Medics

[BwapTED]

This is a thread to discuss medics in Traveller, with a special focus on such characters as they might appear in merc units, merchant crews, and other adventure-related situations and organizations.


I'll avoid using a lot of technical jargon, and keep things pretty general.

A medic needs:

• skills, knowledge and certifications appropriate to the level of care he will be expected to provide--includes knowledge of drugs he's allowed to administer/assist with
  
• physical fitness that enables him to perform all the tasks he'll have to do
  
• psychological fitness, an understanding of how to deal with stress
  
• an orientation toward teamwork and service to others, positive values
  
• attention to detail--not just in medical and trauma matters, but in things like paperwork
  
• practical skill in operation and basic maintenance of vehicles, radios, and other equipment

In addition to all the civilian skills and qualifications necessary, a medic in any sort of military organization is going to need the skills of a soldier/sailor/starman, etc. Unless the service includes unarmed medics as a matter of course (the US Army certainly doesn't do it that way, but a at future military might decide otherwise) then he'll be expected to qualify with his assigned weapon. That might be a carbine, a rifle, a pistol, etc.

I'm basically looking at enlisted characters here, the equivalent of medics/corpsmen in American military service, not medical doctors--who would be commissioned officers.

Now, some Trav specific thoughts:


Obviously the character will need Medical-1, as per Book 1 . That's CT. I'm not sure how medical skills work in other rules editions of Trav, but in D20 I imagine we're looking at a minimum of 4 skill ranks in Heal (the most a 1st level character can have).


Air/rafts and other grav vehicles may be very expensive, but they'd make wonderful ambulances. Being able to fly pretty fast, hover low, and land almost anywhere is hard to beat.
Air/raft skill looks good. Even a 0-rank skill would be useful


A one-term Doctor from Supplement 4 may be a civilian medic (esp. if he just has Medical-1).

Any medic in space needs Vacc-Suit 0 , I'd think. But that goes for pretty much all space workers.


I'm curious--has anybody here played a medic or similar character in a Traveller adventure or campaign.
Tell me about it, if you like.

 

[kilemall]

I'm curious, did you read up on my medical drama thread? It very much has the combat medic in mind, although more about being able to generate descriptive material and medical drama then specifically the formation of the combat medic.

I take the damage very seriously and cannot imagine running a team/ship without one.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=36341&highlight=drama

 

[flykiller]

he'll be expected to qualify with his assigned weapon. That might be a carbine, a rifle, a pistol, etc.

viet nam medics seemed to carry sidearms, modern medics seem to carry the m-whateveritisnow. do they? should they? what would you have preferred?

 

[BwapTED]

viet nam medics seemed to carry sidearms, modern medics seem to carry the m-whateveritisnow. do they? should they? what would you have preferred?

In the medical company (forward support), we used the M16A2 and the M4 (carbine version of the M16-- it's pretty much the same weapon, just shorter).
I preferred the carbine as it was shorter and a bit lighter. It was less cumbersome and awkward, especially when working inside an ambulance and when carrying patients on litters.

I qualified with a pistol, thanks to infantry guys taking me along to the range and doing the paperwork, but was never actually issued one.
Pistols were issued to medics in other units. A lot of line medics carried them.

One thing to consider when thinking about weapons is who else is going to be on scene. Is the medic with infantry? He's got lots of firepower at his back, in that case. Grunts really don't like it when people shoot at ''doc."

If he's part of a two man crew for an ambulance, aidman/TC and driver, that's a different story. Of course, ambulances in warzones should be provided with armed escorts. But I have seen some pretty thin escorts, under less than optimal conditions.

There are other factors, but for Trav purposes, I'd say a shipboard medic is probably fine with no weapon at all on normal duty, and like everybody else can grab something from the lockers in the event of a hijacking attempt or other such situation.

Needlers with variable settings that could be used to deliver drugs and as weapons might be a cool SFnal sidearm for a medic. Maybe on a lower velocity setting it could be used for things like injecting (if rather crudely) at a distance the guy you can't reach through the wreckage, thus delivering a life-saving dose of drugs.
And one a high powered setting with different needles/drugs, used as a less than lethal or lethal weapon.

Something like a laser with a backpack is probably a nonstarter. You'd be much better off carrying an oversized aid bag and/or more medical gear and drugs than a heavy powerpack.

 

[BwapTED]

I'm curious, did you read up on my medical drama thread? It very much has the combat medic in mind, although more about being able to generate descriptive material and medical drama then specifically the formation of the combat medic.

I take the damage very seriously and cannot imagine running a team/ship without one.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=36341&highlight=drama

Looks fun!

I'll read over this stuff, think about it, and offer some feedback in the that thread, later.

Must sleep soon.

 

[McPerth]

In addition to all the civilian skills and qualifications necessary, a medic in any sort of military organization is going to need the skills of a soldier/sailor/starman, etc. Unless the service includes unarmed medics as a matter of course (the US Army certainly doesn't do it that way, but a at future military might decide otherwise) then he'll be expected to qualify with his assigned weapon. That might be a carbine, a rifle, a pistol, etc.

That will depend on many factors, as the war conventionss in use, the respect units have on them and the policies of the armies.

