above change.
Whereever you go, assume it is siong first. Finding out the course or place is slacker than expected is better than otherwise.
Not to bash you or anything; times and places both change.
(Oh, and you know what, those specs that pump you are actually those that are doing their job. Its waaay more tiring to bother to enforce these things than just to bo-chap.)
If i misled anyone, my apologises here. In summary or rather, correction, i should say the commanders/management level there are more "open". I have to stick with this as if you ever compare a combat unit with a school, SMM (i prefer to call the prev name) you'll realise what im saying.
Anyway, please accept the fact that anyone who go through before the medic course will afterall find it slack. who doesnt?
1st, the specs there are usually people who're highly educated therefore whos willing to hear things out first before any punishment is executed. And, the specs go through our CMC before. They understand more than we do.
2nd, people from different places are comming to attend the course for 2 1/2 month and will leave shortly after that. It's a school, my dear. So in anyway, it will still be slack to a certain extend. I stated on my previous post that, medics need to mug for exams in our course didnt i? well, if mugging is a slacking and relax process to you, im glad for you.
Well, as in for my course, only that 1-2 made our instructors life difficult but it's not due to the slacking of the course k?
Oh ya... recently i was asked by a ORD friend who was a medic and was shock that im a medic as well. Questions like "SMM shuang hor?" always burpt out. I think alot people will agree with me unless im really differ alot from that.
Okay, lastly... LASTLY! Medic's learning dont end after the course in SMM, in fact! SMM only teaches us the basics. I frankly learn the whole lots of other medic knowledge after i pass out from school. Medics learning doesnt stop in after passing out from school but throughout the 2 years of your medic life, you'll be learning. . .
Seek, Save, Serve! Medic -
my spec 2 course happened after passing out of bslc....
spent first 3 weeks learning CMC foundation stuffs...like Anatomy and physiology...bandaging of wounds...diseases...IV..CPR..AED....then moved on to para phase where we learn PAM...protocols and a more in depth study on human body...diseases and what nots...after passing 2 PAM pract and theory(trauma and medical) tests...off to hospital and ambulance attachment
then we moved on to combat phase.....bcs..yadayada...our modified SOC...and i really mean modified....
then went to med ctr attachment..
then POP oh..
basically found it very tough bcos of the cramped schedule....neverending tests...anally retentive senior instructor...
but we did squeeze in PT....and learnt alot from legendary medics...and had guest lectures by lotsa senior medics....