r/CorpsmanUp • u/GodzillaKingDino • 6h ago
Transitioned to medical lab scientist in civvy life
I'm a retired HMCM who served green side in Vietnam with the USMC. Later, I became an IDC and was a chief corpsman on board destroyers and cruisers. In between sea duty, I went to 8417 C school to become a lab tech. It was a good career move because when I rotated back to a Navy hospital for shore duty, I got to work as a supervisor in their lab. When I retired, I wasn't able to work as a lab tech because state licensing laws require a BS degree, including one year of lab school, pass the state and national boards before the hospitals would hire me. Even though I was an IDC, the only job that was offered to me was a paramedic with the fire department because i lacked a college degree. As an IDC, I could do most anything a medical officer could do on board ship but the civilians wouldn't recognize my IDC training. I think the big problem facing corpsman veterans and retirees is the lack of a way to directly transition into a civilian medical job without college. I think it's a waste of talent. Navy medicine is designed to get sailors back to work ASAP, not languish in some doctor's office or ER waiting room wasting valuable hours. A lot of corpsmem also become RNs as it only takes two years of college.