I know a guy who was a medic in the Air Force. He went into real estate for a while, but then he became a Physician’s Assistant. Of course he had to go to school for it, but it was a natural career progression for him.
USAF PJ’s are some tough troops. My niece worked with a lot of them after she retired from the Army w/26 yrs in ABQ at Sandia. Some hard work and arduous training involved. I seem to remember hearing it took 2 years to obtain all the quals.
Folks, this is a silly argument. I was a Corpsman in Viet Nam (granted that is ancient history) but I can tell you two things.
The first is that not all Corpsman are the same. Some are bedpan pushers and some are independent duty qualified. So the designation of Corpsman or Medic is not a uniform thing.
The second is that field medical school is oriented toward trauma control and triage for shipping to an aid station. It is a very specialized discipline and, unlike EMTs, you are generally our of touch and on your own. So what you do either works or some poor guy pays a price. However, you know virtually nothing about pharmacology, diagnosis or treatment other than physical injury.
You would, however, be surprised at the number of ex field medical personnel who went on to become physicians or, later, PAs.
To quote an old Gunny that I knew once: “Quiturbitchin” and get on with it.
After the Vietnam War many of the medics became physician assistants. They ended up working on the Alaska Pipeline, oil rigs and in ERs.
Ditto with our doctor’s PA...he spent his Army time as a medic. He’s more thorough than the doc, IMO.