Despite Need For Health Care Workers, Military Medics Struggle To Find Jobs

Even as hospitals and clinics nationwide desperately call for more workers amid high burnout during the coronavirus pandemic, qualified veteran military medics face major roadblocks transitioning into civilian health care jobs. NBC's Aaron Gilchrist reports on the often-overlooked struggle and what the military is doing to solve the problem.

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Despite Need For Health Care Workers, Military Medics Struggle To Find Jobs

32 comments

  1. This has been a “PROBLEM”, for years, & not just limited to “MEDICS & CORPMAN”, also other certifications, in different, Occupations, “Certifications”, are not transferred, to STATE Certifications. And also , dislike of Military Service, with State Civil Service, tests.

  2. Not just the medics! Try all veterans! I don’t even put it on my resume or my applications anymore. I have definitely had upper management tell me they feel like military people are entitled before. I really thought when I got out of the military I was gonna work for my local government or even possibly the state. That definitely wasn’t the case and after a while like most I was discouraged.

  3. Military medic are not going to be able to find a job while the job according to the government equals to being a medical assistant you have to have the educational records to show for that and to have been certified by taking national exam. I have the knowledge about this, I would like to point out you need to get back into college and to take and to help you get towards yet you cannot have people that are not certified or academically from college approved courses. One thing about military people is they think they know everything and they go out there until the child will and they don’t accept the date being a military person doesn’t mean that you are qualified to do with God or you don’t need to be told how to do the job I’ve seen this going ,we have one guy who said I was in the military I can do it I know what I’m doing , ah no. Something you got me criticize me about this I respect your opinion but it is a factual truth unfortunately some people do not want to accept I wish them well

  4. It isn’t just vets. I was a nurse for 25 years and when I moved to another state, I had to wait a year to take the state certification exam which was given just once a year. I had just re-ceritified in my own state before moving but that was not accepted. In order to support myself I started waitressing in a local restaurant and just gave up I made more money as a waitress than I did as a nurse!. That was years ago. Medical worker certification needs to be federal, not state by state, particularly in these hazardous times.

    1. States like texas would never go for it.

      This is a problem for many Vets. Most of the knowledge and expertise they amass is not backed up with degrees and certifications. It has been a big problem for a very long time.

    1. TRUMP OFFERED HELP BUT THE DEMOCRAT RUN STATES REFUSED AND LET THE CRIME GOES INSANE. NOW ITS A DEMOCRAT PROBLEM.

  5. So their just now thinking about this?! Wow that is crazy these vets should have been getting these certifications all along! If fact I think they should go back and certify the ones who didn’t receive it.

  6. 3 solutions
    1. the military to have their certification process audited so the people they trained are recognized in the civil world. i mean a budget of 600 billions, this kind of failure is unacceptable
    2. there needs to be a civil certification process, either state run or federal, that provides certification equivalency from field experience.
    3. the medic should take steps to have his valuable experience and knowledge certified by taking the appropriate tests as needed.

    1. Unfortunately the US Dept of War doesn’t have money in its $1 TRILLION dollar budget for stuff like that cuz the corporate whores who own the military industrial complex can’t make enough profit from that silly “health care”

  7. Ironically, tge Army doesn’t give medics any cert that translates to the civilian world. IDK how they haven’t figured it out. As a pharm tech in the Army, I didn’t have this problem. I know they can fix this.

  8. It should be part of the job of the military to ensure their personnel have the qualifications required for a civilian job after their mil career.

  9. There’s an old inside joke in the army. What do you call a med student who graduates bottom of their class? Military doctor.

  10. Requiring certification is nothing new. When I was a teen, I worked as a lab assistant in a medical lab. One of the lab techs was actually an Australian physician, with ten years of experience as an internist in Australia. But, because she lacked the proper certification, she could not practice medicine in the US. It took her over a year to take the appropriate test, and get that certification. Also, military training doesn’t always translate well to civilian medicine. I was a certified phlebotomist, in the state of California, which took me six months of training, and while I was getting my BA in microbiology, while running an experiment on vaccination, we were asked who was a qualified phlebotomist. Only a vet and I had the training, but as I inquired to how much training he had, as we worked, it was obvious that the military requirements were much less than that of the state of California. As certification varies from state to state, I really don’t see how the military could make sure all their people have the correct certification.

  11. So this is just about people who spent only a very short time in the military, like a year or so?

  12. Don’t forget We paid to train them the first time. That bad is on the locals (corporations) not the feds. All the locals need to do is allow all the military personnel to test in and then come up to speed with the civilian vs. military situations. We Paid TO Train Them, put them to work!

  13. A lot of military soldiers have been told the same . It’s okay that you served , but your not qualified to serve us . Sucker that you served, but your not qualified loser , but that’s for serving . 😳 personally I think most feel threatened by qualified military soldiers .

  14. This is a problem in the Australian military as well. My ex was a mechanic in the Navy, but all of his experience meant nothing when he was discharged. I’d LOVE to have a military medic take care of me, especially in a great time of need!

  15. Look I’m a nurse at a large urban hospital and an army medic is NOT a Registered Nurse. That’s why they call us an RN. It’s like a CNA at a nursing home trying to get hired as a nurse, not the same education or training at all

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