Doctor Entering Army

[Flesh Thorn]

HopefulMD's Introduction

[fender]

I would start with buying the Ranger Handbook.

[Ranger Bill]

There will be an Army Medical Recruiter in your area. Contact the ROTC office at your university. They should be able to provide the name and number of that person. As far as Ranger School goes, it will make you a better man and I believe that will make you a better doctor.

[panthersix]

Meh...then enlist to be a Ranger after you get your MD degree if you want to be a commando that bad.

When I was with Bn we had a Bn MD that had a Ranger Tab, was Airborne and he was an asshole. I used to bypass him to get my guys up to Tuttle to see a leg MD that would do a great assessment and then get the guys into a specialist, usually ortho. The Bn MD never would do referrals to specialists.

Getting great medical care for routine illnesses and getting great ortho repairs when needed is more important to a line Ranger than having a Bn MD with a tab and a hard on to get into a firefight. In my humble opinion. If you take care of your Rangers, they will take care of you!

[Kilted Heathen]

If you ever have to patch me up...I hope you shut the fuck up.

[Conack]

I think I have some insight that may help you some-

First let me tell you I am not a Ranger, so obviously the postings of all the respected Rangers above should carry more weight than mine, but I am former Israeli SF and in my unit we had a doctor, in addition to paramedics and medics. In full war time like we had back in 2006 (and 2009 though it wasn't officially a war), when the unit is tasked with multi-team ops involving fairly large numbers of men, the doctor went in with us. He goes in the same way we go in - air, land or sea (well I never got to go in by sea but it has been done in the past). He's with us in everything we do, but kept behind, carrying what looks and weighs like an entire field hospital on his back. In small-force, more specialized missions he would not be present. In our more common CT missions, he would be in an armored ambulance as close as possible tactically, usually with some sort of perimeter force, and if we had a casualty he would usually be rushed into the area immediately.

All that being said, in contrast to the medics and paramedics, who were fully trained and qualified SF, he was not sent to complete any of the SF schools as we did. He was sent to the CT school where he mastered the M4 as best as they could train him in the few weeks he was there, and he spent quite a while humping around with us carrying his gear both to prepare and prove he can, but the overall concept in selecting him was that he not get in the way. As long as he could keep up, not slow us down, and had a mind well enough that he wouldn't do anything stupid, then he was OK. And he was in fact, fantastic. Never complained about our long distances or limited rations and was a damn fine doc. He was all of those things WITHOUT the training. I have no idea how well he could shoot or if he even knew basic tactics; when he went out he was the buddy of the SF trained paramedic and his only instruction was to stay with the paramedic and do whatever he says. In combat the paramedic was the boss (paramedic was a sergeant while doc was a Major) but in medical situations, the doc was the boss.

But know this: Its true of Israeli SF and I'm sure its true of elite US forces: Being a a soldier on the level of a Ranger is not a one time learned skill, it takes constant practice and dedication to keep your skills fine-tuned so that you do what needs to be done almost reflexively. Just as I'm sure you need to practice surgery regularly so that you can quickly know what to do and do it right when needed, so an elite Ranger must practice, but there are only so many hours in the day, so you need to ask yourself whats more important as a doctor: that you know how to call in an accurate artillery strike and assault a fortified position, or that you can quickly and effectively patch up a seriously wounded man in a way that the paramedics just aren't skilled, the way our doc did atop a scummy Lebanese dinner table.

***Edit*** So you don't misunderstand me- this post is in no way designed to serve as any sort of advice or guidance as to your future decision, because my advice on such matters regarding decisions relevant to your service would be absolutely worthless, all the more worthless when considering the abundance of qualified Rangers and Soldiers on this site that CAN make those recommendations. My only aim was to supply you some of my relevant experience that may be able to give you perspective on your point of view regarding the matters you discussed.

[jwt6248]

Conack, PM sent.