What do I do?
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Well, this has come up many times in various E-mails and comments. I'm a soldier in the army, but what in the army do I do?
Well, I'll give you a quick Bio. I'm a Soldier in the United States Army Reserve out of Washington State. My job skill is 91S, Preventive Medicine Specialist. Most people really don't have a good clue as to what I do. When I say anything with the word Medicine in it, immediately everyone thinks 'Medic!' No, I am not a medic. In fact, I have very little contact with patient care. When I say I prevent disease, most people assume that I must give Immunizations and such. Er, no, not that either. My job is the prevention of Disease and Non-Battle injuries. If it is preventable, its my job to prevent it. Granted, its really easy to prevent gunshot wounds by avoiding gunfire, but that's where the non-battle part comes in. Preventable Disease generally consists of Food and Waterbourne Disease, Entomology, and communicable Disease. We make sure that the water is safe to drink, the food is prepared in a manner that will not make people sick, and there aren't excess critters that like to bite people and spread nasties such as Malaria and Leishmaneisis. We also have a hand in industrial hygiene and often are involved with taking air and soil samples so that there isn't junk that will make the troops sick. A lot of this has to do with Education and making sure the troops know how to keep themselves healthy. Which includes, literally, not screwing around. When any troop goes into theater, they get the Medical Threat Briefing. Guess who gives it? Yes, Preventive Medicine. Public health is our concern, if the troops are immobile because of dysentary, it makes it difficult for them to do their job, which is to fight the war. So, in a nutshell, my job is to make the warfighter healthy and able to fight the war. There is some potential for humanitarian aid, but my concern is the troops. Needless to say, because our job coincides with the phrase 'health inspector', we aren't that popular. Gotta love Preventive Med!
Posted by Erickson on 3:27 PM : (((
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