emt-t's??

[KEVD18]

any tactical certified emts here? if so whered you go, what did you pay and what did you get for it

thinking this might be an interesting project for the coming year. no really all the useful at this time but who knows, maybe could lead to working for someone else. basically just fishing for first hand info thnaks guys

 

[Luno]

To be officially an EMT-T you need to attend CONTOMS, which you need a law enforcement affiliation to accomplish, however to be a tactical medic is a little easier. There are several kinds of tactical medics, including those that deploy with SWAT/ERT/HRT, military medics, corpsmen assigned to SEALs/SDUs, 18Delta (medical sgt. special forces), and finally there are positions with security consulting firms for tactical medics in High Risk Environments. Currently I am employed with the latter. I'm not sure that's what you want to get into, so let's talk about the SWAT route. Generally you need to be an EMT-P, and employed with either a PD with a SWAT team, or a FD that provides support to a SWAT team. There are a few medic only companies that provide assistance to local SWAT teams, but they are few and far between. Generally you are a sworn officer, or you are a "special" officer during raids. Some places put you in the conga line, however, that's usually for sworn officers, another way is they keep you out of the hotzone, but you follow the assault team if needed. Tactical medicine is alot about tactics rather than the medicine. Tactical medicine has it's roots in the military medic program, as one evolves, generally the other does. The a recent theory in tac med is that you don't treat under fire, it's just another version of "scene safety." I can go into the consulting role further if that's of interest to you, but I think that's a decent overview for you. If you are interested in merc-med just e-mail me, I've got lots of stuff about tourniquets, blast trauma, and other stuff that's more hack and slash, but effective in certain environments.
luke

 

[KEVD18]

it was my understanding that CONTOMS is no longer active due to budget restrictions. there are, however, many other very well known and respected school, namely the H&K school.please correct me if i am in error.

now when you say officially, how would you qualify that? i would imagine that every dept/region/company has their own definitoin of official but i might be in error here as well.

the reason behind this topic is that i am interested in getting into law enforcement. i still have some time before i can do that, being that i'm only 20 but starting to think ahead. this type of course would combine both of my main interests, ems and le, into one.

thanks for ther help

 

[Luno]

Tactical EMT-B/EMT-P is a local thing, as far as I've seen EMT-T isn't even a "real" certification, but more of a title bestowed upon CONTOMs grads. There are no protocols for EMT-T, and from what I've seen, you won't get a state cert/nat. cert with EMT-T. Last I checked, CONTOMs is still running, but may be under a different acceptance policy, as they are now under the Dept. of Homeland Sec. and I think ICE. My suggestion for LE is to get your EMT-B which apparently you have, and then wait for them to send you to school. You've got 3+ years of patrol rotation before you're even eligible for SRT/SWAT/ERT/etc... generally. I don't mean to shoot down your dream here, but it is a difficult road, and other than some minor differences, tac-med in a SWAT environment is more about the tactics, and less about the med. Care for bullet wounds is nothing more than care for penetrating trauma, bleeding control, supplementary fluid, pain control. Blast trauma with High Explosive is a little different, because you have to understand the blast wave and overpressure, but if you're a good medic, you already have the tools, you just need a little "tweaking." Also, unless you're active duty military or LE, you won't be accepted to H&K, that is a fairly recent development, thanks to an incident about 6 mo ago. Are there good tactical medicine courses out there, absolutely, and if that's your interest, by all means, but it may be a while before you get to practice the cool guy stuff. B) Oh, and if you're interested, I have a few things on blast trauma, since I've been studying up on IED/VBIED lately for my next deployment.
Best of luck
luke

 

[KEVD18]

well thanks for the info. the only infor i have about contoms concers it not being active. if you happen to come across any current info, whether it fits my current status or not, i'd much appreciate it if youd pass it along.

hk school: dont you hate how the few spoil it for the many????

blast trauma: i'd love to look over any info you've got to further my knowledge. thnaks a bunch

 

[Jon]

Originally posted by KEVD18@Apr 26 2005, 08:10 PM
well thanks for the info. the only infor i have about contoms concers it not being active. if you happen to come across any current info, whether it fits my current status or not, i'd much appreciate it if youd pass it along.

hk school: dont you hate how the few spoil it for the many????

blast trauma: i'd love to look over any info you've got to further my knowledge. thnaks a bunch

help me out - what is "hk school"

Jon

 

[TTLWHKR]

Define Tactical.

