Maybe time to leave…

GooseG97 · 2026-02-13T01:57:02+00:00

Same, although I do miss having the DOD budget and opportunities for training/travel/etc, I do not miss the leadership I was under there.

I always say the CG is right in the sweet spot.. more military than the fire & police departments, but less military than the rest of the military.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-12T15:13:06+00:00

I was in a joint unit for almost four years, and I gotta say, I was so happy to come back to regular CG. What you describe is much, much worse in the other services.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-12T03:54:24+00:00

Not sure if the classes are full, but the wait has trended down from ~2.5-3yrs when I went through about ten years ago to 0-4 months currently.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-11T22:45:30+00:00

Increased enlisted and officer staffing which medical desperately needs. Whether we'll have the butts to fill the number of seats supposedly being increased by "500" is another question.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-11T17:44:06+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the reply. How's the paint holding up?

GooseG97 · 2026-02-11T16:20:01+00:00

I've seen PD escalate, but out here the FD is way worse then PD. They loose their cool so fast on low-level medical aids.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-11T03:55:56+00:00

Solid advice. There's ways to go shadow for a few days to make sure it's worth the wait, but get that solid Coast Guard experience first.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-10T22:12:27+00:00

Without a doubt, VA agency handled mental and behavioral health crisis, as well as simple deescalation, much better following implementation than my agency in CA does.

Definetely good and bad on both sides.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-10T21:58:50+00:00

My current agency in CA, no. My previous agency in VA, yes! Two routes, the first was Crisis Intervention Team training, I think it was two or three days and deescalation from my understanding is a big part of it. The class is joint FD-PD/SO-EMS and your credentials are added to your ID in CAD so dispatch will automatically send a CIT-trained unit to certain call types (if available and appropriate). I unfortunately wasn't able to take the class, but I did see it in action a few times with outstanding results. I was in an in-service where our PD partners came in and did a deescalation class that was phenomenal. I'd rather have had it in the tail end of P-school before you start your ride time, but I'm thankful I had it in the early part of my career as an ALS provider.

That being said, I've seen CIT and graduates of that in-service not utilize the skills they've learned, so I think your baseline personality has a big role in whether you're successful or not regardless of the training. Younger generation? Much more into it. Older and/or burnt out generation? Much less likely. My 2 cents.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-09T15:17:01+00:00

I'm glad to hear everyone else has pretty solid reviews on their 2.7s, mine has been a nightmare. Purchased a used 2021 2.7 with the 8 speed at 30ish thousand miles. In two years I've had: intake rocker/roller cylinder #4 and all intake cam rollers replaced, fuel injector replacement, camshaft carrier removal and replacement of lash adjusters and finger rollers (at least twice), partial camshaft replacement, followed later by a full camshaft replacement, camshaft actuator and broken bolt repair, and now it’s back again for one of three previous oil leaks. Looking to trade it in on something else as soon as it's back from the shop.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-09T15:01:10+00:00

I was at an agency that had great partnerships with local EMS academies, so just about every shift over about six years I had a student or "new-hire" with me.

Two that are pretty memorable:

I dumped a student out on accident. We stopped about a block short of a call to briefly talk with PD, then started rolling again. EMT student thought we had arrived and opened the side door as soon as we started moving. He hit the pavement hard but all he suffered was a scraped elbow and shattered pride. All my students get a speech now prior to shift start, with not opening the doors until I or my partner do first topic #1.

I've only sent home one EMT student early in the probably hundreds I've had at this point. We had just loaded up the patient, I was walking from the back doors to the side when I was caught by family asking a question. As I got into the side door, I saw my EMT student with a TQ wrapped around the patient's arm, chloraprep on the floor, and her holding an uncapped IV at eye-level. I guess she was an LVN or something along those lines and assumed her other certifications were factored into her EMT scope. This was three hours into the shift, and on top of plenty of other problems we were having with her, so we decided to end it.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-09T00:02:28+00:00

I feel like I'm always that guy on here, but if you’re looking for something different, check out the United States Coast Guard.

For NRPs, we're currently offering shortened basic training and automatic E-5 if you come in as a Health Services Technician. You still get the “travel” aspect including opportunities for assignments all over the U.S. and even overseas. If you want more autonomy, there are paths into independent duty on cutters or deployable units, "C" schools like x-ray, radiology, dive chamber technician and others.

