medic training

April 18 2010

Corey is pretty busy day and night with his medic training and has given me permission to continue his blog. My Mom, Corey's grandmother, and I went to San Antonio to visit Corey April 8-12 and had a great time playing tourist and catching up with Corey's army life. It may take me a few entries, but I'll try to capture some of what has occurred already.

After too many weeks in reception, Corey moved "down range" to begin the EMT portion of his medic training, on Jan. 25 if I recall correctly. Most of the kids expected that army life after basic training would be a little different, but the first phase of AIT offers few privileges and continuous "smokings" for the slightest infraction. Corey began his training with CPR and then moved into the EMT training. This is largely hours upon hours in a classroom setting and not too fondly identified as 'death by powerpoint.' Corey did great, maintaining an honors average with grades over 90 on each of his quizzes and tests. The experience was pressure-filled with at least 3 tests a week. The ongoing intensive physical training and 8-10 hours a day of classroom and study time wore everyone down on occasion.

Each soldier lives with the fear of failing the tests and being reclassified out of medic training. That means that if a test is failed twice, a soldier might be forced to go back to week one and start again, or might have to select a different MOS - army job. It is crummy when that happens because there are far fewer choices when reclassified and many wind up as a foot soldier in the infantry. Corey started out with about 320 people in his company and it is down now to about 250. Fortunately, he passed everything on the first try and is now certified as an EMT just like the folks who ride in ambulances in our local towns.

Corey says he is enjoying the practical skills he is learning. He can now start an IV, give injections, perform a tracheotomy, insert a nasal breathing tube (really gross - you can see it being done on utube), splint broken bones, apply tournequets and a bunch of other stuff I forget. The trainees practice all these things (except the trach)on each other and Corey showed us his 'battle scars'...needle marks all up and down his arm! Once they learn these type of skills, they practice and practice to do it faster and have it become second nature.

This coming Friday, Corey goes to Camp Bullis where he will live in the field and learn more battle field techniques. David, Evan and I are going to Ft Sam for Corey's graduation on May 14.