Details on AIT for 68W?

[Ronnie C]

Hey everyone,
I'll be going to BCT in about a month or so..
And after that, I'll be coming back to SATX for AIT as a 68W..

Now, I've heard ALOT of stories and rumors from fellow TX-ARNG soldiers..
Can anybody tell me a little bit about the training and what entails?
That way I can better prepare myself and my Psyche for it..

Any help would be appreciated,
Especially from fellow 68W soldiers!

[Administrator Mike]

PFC Cisneros, I see this post was not answered yet. I am sure you are in the middle of training and doing great. For those visitors who stumble across this thread, 68W training is done in several phases the first consisting of EMT-B training. In your first couple days you will conduct orientation and your CPR training and go directly into EMT-B classes. After 6 weeks, you will test your EMT-B National Registry followed by 10 weeks of advanced medical training.

[LoneStarSoldier]

Ronnie, once you read this I'm sure you'll be a newly-minted medic. Good luck at your unit and on the 36 ID's next deployment. Hope to see you in Afghanistan.

[T1ger8oi]

Ronnie, once you read this I'm sure you'll be a newly-minted medic. Good luck at your unit and on the 36 ID's next deployment. Hope to see you in Afghanistan.

hey lonestar, your msg says that you are 68W combat medic. can you clarify something for me? is 68w a combat medic or a health care specialist? if joining as 68W, does that automatically means that you will be in combat some times during your service? if so, what is the maximum time that they can deploy you overseas? ive been looking into 68w for a short while and what ****** me in is that they provide service if natural disaster occurs. i wanna be a medic and be able to help people in desperate times. i dont mind getting deployed(if i were to join), i just dont want it to be like the same as those joining active duty or those in the reserves being activated, which im guessing they serve overseas for quite awhile. if anyone has been through almost the whole service of a 68W, can you give me some insights to this? thanks

[T1ger8oi]

******.. i just posted a comment here. where did it go.....?

[FireRescue]

T1ger8oi, I too am a 68W however I have not been deployed so I dont have information for you on that other than to say that I am in a National Guard Cavalry unit and if they get deployed I will be on the ground with them. As far as the confusion between Healthcare Specialist and Combat Medic is that they are basically interchangeable titles for 68W MOS it just depends on what type of unit you are in as to what you are called, combat unit=Combat Medic medical support unit=healthcare specialist. Another thing to think about is have you taken your ASVAB yet as it requires a fairly decent score to have 68W open to you. Something else I will mention to you is that currently there are skill identifiers that are attached to 68W for other jobs such as 68WM6 is a nurse, however sometime in the near future they are supposed to be getting there own MOS for that, and all the other skill identifers. Also I believe the Army as a whole just changed deployments to 9 months from 12 months but I may be mistaken.

[T1ger8oi]

T1ger8oi, I too am a 68W however I have not been deployed so I dont have information for you on that other than to say that I am in a National Guard Cavalry unit and if they get deployed I will be on the ground with them. As far as the confusion between Healthcare Specialist and Combat Medic is that they are basically interchangeable titles for 68W MOS it just depends on what type of unit you are in as to what you are called, combat unit=Combat Medic medical support unit=healthcare specialist. Another thing to think about is have you taken your ASVAB yet as it requires a fairly decent score to have 68W open to you. Something else I will mention to you is that currently there are skill identifiers that are attached to 68W for other jobs such as 68WM6 is a nurse, however sometime in the near future they are supposed to be getting there own MOS for that, and all the other skill identifers. Also I believe the Army as a whole just changed deployments to 9 months from 12 months but I may be mistaken.

thanks for the reply FireRescue. sounds like its tough to get into a 68W position. ive searched and there are 68W openings. but i am not ready for it. gotta build up my body first. im really leaning towards joining more and more after reading and researching about this. i hope i can be physically qualified to join soon. and about that 9 month deployment, theres an article on the military website stating that starting this year, they changed deployment to 9 months. for a typical civilian like me, this sounds like they can only deploy you for 9 months max(with the exception of national emergency alert). but theres probably some fine print on there that only soldiers will understand.

By the way FireRescue, have you been sent to disaster reliefs? and do the national guard help other nations if they have a big disaster strike like in japan?

[T1ger8oi]

thanks for clearing that up Futureengineer. im gonna ease off the research for now and just focus on building my body. hopefully ill be ready soon. and hopefully my life wont change for good, like finding a soul mate or strike rich. thatll make it hard to decide.

[Chief Kemosabe]

Healthcare Specialist (91A in its time) and Combat Medic (91B during its time) was merged in 1998 into 91W, formally changed in 2004 to 68W.

Only reason I know this is because one of my brothers (non-biological) is retiring later this year. (He's a CSM of a Medical Battalion) He joined initially as a 91B (Combat Medic) but then had to transfer over to W to get rid of his "Y" identifier to continue his Army Career. (Had to get his NREMT-B, he' NREMT-P now, but back in his time, EMT Certification was not required to be a Medic, just like it's not required for Navy HMs today)

Hopefully this may fix some confusion of Combat Medic vs Healthcare Specialist? (they were seperate occupations once upon a time, but have been merged to allow greater career advancement, etc. Just like they did with 11E, F, G, and 11H, and 11M by merging them all into 11B and 11F (Heavy Mortarman) into 11C, It's nice knowing Vietnam guys, they can tell you a lot about Army History)

Very good for an applicant. But never discount the Persian Gulf and combat vets of today. They are one great bunch!!