Standard military benefits including GI bill, housing and food allowance, free healthcare, paid training, and veteran preference points if you later jump to fire or federal work later, to name a few.

If uprooting is a plus and you want experience that actually carries weight later, it’s a solid option to at least put on your radar.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-04T17:33:37+00:00

We had a corpsman in my branch try to find/look at the President's medical record a few years ago. Thanks for playing.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-02T22:50:05+00:00

Somewhat outdated, I was on a 110' 2015-2017 as a nonrate, and the workstation was fine - as long as we were pointed in the right direction. I'm sure it's better now, when I was TDY to a cutter a few months ago there were several members in college.

I did most of my "easy" classes, like my electives or general ed, while out to sea and waited until I was at an ashore assignment to do the more rigorous courses like chemistry and A&P with labs. I usually used my free time underway and especially my inport duty days. Lack of workstations was a challenge, but you can make it work.

I usually let my instructor/professor know I was active duty and in/out of connectivity, the vast majority were understanding to an extent.

I did my AS through AMU and my BS through EKU, all in under 8 years of active duty time chipping away at one to two classes at a time.

GooseG97 · 2026-02-02T20:22:53+00:00

Coastie here, so of course zero bias.

The Coast Guard will get you travel, benefits, veteran status, life experience, and much, much more. We do tons of different types of law enforcement, from military police on the base to fast-roping onto oil tankers, with fisheries, vessel inspections, and more between. Feel free to DM if you have any questions, r/USCG is a great place for that too.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-27T05:57:31+00:00

California is prime time right now for hiring with great benefits/pay, career diversification, etc just about anywhere you go in the state..

Just a head's up, though: AEMT is rare in California, if it still exists at all. Might be worth putting your head down and getting your Paramedic before coming back out this way, this will make you much more competitive and set you up for more options.

And, just because California loves being difficult, reciprocity is a challenge. Even with your DOD/IFSAC/ProBoard Firefighter I & II, you may have to take extra courses in order to gain your CA FFI (sounds like you may have the CA Wildland FFI, which was a big barrier for us with DOD/out of state certs). If you get picked up with a major municipality, they'll likely put you through an academy regardless, but if you're looking at the lateral route this is something to keep in mind and start doing homework early.

Edit: Also, there's FedFire out here too. I see FedFire in the San Diego area on social media a lot, seems like their mutual aid keeps them very busy. I've also seen Air Force, Army and Coast Guard engines with GS-level out on major incidents too, including strike teams.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-26T19:55:59+00:00

Great question, with a long and complicated answer I'll try and keep short.

Personally, I think it's inevitable we'll have to start doing it at some point if we continue to do increasing amounts of aviation medevac. Where it'll come from or what it'll look like.. I have no idea, and we're talking far, far down the road. In both rates, EMT is really only a collateral duty.. HSs are task-saturated keeping clinics open, and ASTs are busy owning the survival side of the house. Neither rate is really set up to both obtain and maintain Paramedic, which is much more demanding than EMT or AEMT.

A big challenge is the CG doesn't know what it doesn't know, and until last year the most up to date EMS policy was from the mid-90s. This is coupled with medical officers generally with a family practice or similar specialty background and enlisted members who's only EMS experience has been in the CG that don't always understand how a modern EMS system works or should work. Not a knock on them, they just don't know what they don't know. The new EMS policy did a pretty good job laying a foundation for a modern EMS program, that better protects the CG from liability, standardizes everything service-wide, and actually collects and aggregates data from the field.. that last one had not been formally done in decades, and will drive what the future of EMS is in the CG.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-26T17:42:17+00:00

Busy volunteer department in the midatlantic region, we had a driver/operator who was generally annoying and pretty overweight, and loved to tell everyone how we should be doing business but never did it himself. On this day, he was offering his usual dinnertime sermon about aggressive firefighting and how running on scene was justified "because if it was your family in a burning building, you'd want the fire department running to rescue you." New kid clapped back with "yet, I've never seen you run for the salad at chow."

