68W

68W (often pronounced as 68 Whiskey using the NATO phonetic alphabet) is the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) for the United States Army's Combat Medic Specialist, (Combat Medic) This specialty is open to males and females as well as allowing color vision deficient personnel.

The primary role of 68W healthcare specialists in the U.S. Army is providing medical treatment to wounded soldiers. Other nations and services also have similarly-trained personnel, but this discussion and the following details apply only to those within the United States Army. These medics serve as the basic or first tier of the Army medical system accompanying units as small as platoons (approximately 12-40 soldiers) during training and deployments. Medics provide initial emergency medical care, evacuation, and supervision to other soldiers with medical training (such as Combat Lifesavers) as well as provide medical advice to unit chains of command.

In addition to first responder or combat medical support, medics provide paraprofessional care in medical treatment facilities—battalion aid stations, clinics, hospitals, etc.--to soldiers, military dependents, and authorized civilian personnel. In this capacity, healthcare specialists work under the supervision and purview of physician assistants and physicians and alongside other medical professionals.

Healthcare specialists are initially trained as Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technicians (at the EMT-B level) with additional training in trauma and Army specific techniques and procedures. Maintenance of civilian accreditation is currently required and further education is commonly offered including the opportunity to add additional skill training or—with acceptable civilian education—application to the Inter-service Physician Assistant Program.

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