Military looking for a few good medics

[Ilsa]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8143733/
Military looking for a few good medics
... and surgeons, and RNs, and radiologists, too

NEWARK, N.J. — Sirens wailing, Ed Wheat’s ambulance races through the streets of Newark en route to yet another GSW. In Wheat's world, that's shorthand for gun shot wound. Newark is a city so rough that no one but the state government is willing to take responsibility for emergency medical care. Wheat’s crew is often the first on the scene of traumatic accidents, stabbings and gun battles.

SNIP

Coolness under pressure and his experience with gun and knife wounds makes the 34-year-old the perfect candidate for another job, one the Army and Marine Corps are more and more desperate to fill these days. A few months ago, Wheat and several of his colleagues here were approached by a Navy recruiter who promised a “tax-free $120,000 bonus” if they agreed to sign on as medical consultants with a Marine Corps unit in Iraq.

“I knew what they were asking, and don’t get me wrong, I was tempted,” says Wheat. “That’s a lot of money, and I really want to help. But I worried that I wouldn’t be accepted by the Marines, as an outsider, and I won’t kid you – I thought about getting killed or injured. And I decided. Hey, I’m already doing a job that’s dangerous that no one else wants right here. So I said no.”

Luring trained veterans like Ed Wheat back into the medical corps is a full-time headache for the military, which even in peace time is compelled to offer bonuses and perks that would compare with those available in the private sector. These days, with conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the military attempting to add more than 40,000 new soldiers over the next few years, the challenge is more acute than ever.

[rocktivity]

1. Medical "consultant," my donkey

Coolness under pressure and his experience with gun and knife wounds makes the 34-year-old the perfect candidate for another job...A few months ago, Wheat and several of his colleagues here were approached by a Navy recruiter who promised a “tax-free $120,000 bonus” if they agreed to sign on as medical consultants with a Marine Corps unit in Iraq.
I can see it now--he'll looking over the shoulders of the Marine medics and "consulting" with them as to how their gunshot and knife wounds should be treated. And of course, he'll have Wednesdays off for playing golf!

:headbang:
rocknation

[uppityperson]

2. hell no. n/t