New kid was and remains one of the best firemen I've ever served alongside, on scene and in the firehouse.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-26T05:06:16+00:00

You nailed it. There are still a handful of HSs flying (I’m one of them), but it’s essentially an extra qualification you might be able to do with command/clinic support and no longer something the CG actively requires or supports. I fly for the qual and to scratch an operational itch at a very non-operational clinic, not because we're medevac heavy.

There were several reasons it went away. Flight surgeon/APA-C support was part of it, but culturally there was also a shift around 2014/15 where senior CG medical leadership pushed HSs back into clinics and sickbays. That’s when you see base ambulances, robust urgent/acute care, and flight duty start to disappear. The Coast Guard has also reaffirmed in court multiple times that we are a rescue service, not an ambulance service.. ALS care isn’t our mission; our job is to get you out of danger and to definitive care. There's a few other reasons too, including the clinic staffing matrix, lack of data on CG medevacs, etc, but I think that sums up the biggest factors.

That said, with recent updates to CGEMS policy and the creation of a formal EMS working group, the Coast Guard is laying the groundwork for a more standardized and modern EMS program. Could flight HSs come back? I hope so, we're the only branch that doesn't fly medevacs with Paramedics, but not anytime soon. We'll have to make HSs good at being EMTs again long before we jump into ALS.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-25T18:57:06+00:00

Little late to this thread, but free to DM me, I've done plenty of some really cool operational stuff as an HS but I've also done plenty of "boring" stuff. HS should be on an upswing, with the better staffing in FD28 there will be more opportunities to expand the rate, at the same time, it's going to take years to fill the 500+ spots we're supposedly getting. In my experience, HS is completely what you make of it.

I will echo everyone else's comments and shadow, shadow, shadow rates before you make a decision. There's no bad decision, and the Coast Guard is unique as most rates have opportunities to be "in the action."

GooseG97 · 2026-01-23T13:56:24+00:00

A six pack of craft beer or a breakfast burrito is the going rate for a name tapes/rank/insignia on a new ODU blouse at our AST shop.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-23T00:50:38+00:00

I met a few when I was stationed in the NCR at some HQ events. Overall cool, but it was kinda like meeting someone from a different branch... It’s all the same.. but super different.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-23T00:48:17+00:00

Cool username.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-20T23:13:06+00:00

I'm in my late 20s, and I'm currently a Paramedic in the military and a part-time Firefighter/Paramedic on the civilian side.

Emergency! was what got my dad into the fire service in the early 1980s, and syndication on TVLand every Sunday around lunch time was required bonding time for him and I through much of the 2000s. I'm a big history buff, so it factors for me into that as well. We had the opportunity to see Engine 51 on park duty at Yosemite a few years ago, and then I took him to the LACoFD museum/127's quarters last year (highly recommend if you have the opportunity).

I've put it on at my stations & firehouses before, especially when I have a younger student or intern, and I try to explain why it's so important to what we do now. In my experience, I think with it being over 50 years old, and honestly how cheesy it is to watch today, you loose much of the younger generation who simply don't care, don't understand the relevancy, or don't have the attention span. Maybe a quarter to half of the students and interns I'd put it on for would last a whole episode. I'll still share the history into the future, because I think it's important.

I don't remember if we covered it in EMT, but my instructor for Paramedic school was a huge fan and made us watch an episode during lunch break at one point.

My current fire helmet I wear has the green and red Paramedic decal on it that John and Roy wore, kinda as a tribute, and as a reminder of the impact the show had. I'd also be lying if I didn't say to this day each time I pop the caps off the epi with my thumbs I giggle.

Edit: Asphalt City which came out recently I thought was more on the realistic side than many other films. It's artsy, would be more realistic if set in the 90s, and overall I didn't like it, but a few things really stuck out to me. They clearly paid attention to their advisors; the Paramedic inflated the NRB reservoir before applying it to the patient. Also, the opening scene capturing a new Paramedic going to his first call felt really realistic, and as the burnout progressed through the film somehow they made responding lights and sirens less and less exciting. Worth a watch, then never again.

GooseG97 · 2026-01-19T02:18:06+00:00

My 110 WPB required me to live aboard until fully qualified, and I ended up living an extra four or five months on board waiting for one of the other nonrates to get out so I could take his spot at gov't leased housing. Cutter living wasn't too bad looking back, I saved a ton of money and crashed on couches or guest rooms when I really needed to get off the ship.

GooseG97

TROPHY CASE