![]() ![]() However, I later worked my way up to AG (okay, okay I just dropped a round down the tube) with mortars. At each station the Ranger evaluator gave me a quick "Task, Conditions, and Standards" speech, then I tried like hell to make the standard. Even though I'd never seen or touched a 60mm tube, I took the exam. The LT told me to take the Gunner's Exam. ![]() Each had a 60mm tube with an 11C Ranger at it. When I jumped off the duece a Ranger 1LT pointed to a bunch of testing stations in the mud. I joined them at Benning in the mud out at the range. My first day with my platoon was before the Mortar Platoon was broken into Weapons Platoon Squads. I can't verify the jump but that is what I'm told! Why were they so short on medics? I was told that right before I joined the company three medics burned into Rock DZ on one parachute. Doc Friedman was a damned good medic and didn't need to attend the US ARMY 91 "bandaid" school! "Doc" Friedman was being trained OJT after doing at least one tour as an 11B. When I got to Hardrock Charlie in '79 the company was short of school trained medics so Doc Donovan was Leading the Way by instituting his own brand of Combat Lifesavers. If I was concerned about the Geneva Convention, I wouldn't join the Army. Ranger infantry units are the reason I would to join the Army as a medic. I refuse to be the medic that can't last with infantry units. I was also the only SOB to get exactly what he wanted out of the military, and that was to be a Platoon Medic in the same Batt., Company, Platoon and squad for nearly my entire enlistment (No more / no less) Working in a hospital as a POG Medic was my worst nightmare. You will eat alot of crow since you are viewed as support. I swear it was designed to be that way - Those that live it know what I am talking about.ĭoc Cook wrote:I spent alot of time, effort, heartbreak, sweat, blood and tears to stay out of the hospital as a medic. There are elements of the creed that reach back into our childhood psyche. The Geneva Convention can get fucked since today's bad guys don't follow it and never heard of it.Ģ - Know basic field medicine "Sticks and Rags!"Ĥ - Know how to teach medicine using basic language - This one is hard.ĥ - Live the Creed even if it burns you. Everyone is initially on their own when your feet hit the ground on tarmac after you jump. Lots of great medics, better than me, were not worth a shit in the field and always fell to the wayside. Bear in mind that you won't be much good in the field if you can't hack the field or you are dead. A Battalion Surgeon once told me that I was a Ranger first and medic second. Bear in mind that you will work your ass off, putting in time when the rest of the Company is off.ġ! 1! 1! 1! - Know basic infantry skills like BRM. Don't ever quit (you will have bad days), be a strong field medic and hang with the platoon: ie, don't fucking fall out and see your time through. My advice is to go for it if you really want it. The experience was worth more than college degrees and everything I have since done in my life, -before and after. The most valuable item on my DD214 besides the Honorable Discharge is the losing unit block stating that I was in the 75th. I was also the only SOB to get exactly what he wanted out of the military, and that was to be a Platoon Medic in the same Batt., Company, Platoon and squad for nearly my entire enlistment (No more / no less)īravo 57 taught many things to HQ platoon, but the one fact that has stuck with me now for 7+ years after I got out and 2+ years in Iraq was: "What you do in Battalion and how you were as a Ranger will follow you for the rest of your life." I spent alot of time, effort, heartbreak, sweat, blood and tears to stay out of the hospital as a medic.
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