Flight medics, what is your job like?

Do it. That’s about as blunt as I can be. The job is rewarding like no other. You get trained to a high level medically that others do not and you perform a skill set that is known and respected throughout the Army. I did 5 years as a ground medic before I came to aviation, which I’ve been doing for the last 6, and my only regret was that I didn’t know how to become a flight medic sooner.

To your question though, stateside really depends on the unit. You will train, a lot. Some units have missions that support the local medical systems and get to do patient transfers and roadside POI pickups, which is what we do here at Fort Rucker in addition to our crash rescue mission.

Deployment is pretty cut and dry, if you’re on duty, and get the call, you go! Pretty simple really. There’s intricacies of how everything works, but that’s something you learn the longer you are a part of a MEDEVAC.

All I can say is just do it. Drop the packet, change your life. Having done both I can say that the culture in aviation is way different and in my opinion better than it is on the ground. Why that is I honestly have no idea, but it just is in my opinion.

Best of luck and feel free to add me as a contact if you need specific questions answered, I’m happy to help!

Being a flight medic was one of the most rewarding things I did in the Army. I loved the people I worked with, and I felt like my expertise made a real difference. It can be hard and stressful. You have to train well, and be great at what you do; without being able to ask for another opinion, you make the right call or you don’t. Bad calls usually mean poor outcomes. That’s a lot of stress. Every time you launch is someone else’s worst day.
For me it was worth it, and I will always be glad to have spent time as DUSTOFF, stateside and deployed.