# military noob with questions considering 68w reserve



## FoleyArtist (Apr 14, 2014)

hey all i wanted to post here to get all the variables figured out by enlisting or reserving. (pro and cons, things to consider, stuff i haven't thought of) 

I'm 27 asian/american lived my whole life in socal. found ems my passion relatively late by my timeframe. some college no degree. i'm nremt-p and ca emt-p. i want to be a medic first and foremost but can't get good experience here. its all fire/medic stuff. i'm not looking to be a ff/medic i'd prefer flight medicine ie. medic/rn or maybe swat medic. i've always had a sense of duty you could say to enlist. long story short was talking to a recruiter to be a corpsman back in high school didn't pan out fast forward i still became a medic after a brief detour at an automotive trade school. 

i've hit a plateau right now and i don't like it. i'm working as an emt-b for a private amb company that does 911. which ignited this drive to search outside my comfort zone for more. i hated being an la county ift medic it didn't challenge me. i cannot attend further schooling due to low seniority i cannot bid on an appropriate shift that'll work with class. amr inland empire is a pass. i'm just tired of ca. i need a change.

sorry its so long winded. so will army or national guard 68w reserve help me accomplish the following:

-help me not be a poor medic working on emt-b wages
-actually let me utilize medic skills
-allow me to go to school to pursue higher education
-gain better experience than a 911 emt-b or ift medic
-travel
-help towards getting into flight medicine as a medic or rn school for medic/rn
-or help towards ff/medic, "swat" medic
-help pay for school (ie. i want a BS in emergency medicine, or BSN. onto PA or NP)

also, am i behind the curve considering all this at 27? any other reserve ideas/jobs welcome but i'm already a medic and i want to grow and expand on that.

if you read this all thanks for the help

***i just realized i created a thread like this before a year ago. de ja vu. i thought i would've been somewhere progressively along in my career path but its a year later and somehow i've managed to stagnate. i'm strongly considering the military at this point. sorry to repackage an old thread.


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## Luno (Apr 15, 2014)

*I'll take a swing at this...*



ProbieMedic said:


> sorry its so long winded. so will army or national guard 68w reserve help me accomplish the following:
> 
> -help me not be a poor medic working on emt-b wages
> -actually let me utilize medic skills
> ...



Ok, all the things I wish I knew before I did what I did... 

-help me not be a poor medic working on emt-b wages
Most likely not, the lower enlisted reserves have a very high rate of unemployment, so unless you decide to pursue an Active Guard/Reserve job (relatively hard to get), you probably won't be making much more if any.
-actually let me utilize medic skills
On deployment, maybe... At home, not likely
-allow me to go to school to pursue higher education
That depends, what are the barriers to your education?  Are you looking for money, because they do pay about $4800 or so a year for that...
-gain better experience than a 911 emt-b or ift medic
No, most Reserve/NG medics unless they work in the medical field don't see patients until they are actually deployed, or get to work PHA weekends...
-travel
Depends on what you can bring besides being a medic, for example, I have a soldier overseas right now, simply because he speaks a high demand language (not in Afghanistan) 
-help towards getting into flight medicine as a medic or rn school for medic/rn
Depends what unit you get into, but most likely not, however there is a great MEDEVAC out of the CA/NV area.
-or help towards ff/medic, "swat" medic
Veterans Points alway help for ff/medic, unless you're already POST Cert in CA, don't hold your breath on "SWAT" medic
-help pay for school (ie. i want a BS in emergency medicine, or BSN. onto PA or NP)
There is that $4800 per year for school, which when I was in school with a Pell Grant went pretty far, but nothing like full tuition, unless CA has an exemption for NG.

A little about me, I was EMT to Contractor Medic to Tactical Medic to Contractor/PSD Medic to Disaster Relief Medic to Ski Patrol to Army Medic, and now I'm active duty in support of a National Guard medical unit. (AGR)  And age isn't anything but a number, I went through Army Basic Training at 34 years old...


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## NGEMT (Apr 19, 2014)

68W here.  Tried working at a EMT-B when I got back from medic school, but no way was it going to pay the bills.  So started working at a hospital doing non-emergency transports until I could get in to the ER as a tech.  Much better pay.

Luno covered it pretty well, but I'll just add that if you're already working in the field, you are ahead of most reserve component medics.  I'm a medic instructor for the National Guard and it's frustrating when 90% of the medics coming through my refresher courses work at McDonald's or whatever for 28 days a month and then want to come be medics on drill weekend.  Many have been deployed and got good experience there, but came back to their non-medical jobs. I know everyone has whatever life situations, but it's still frustrating.


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## Soldiermedic247 (Dec 8, 2014)

Ok here is my take on just the enlisting full time vs going reserves. I am currently in the national guard as a 68W. This is after 4 yrs active. Active side get gets a lot more time to where medics ain't doing anything and can train on their skills almost daily. Reserve/national guard side not so much. I kick myself everyday for getting out of active. The saying is true use it or lose it. I have to do more on my own now then what I had to before.


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## SandpitMedic (Dec 8, 2014)

Don't you work at MWA now?

This thread is 8 months old.

And why are/were you guys Paramedics working as Basics for so long?


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## EMT11KDL (Dec 8, 2014)

Luno said:


> *I'll take a swing at this...*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



So glad to see you back answering questions, it will help me from having to answer all of them in this section  

To the OP, I agree with everything Luno said. 

To add a little more about your question about Flight Medic and the Military (Specifically Army).  The Army transitioned from just normal 68W being on the rotors to having fully qualified Paramedics with CCP-C/FP-C, along with ACLS, PALS, NRP, ALMS.   Since you are a paramedic you will have a higher chance to get into one of those slots, I do not know about CA or NV right now about how many slots they have and that are currently have medics in those positions.  You would have to talk to the local units to find that information out.  I will say that in the Guard and Active Duty, those slots are extremely competitive.


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## Soldiermedic247 (Dec 8, 2014)

Agreed


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## Luno (Dec 10, 2014)

EMT11KDL said:


> So glad to see you back answering questions, it will help me from having to answer all of them in this section


 
I check in about every week or so, but do my damnedest to not keep responding to the same old questions, i.e. how can I be the first 300lbs+, BMI ungodly, super highspeed, tactical, swat, delta force, SEAL, secret squirrel contractor PSD medic?  BTW, I just graduated EMT school, and I may have shot a gun once in my life.  Why aren't you helping me?    I still like keeping an eye on the forum though...   And for all my fat medics, I don't hate you, it's a struggle, I get it, I'm 5'10", 230lbs and Polynesian.  If I don't work on it constantly, it can escalate very quickly.  Fortunately, I have a big stick motivating me, if I don't stay in shape, I lose my job...  So I feel your pain.


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## EMT11KDL (Dec 10, 2014)

Luno said:


> I check in about every week or so, but do my damnedest to not keep responding to the same old questions, i.e. how can I be the first 300lbs+, BMI ungodly, super highspeed, tactical, swat, delta force, SEAL, secret squirrel contractor PSD medic?  BTW, I just graduated EMT school, and I may have shot a gun once in my life.  Why aren't you helping me?    I still like keeping an eye on the forum though...   And for all my fat medics, I don't hate you, it's a struggle, I get it, I'm 5'10", 230lbs and Polynesian.  If I don't work on it constantly, it can escalate very quickly.  Fortunately, I have a big stick motivating me, if I don't stay in shape, I lose my job...  So I feel your pain.



I have been way tempted to start putting in a link to the other post and say please read this thread, for all your answers


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