How much do you trust your medic?

react81 SG

Just to play devil's advocate here, but the recent thread on combat medics have led me to think of this question. NOthing against combat medics, i am one myself. But how much does the soldier on the ground trust his medic?

Do you think your medic has the skills to patch you up when you are wounded? To know what to do, and to remain calm enough to do it? Would he be able to resussitate you should you collapse?

And i'm only talking about peace time.

Look forward to hearing your views.

wuming78 SG

i think the medic is supposed to administer stop-gap measures rather than major lifesaving operations.

well. whether the soldiers trust their medics or not, im sure they will rather have one than not have one at all!

ColdMilk SG

i tink during war time everibody wld want to have the medics around but not now !!!!

i hate dem [email protected]#@#$#@[email protected]#[email protected]

the last time i was put on drip, they did topo for at least 10 min Evil or Very Mad changing hands among at least 4 medics ... n only until the MO arrived den they managed to find the right spot !!!

it was a veri painful n terrible experience

react81 SG

in the medic's defence, venous cannulation is a skill that requires constant practice. For one, they are using one of the biggest damn needles around, and in school of military medcine, they would have done only 10, and probably missed about half of those. They just dont get the practice, unlike the MO, who would have done a few hundred (dare i say a thousand?... probably) before he set that plug on you.

RaTtY81 SG

well think u got not much choices ard. i always the suay guy always tio "casualty" n got to do IV on me Mad

react81 SG

i agree! the medic is not going to be able to open up your chest and sew up that hole in your heart..etc, not even your regular MO would be able to do that.

have you ever considered that the medic that you may have to depend on to save your life (even if just in training/peace time) many may have the same bo chap/cant care less attitude that many(but certainly not all) NSFs have..and that he may very well have been sleeping through CPR class

I-like-flings(m) SG

Yes agreed with u about the bo chap attitude which most NSF have no matter with vocation u in......alot still have to play play and "war will never come" theory lah.....

but beside that....they should get more nursing grad to be medic... as they are alot better train...... just an e.g

remember that M203 range incident yrs ago?? My sispec buddy(nurse trained) happened to be at the medical centre....imagine 3 or 4 ppl brought in full of blood and one arm gone and open wound everywhere....how many medic can handle the sight of that??......all the medic there was shock and blur like sotong..ended up my buddy was one of the few still thinking with their brain and were handle to help out....and mind u... my buddy was considered a chao keng and reporting sick after SOC there ok.....

i know we cant blame too much on them as we are not a war zone and they dun have much real experience... but SAF should consider and try to post NSF to unit that is relevant to their course previously studied.... Wink

ditzy SG

I trust him in camp, out of camp, I'm better off dead. Laughing

Moxie SG

As with the common soldier, there'll be the good & the bad. In the same manner, I don't think anyone can vouch for individual battlefield courage until the sh^t hits the fan.

I've personally witnessed both extremes of such crisis management during my NSF days at 21SA. The 1st was a M113 explosion in the middle of the night; my battery medic completely froze & it was left to my BC who improvisedly went into the vehicle to save the wounded. The 2nd occurred when my fellow DI took sharpnel in the stomach (off a wayward genade throw by a mono-intake recruit), but the assigned range medic was cool as heck that day.

decepticon25 SG

I trust my medic very well cos he’s the one who digs my shellscrape…..heheheh

baer SG

Kind of difficult bcos

i) Most postings are made prior to BMT based on famous "WH or not" test ratio and lateral changes are rare. I forget the breakdown of this ratio between education, family (surname Lee or not), performance at Situational test (for OCS entry), physical etc.

ii) SAF basic building block is infantry platoon/battalion. Support arms added as required and then logistic tail etc. We cannot have everyone becoming what they did at poly, if not, not enuff foot soliders.

iii) In my NS signal platoon in 2PDF, a lot of chief engineers, head of department etc. bcos at point of BMT POP they weren't there yet, so all got shoved into signals as lineman, runner etc (even if they can bearly pass their IPPT).

Medic, we LOVE them because who else we can turn to for Panadol etc.

gonegoose SG

This would have happened in early '03 on Tekong. BMTC Comd was visiting my company when we were having our field camp and as usual, went around scaring the SHIT out of everyone (he's a damn decent guy, but when your OC is only a LTA, 3 crabs out would scare the F*** out of anyone)

Anyway, he rolled up his sleeve and asked the medic to perform an IV drip on him. Of course, our ever competent medic thought that Lo Yong Poo's arm was a pin cushion rather than an arm of a COL. After f***king around for 5mins, Comd got fed up and told him when he reports back after our fieldcamp, he can jolly well sign 21 extras!!! Do i pity the medic as a person? Yes i do.... Do i pity him as a medic? no i don't! Half the stuff he was doing on the field camp left us scratching our heads.... Half my platoon's temperatures were 38-39 degrees and he said that wasn't a fever. Rather because we have been out in the sun running ard like idiots.

