# Thinking Twice.



## Ryanpfd (Jul 9, 2009)

This past April I enlisted as an Aerospace medical apprentice in the Air Force. My ship date isn’t until Sept. of this year. I’m not sure if it’s cold feet or what. I’m double thinking if the medical apprentice is the best job for an aspiring paramedic? I know I’m not ready for paramedic school. I've been thinking a corpsman program or even the 68w program would be better, it seems as if the medical apprentice program is more nursing. Should I re-sign for a corpsman more 68w program or just stay with the AF program? Thanks in advance for your input.


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## Shishkabob (Jul 9, 2009)

Last I heard the Navy was full on Corpsman.  Granted this was 4 months ago.

If you want an easy enlistment and an easier basic training, go AF.  In hindsight, I would have gone AF.  Same benefits, same pay, half the basic, better living conditions, and their own college.

The final answer is up to you.


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## HotelCo (Jul 10, 2009)

Ryanpfd said:


> This past April I enlisted as an Aerospace medical apprentice in the Air Force. My ship date isn’t until Sept. of this year. I’m not sure if it’s cold feet or what. I’m double thinking if the medical apprentice is the best job for an aspiring paramedic? I know I’m not ready for paramedic school. I've been thinking a corpsman program or even the 68w program would be better, it seems as if the medical apprentice program is more nursing. Should I re-sign for a corpsman more 68w program or just stay with the AF program? Thanks in advance for your input.



You say you're not ready for Paramedic school. Why does your profile say you're a medic student? 

I haven't had many interaction with 68Ws. One of the other medic students in my class is an Air Force medic and seems very knowledgeable about medicine.  That being said... I've had more than my fair share of experiences with Corpsman. I have to say they know their stuff (I trusted them more than the doctor) and are extremely professional.  If you're looking for solid training and lots of responsibility... Go for Corpsman. If I had my choice of what branch to go into, I'd go into the Navy as a Corpsman.


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## Ryanpfd (Jul 10, 2009)

HotelCo said:


> You say you're not ready for Paramedic school. Why does your profile say you're a medic student?
> 
> I haven't had many interaction with 68Ws. One of the other medic students in my class is an Air Force medic and seems very knowledgeable about medicine.  That being said... I've had more than my fair share of experiences with Corpsman. I have to say they know their stuff (I trusted them more than the doctor) and are extremely professional.  If you're looking for solid training and lots of responsibility... Go for Corpsman. If I had my choice of what branch to go into, I'd go into the Navy as a Corpsman.



It sais Im a medic student because up until April I was in a paramedic program. I got about 3 Months into it and realised I probably should have more then a year and a half of field expiernce, and I dont use this website enough to get a chance to update it.


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## mycrofft (Jul 10, 2009)

*Ryanpfd, aerospace medic is cool AFSC.*

You can travel, be stationed Stateside...basically your accent should be on supporting either flight crews or patiens being aeromedically evac-ed. You could also be stuck on an unimproved flightline in Camelflopp Turkey, but there are many interesting and cuishy spots for them.


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## usafmedic45 (Jul 10, 2009)

BTW, I thought they combined the 4N (Med Tech (basic EMT) and 4H (aeromedical) AFSCs?  I know they were supposed to be doing it when I left the AF in 2003.  I was a cardiopulmonary tech (4H051)

That said, I don't recommend the Air Force.  If you're even reasonably intelligent and assertive, you're likely to have a really bad experience.  The distinct lack of respect both up and down the chain of command was disturbing and the promotion system leaves much to be desired.  Also the deployment tempo- especially in aeromedically related operations- is horrible.  Staying stateside is questionable at best and I would not exactly count many of the places you go as part of the AF as tourist destinations.  More often than not, you wind up in places like "Camelflopp" as Mycrofft described it and as someone who flew a lot, I can say there were very few times we were anywhere nice for long enough to explore the local area.    

All in all, if you want my advice (and this is a really sanitized review so that should give you some idea of how bad the experience of a lot of medical professionals in the AF is), I would tell the recruiter to go to hell and not look back.  Some recruiters will try to tell you that you can't break the contract, but until the moment you take the oath of enlistment you can tell them to shove the contract where the sun don't shine.   

I also suggest you look at:  http://www.medicalcorpse.com/   That is the website of a doc I used to work with in the Air Force who quit out of disgust a year from hitting his retirement eligibility.  There is a reason why the military has a hell of a time recruiting and retaining physicians and the enlisted medical ranks where there is a high-paying or respected civilian counterpart (cardiopulmonary, radiology techs, etc) are not much better for retention.  Most of the people whom I know that did stay in were sycophants (suck ups), marginal practitioners or had made rank fast enough (see the part about sucking up) that they could slack off and not have to really do much.

To give you the executive summary, I would renounce my US citizenship before I ever went back into the Air Force.


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