Do field medics in the military carry weapons?

Question

please put source of answer.

Answer 1

yes they do,, i carried an m9 and an m16 when i was a corpsman in kosovo. many people will tell you they don't do to them being non-combatants, but alot of medics(corpsman) carry a rifle. this is for a few reasons, one the extra rifle can come in handy in a fire fight as well and for there protection, a 9mm is no good after 15 meters( they say 25 but in a fire fight that's not true)and a rifle has alot longer range (good shooter up to 500 meters). i looked at it as preventive medicine the more of them you take out the less you are going to have to work on your marines.

Answer 2

Yes they do. In the Army they carry long guns (rifles) while Hospital Corpsman serving with the US Marines still carry only the Berretta 9mm. This is changing though due to the nature of the new class of warfare and the fact that no one really follows the Geneva Convention anymore in todays unconventional warfare. So more and more Hospital Corpsman are deploying to the badlands carrying both an M-16 and a 9.

Answer 3

American Forces: Army & Navy Corpsmen

Weapons Status

WWI - No
WWII Pacific - Yes except for Conscientious objector medics in army
WWII Europe, Italy, North Africa – No
Korea - Yes
Vietnam Yes except for Conscientious objector medics in army
Iraq: Yes

Navy Corpsmen and some Army medics are given addition combat training (101st ran school last year)

In Vietnam a field medic with an infantry battalion unless he was a conscientious objector might carry an M-16 and/or .45 automatic, I even had a few medics carry a Remington 870 pump shotgun.

Bottom line in WWII against the Japanese a medic/corpsman had no choice as the enemy was ruthless. In the war against the Germans, well believe it or do not the German Army did honor the “red cross” on a universal level via command orders. Also it was simple: do not shot the medics on either side was just logical for both sides as soldiers do care about their wounded. Respect was, of course, not given by from certain SS Nazi units and those were “no quarter” engagements. The film “A Bridge to Far” shows the considerations given to medical personnel. At Bastogne the 101st Airborne lost its medical battalion (326th Medical) to the Germans, all became POW’s but until they were evacuated they treated wounded of both sides. Hospitals in the field were not deliberately target and few were hit by other than artillery. A German pilot did at Anzio bomb a field hospital.

On A&E or the History Channel there is a documentary with George C Scott (Patton) hosting a programme on “Combat Medicine”. I was the technical advisor and appear in numerous scenes. I also served a tour with the 4/31st Infantry in Vietnam and another tour with the 326th Medical Battalion of the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, then six months in an aviation unit.

Navy Corpsmen serving with our Marines are given a FMF course prior to joining a marine unit. Being a “Doc” is a great responsibility and honor. The grunts return much affection for their “Doc’s” as do Army infantryman. Trust me few “Doc’s ever lost a bar fight.

Needless to say the casualty rate for all medics was high, in Vietnam we lost over 2,000
Navy Corpsmen and Army medics out of the 58,000 plus killed. Of these about 300 were
Army Conscientious Objectors, who were mostly Seven Day Adventists and Pentecostals church members. Three CO medics received the Medal of Honor (1 WWII Desmond Doss) two were posthumous awards for Vietnam (Joseph Guy LaPointe and Tom Bennett).

The medic in Saving Private Ryan is another good film example as are the medics in “Platoon”, “Hamburger Hill” and such.
In a Platoon, squad size movements there is no role in today’s warfare for an unarmed medic, he would just be in-the-way. Elite units such as Navy Seals and Special forces are cross trained and include a “Doc” but that “Doc” is also a qualified soldier.

The Army maintains the practice since Vietnam of having unarmed medical evacuation helicopters. In Iraq we have lost several entire crews. A minor note: in Vietnam the 1st Cav’s Med-Evac” did use M-60 door gunners.

Answer 4

My Father was a combat surgeon in ww2, they (the enemy) were not supossed to shoot at the red cross on the helmets, or ambulances but, bombs and stray bullets have no direction, so many doctors were killed, he did have a .45 side arm, I don't know if it was issued or not, he did say that he was almost killed on a few occassions, an unexploded german bomb dropped 3 feet from him in a fox hole, luckily a dud, he heard the thump, and someone pointed it out to him the next day, he almost fainted he said, a german p[lane straffed his jeep on a hill top in Italy, he jumped out, broke his ankel, he went in on the invasion of Sicily, Serlerno, Anzio, He hit the beach, heard a fantastic boom, and turned around to watch his "Transport" ship go down, with all his belongings on it, as well as chasing "Rommel" all over the dessert with "Patton", he said when he fist got there, he could NOT get over the fact that people were trying to kill him, after a short while, he just gave up hope, on coming home alive, I'm glad that he lived, or I would'nt be here now. Strange things happen in war, his uncle was on a destroyer in ww1 and was washed off the ship while outside during a great storm, another wave came along and washed him back on the ship where he hooked his elbows around the ships railing, true story !

Answer 5

YES , besides the medic's bag I carried ammo,M-16, 45 cal Colt auto. pistol, the only Medics that DID NOT carry a weapon was the conscious objector ( for religious reasons) So really I guess the answer would be YES and NO!!

Answer 6

I would say yes... There are only a limited amount of field medics compared to offensive infantry so they probably get some of the best defence.

Answer 7

Canadian Forces medics are always armed and they fall under everyone else's rules of engagement.

Even our medical officers are armed, but their own ROE's are different because of the Hypocratic Oath and can only use their weapons in self-defense and the defense of their patients.

The only people who come unarmed are the chaplains.

Answer 8

No they don't. Even in the make believe world of moviedom, have you ever seen a medic cary firearms?

Answer 9

Great point, I'm interested to know more too

Answer 10

that's a tricky question