Posted on Sep 12, 2015
Training for a day that I pray never happens: Have you ever hoped it was for naught?
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I find myself asking what I can do to further my mission. I obtain extra-curricular training to augment my mission parameters and assist me in being a better soldier. I find myself longing for the day when my efforts are fruitful and that's when it hits me: In order for me to obtain some tangible benefit from my efforts, something very bad must happen; many must suffer or even die in order for it to be bad enough for us to be called into service. So then, I must pray that my skills have been obtained unnecessarily. Whereas unlike a doctor where a need exists whether there be competent people to fill it, in the case of disaster or war neither is as prolific as sickness.... if I were not here, would there be a void or am I just training in futility?
Posted in these groups: 
Army National Guard
Air National GuardCalifornia ARNG
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Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 13
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I take it that you are a medic. I started out my career as a medic. I found that you start now and you do not have to wait for something bad to happen. What has been lost is the Combat portion of the Combat Medic. Here is what the old Viet Nam guys taught me. You are the senior safety NCO regardless of your rank. Get to know your assigned unit members story, their names, their families, their beliefs. Your protection of them starts now, not when they are injured. If they are doing a task get dirty and do it with them so that they trust you, and know if any one of them goes down you will be able to stitch them up and step-in to keep them alive. The part about you being a non-combatant is crap....4-8 seconds was the average time a medic lived during conflict....In today's war you are a target like everyone else, in fact you and the Chaplain usually carry a bounty on your heads, so wear it well. In AFG, IRQ and definitely if we fight anyone else...So as such you must be firstly competent as a warrior, the most vicious the hardest fighter and the most in shape. You are a leader regardless of your rank. They must trust you because you may be the single greatest asset that will get them back home to Moma's apple pie.
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SPC Steven Nihipali
Fucking amen!! I had media that weren't worth the shit they had. A female medic that barely got Army standards and training skills less than. Another medic was hat all about how much muscle he could build, cared nothing of the actual combatant forces we saw every day. When you have a very large soldier, 260+ pounds, and you can't haul his ass anywhere... We've got a problem. My dad used to say that when we think we've accomplished one weight, you're never through with it, you're just opening up to the next weight. True, firefighting is different, but the standards are none the less that important. Fireman carry 300#, 320#, 350#, when you're done with that, start in 2 man carry, double needle sticks, triple, etc. There is ALWAYS something you can do to further your combat skills. Just gotta find it
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I feel as though you are looking for validation in your skill set. So long as you train as you fight, remain up to date on newest information available for your MOS and are confident in your skills, than when you are called in to action, you will feel justified. It is when one starts to think that they are training for "naut" that they don't try as hard to maintain the highest level of discipline within their realm of practice. You can be competent and validated if you put your best effort in to everything you do.
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CPL (Join to see)
For me it's not really about validation. I had to add the "Have you ever hoped it was for naught" because some admin changed my question to "How do I train for something I pray never happens." I guess every post has to be a question; one cannot simply post a thought. Hence, the addition of "Have you ever hoped it was for naught"
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