But to whoever mentioned this, you're right. In an event of a war, i would prefer my medic to NO medic.

antoh SG

dear react81, as a medic for me you must be able to proficently administrator your skills.

I-like-flings(m) SG

Then change the test....we all now how stupid test are.....if the can pre-set ur unit or vocation b4 u even go BMT then i'm sure they can just have other test and match them to the best vocation related to their field of study right? what's the diff?

ii) SAF basic building block is infantry platoon/battalion. Support arms added as required and then logistic tail etc. We cannot have everyone becoming what they did at poly, if not, not enuff foot soliders...

It's not everyone.. it's about those with specialised knowledge that can be found in SAF too.... e.g

1)Doctors are become MO right? coz u dun want to use all their training in sch and post them to be some rifles man right?

2)Nursing student can be Medic

3)Some Engineering student with field of study that are useful to SAF like..air force tech or armour tech...or those electronics students maybe more useful as specialist on our ship right?

4)Maritime student in SP...can be post to Navy as they have basic knowledge on ship and sailing...

others like business student or arts student and the rest of engineering student can be post to infanty etc...

iii) In my NS signal platoon in 2PDF, a lot of chief engineers, head of department etc. bcos at point of BMT POP they weren't there yet, so all got shoved into signals as lineman, runner etc (even if they can bearly pass their IPPT).

Medic, we LOVE them because who else we can turn to for Panadol etc.

So?? dun get ur point here...with u keep older and especially in NS u will see alot of big shot being just a low rifles man or specialist....u dun expect them to be forever a fresh diploma or uni grad right... career advances...

one of my Spec now is a CTO of an listed company... and drive a sports cars in for reservist....and another pc told Bde Co that he MUST give him day off coz he is closing 1M deal that day Wink

antoh SG

you are supposed to be responsible too. if you are calm and trust the medic more. he can proficiently get through your vein.

well he needs more tranining .... no one is perfect in this world. even as a sickbay ic for me at times i may also go bo bo

react81 SG

you see what prompted this thought is the fact that after the combat medic course, i've gone for more advcence courses outside, and i realised that some of the things that were taught to me in SMM were rubbish, and you cant blame the instructors, cause they were taught this way by THEIR instructors, who probably didnt know better as well.

And seeing how some of my course mates fail to understand the basic medical concepts, and their lack of skills and knowledge in first aid for me worried. These people have trouble doing simple wound dressing or CPR, basic medic skills, and the only motivation for them to learn it is to avoid RT, not the fact that they may one day have to use these skills to save another human being.
I'll be worried when i send my son in to army in the future.

Gordonator SG

case in point. maybe they should have MO or professional paramedic to conduct the course at SMM instead of the NSF instructors.

but then, most of the medic trainee ae posted to medical centres as service medic, they are like nurses. so we can't expect too much from them, like saving your life in case of emergency etc...

WrX_STi SG

i dun realli trust dem after a few of my frend were down with fever. dey need to be IV and the medic at medical centre did a few time of IV. zzz.. =.=

riflemedic SG

Well I was a medic too... I encounter quite a lot of problem during my work as a medic.... i admit i was a bit nervous but after 10s i was able to recover from aftershock an do what i was suppose to do and my friends in arm trusted my medical skills... maybe because i was the MOPA(medical officer personal assistance) hahah Surprised many of my man suffer injury in outfield.. the worst place to get injure in with lack of medical support... you should know what i mean....
So i have confidence to say i'm a well train medic..[[/b]

specfore SG

I must say my experience of combat medics have been mixed. My camp had one who fainted and was himself casualtied as he hit his head on the floor, when a recruit accidentally shot 2 instructors with one M-16 round (this story the next time). The instructors were not dead but were shot in the leg and hand respectively. Minor injuries to a trained nurse in a hospital A&E ward.

The funny thing tho' is that those whose civilian life or education background involved something to do with their hands (e.g. car mechanic, cook) are actually very good medics in the field. Somehow they can think straight and work fast and accurate with their hands ! And can work under stress.

One of my friends, who was a infantry section cmdr, got converted for reservist, to become a medic sergeant/ senior specialist, and was transfered to a medical battalion (not exactly combat medic in the platoon). He told me that they are definitely nervous ... human nature. They spend some time as part of medic training in the A&E ward of hospitals to get exposure to injuries and death. But still they are nervous when treating a real casualty. THis is normal. There are "kabra-kings" everywhere, even in the combat vocations. Who can say that they will not be frightened under fire???