I'm a W-EMT-A/B for the Dept. of Forestry.

When I put my forest ranger uniform on, we carry this 16oz container made for swat teams in Los Angeles. Bear away isn't as effective as the discover channel makes it seem. At least mine isn't, it sprays out in a fog and tends to come back at you, they you are feckin screwed. Or seasoned for the bear to eat you, how ever you look at it. So we carry this foamy gumy crap in a fire extingusiher like container. Since my "service revolver" is just a smidge higher in the ranks than a BB gun, the foamy crap is better. So they call us the tactical ems of the forest. But I hope it doesn't involve shooting anyone b/c my revolver can't even penetrate the skull of a deer that I tried to kill after an unfortunate incident w/ the stump jumper. It's nice to know that any child w/ an air pistol can out gun me. :unsure:

 

[Luno]

Kev, CONTOMS is still active, they now fall under Dept. Homeland Security, and unfortunately the HK incident had to do with a rollover of a Suburban that almost (IIRC) killed someone, and didn't have anything to do with their tac-med school, I believe it happened during their EP agent driving course.

Jon, H&K is Heckler and Koch the firearms manufacturer, most well know for the MP5, they run a school, one course is tac-med, but they do training for SF/SEALs on their weapon systems as well as a lot of other "cool guy" training programs

And to quote a friend of mine, "tactical is anything spray painted black with lots of velcro."

 

[Luno]

The next CONTOMS class is scheduled for July 11, 2005 in Bethesda, MD

 

[Jon]

Originally posted by Luno@Apr 26 2005, 10:24 PM
Kev, CONTOMS is still active, they now fall under Dept. Homeland Security, and unfortunately the HK incident had to do with a rollover of a Suburban that almost (IIRC) killed someone, and didn't have anything to do with their tac-med school, I believe it happened during their EP agent driving course.

Jon, H&K is Heckler and Koch the firearms manufacturer, most well know for the MP5, they run a school, one course is tac-med, but they do training for SF/SEALs on their weapon systems as well as a lot of other "cool guy" training programs

And to quote a friend of mine, "tactical is anything spray painted black with lots of velcro."

Ok - Didn't know if it was K&K or someone else. I've heard about some of the executive protection driving stuff - freakin' nuts.

I sat next to a guy from St. John's Ambulance at EMS Today's JEMS games... found out all about the UK driving certs for ambulance and the scotland yard "shooter teams" also freakin' nuts.

"tactical is anything spray painted black with lots of velcro."

I'm lovin' it.



Jon

 

[KEVD18]

luno: can you link me to the site where you got that info. i'd really like to read more about it. thanks

 

[TTLWHKR]

<_< We're painted khaki and green.

 

[Luno]

CONTOMS website

There ya go, it's under ICE now, but same program

 

[Luno]

Hey, hand guns are not much use for anything anyway, we were doing ballistics testing and they didn't even penetrate a car door, however my M4 does really cool stuff through car doors, including turning the inside into additional projectiles! BTW Tricam, since I'm sure you're reading this too, we did this at HRE, but I'm sure you're up to date on barriers, since you were a d-boy B) .

 

[Firechic]

Hey, hand guns are not much use for anything anyway, we were doing ballistics testing and they didn't even penetrate a car door

My handgun doesn't have to penetrate car doors, as long as it penetrates the tissue of my target - that's all I care about.
(That is if I absolutely, positively have to use deadly force!!!!!)

 

[Luno]

But have you ever studied what actually happens in the seconds after a GSW? The total time to incapacitation, the psychosomatic reactions vs. physiological reactions to a GSW? It's interesting stuff, and I guarantee it will change your opinions of the effectiveness of deadly force. It's extraordinarily interesting, and you will never look at a gun the same way again. Look at GSW statistics, wounds, etc... but then look at the surviveability of the human body, it's an outstanding comparison.

luke

 

[ECC]

You handgun is useless unless it GETS the projectile to the flesh of your target...

 

[Luno]

ECC, yeah, and if they're wearing a leather jacket, just hope you don't have a 9mm .

 

[ECC]

Two to the chest one to the head (right in the nose, if I am not mistaken)...right?

I personally am fond of my H&K USP .40

If that cannot do the job...the 870 or the M15A4 (t) is not too far away :blink:

 

[rescuecpt]

h34r: We were listening to the scanner this morning for a hostage situation in the next town over - high powered rifle... we were doing the pee-pee dance waiting for the call, but it never came. Damn ES "diffused" the situation... <_<