Medical Specialist Corps Officer (65)

• Officer
• Active Duty
• Army Reserve

The Medical Specialist Corps is a diverse and integral part of the Army Health Care Team. Medical Specialist Corps Officers are essential in treating and helping the overall health of Soldiers and their families. From medical fields such as occupational therapy and physical therapy to dietician and physician assistant, the Army Medical Specialist Corps includes four areas of specialty:

Occupational Therapist
As an Army Occupational Therapist, you?ll use your time, skill and creativity working in a wide variety of roles. You?ll not only have the opportunity to perform upper extremity evaluation and treatment, ergonomic evaluation, physical disability rehabilitation and mental health intervention, but you may also serve in the deployed environment on a Combat Stress Control team.

Physical Therapist
Physical Therapists in the Army serve in a number of settings, in a variety of specialized areas and in all phases of treatment. You might perform musculoskeletal screening on new patients, provide amputee care, or get involved in sports medicine.

Dietitian
Keeping Soldiers and their families healthy through nutrition is critical to the success of today?s Army. Working alongside other Health Care professionals, you?ll be an integral part of the Army Medical Team dealing with fitness, health promotion, diabetes, oncology and countless other issues and diagnoses.

Physician Assistant
As a Physician Assistant in the United States Army you will find yourself as the primary Medical Officer of an airborne infantry battalion, armored cavalry squadron, or one of many combat arms or combat support units. It takes a high degree of personal responsibility and confidence in the field of medicine to manage the dual mission of caring for Soldiers in a field environment as well as for the Soldier?s family members in a clinical setting.

The responsibilities of a Medical Specialist Corps Lieutenant may include:

• Commanding and controlling the Medical Specialist Corps units during emergency and non-emergency medical situations
• Coordinating employment of Medical Specialist Corps Soldiers at all levels of command, from platoon to battalion and higher, in U.S. and multi-national operations.

Requirements:

You must be a degreed professional in your area of specialty in the Medical Service Corps.

Training:

As an Army Medical Department (AMEDD) Officer, you won’t participate in the Basic Training that enlisted Soldiers go through. Instead, you’ll attend an Officer Basic Course (OBC), a basic orientation course to the Army Health Care system and the Army way-of-life.

Officer Basic Course for Active Duty Officers is held four times a year at the AMEDD Center in Fort Sam Houston and lasts from ten to 14 weeks. Officers in the Army Reserve go to OBC for two weeks.

Your training time depends on your chosen specialty and whether or not you have prior military experience. You must also meet height and weight standards, as well as pass the Army Physical Fitness Test.

After completing OBC, AMEDD Officers report to their initial Active-Duty assignment. Students return to their academic training following successful completion of OBC.

Helpful Skills:

Being a leader in the Army requires certain qualities. A leader exhibits self-discipline, initiative, confidence and intelligence. They are physically fit and can perform under physical and mental pressures. Leaders make decisions quickly, always focusing on completing the mission successfully, and show respect for their subordinates and other military officers. Leaders lead from the front and adjust to environments that are always changing. They are judged by their ability to make decisions on their own and bear ultimate moral responsibility for those decisions.

Advanced Responsibilities:

Medical Specialist Corps Officers may continue to specialize and serve in the Medical Specialist Corps at ever increasing levels of leadership and responsibility.

Responsibilities of a Medical Specialist Corps Captain may include:

• Commanding and controlling part of a Field Hospital, installation Dental or Medical Activity (DENTAC or MEDDAC), or larger Health Services Command.
• Coordinating employment of Medical Specialist Corps Soldiers at all levels of command, from company to division level and beyond, in U.S. and multi-national operations.
• Developing doctrine, organizations and equipment for unique Medical Specialist and health care missions.
• Instructing medical, laboratory and psychology skills at service schools and medical training centers.
• Serving as medical or health care advisor to other units, including Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve organizations.