In Spain, when I did my military term (then compulsory), back in middle 80's, the medical corps of the Spanish army included the Red Cross (it was also a way to serve your term without really joining the military, and a way to "concience objecting", then not fully regulated by laws), where no true military training was done. As Red Cross member, you could not be forced (nor expected) to carry weapons, even if serving as combat medic in first line.

Of course, combat medics and corpsmen are "protected" by Geneva Convention in nowdays Earth, whatever this might mean...

Little is said about the existence or not of similar conventions in OTU (see this old thread), nor to which point are they abided.

And I guess this would be quite different for those serving as corpsmen in first line and those serving in second line (triage stations) or rearguard (military hospitals). In the two latter cases, personnel wil lbe more "medical" and less "military", so to say, and military skills will be less important than medical ones (and probably some civilian medical personnel will also serve on them).

 

[Condottiere]

Military band members can be tasked with combat support roles, whether signals or stretcher bearers.

Or combat medics.

 

[McPerth]

As an aside, one thing that always amazed me about Traveller skill systemis that , while I've seen many discussions about how broad Gun Combat or Vehicle skills have to be, no one seems to find strange that Medical skill includes all the specialties (that require 4-5 years of residency to lllearn, quite more, I guess, than diferent weapons or vehicles).

Military band members can be tasked with combat support roles, whether signals or stretcher bearers.

Or combat medics.

Funny you give this example, as I was in the band (as piper) in the training camp, and (thoretically) stretcher bearer (as Red Cross member) the rest of my term (in practice, I was detached to Medical corps in administrative duty).

By then, the Spanish Medical corps was basically where all the conscripts that have delayed their term to finish the medical or nursing studies ended to be detached to the medical posts in the various othr units, supported by other conscripts and volunteers whose "tactical duty" was theoretically "stretcher bearer".

In practice, though, none of them knew even how to ensamble a stretcher, to the point that a Sargent asked me and the only other Red Cross member detached there to drill the petty officers on it so that they could drill the privates (in Red Cross we where thoughtly drilled on strecher use).

Also, in the 14 months I was there, only one first aid training course was given to the privates, so I seriously doubt most of the theoretical "corpsmen" and "stretcher bearers" could really perform their duties if needed.

I hope situation has improved since profesionalization of army in Spain...

 

[Condottiere]

My Godfather was in the Marine Corps band, and a stretcher bearer.

 

[mike wightman]

Traveller skills are not created equal. Medic including all subsets is no different to Engineering covering jump drives, maneuver drives and power plants.

Remember to be a doctor you have to have medic 3.

 

[mike wightman]

On the topic of medics in combat - as soon as they pick up a gun they are enemy combatants, they only have Geneva convention protection if unarmed.

If the enemy doesn't respect the convention then arming them for self defence makes sense, but is technically against the rules.

Painting a red cross on your helmet and then firing a gun at someone does not grant you immunity to return fire.

 

[Condottiere]

Some people don't want to shoot others, but still want to serve.

 

[mike wightman]

Yup, and special protection should be offered to those caring for the wounded and dying.

I was always a fan of Suk doctors in Dune...

 

[BwapTED]

That will depend on many factors, as the war conventionss in use, the respect units have on them and the policies of the armies.

In Spain, when I did my military term (then compulsory), back in middle 80's, the medical corps of the Spanish army included the Red Cross (it was also a way to serve your term without really joining the military, and a way to "concience objecting", then not fully regulated by laws), where no true military training was done. As Red Cross member, you could not be forced (nor expected) to carry weapons, even if serving as combat medic in first line.

Of course, combat medics and corpsmen are "protected" by Geneva Convention in nowdays Earth, whatever this might mean...

Little is said about the existence or not of similar conventions in OTU (see this old thread), nor to which point are they abided.

And I guess this would be quite different for those serving as corpsmen in first line and those serving in second line (triage stations) or rearguard (military hospitals). In the two latter cases, personnel wil lbe more "medical" and less "military", so to say, and military skills will be less important than medical ones (and probably some civilian medical personnel will also serve on them).

All excellent points!

RE Geneva Conventions and Traveller--
That does bring up some interesting questions. Does the OTU, or a particular ATU, have similar treaties in force? Are these documents actually followed, more or less, by nations?
How does that relate to things like merc tickets? Use of WMD?
Robots at war?
And, indeed, medics, the wounded, prisoners, humane treatment, etc.

 

[Condottiere]

Terrans might honour it amongst themselves, but who else has this tradition?

 

[BwapTED]

Terrans might honour it amongst themselves, but who else has this tradition?

Another fine question.

In the OTU, if the Vilani did it this way, then the custom might be very widespread. I don't know enough about canon to answer the question, if there is an official answer. Maybe ask Aramis or Hans?


In another universe...? You'd have to ask the Ref.

 

[BwapTED]

Yup, and special protection should be offered to those caring for the wounded and dying.

I was always a fan of Suk doctors in Dune...

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Suk_Doctor

That would be a fun spin on the Doctor career from Supplement 4.

 

[Condottiere]

So long you don't break his conditioning.

 

[flykiller]

no one seems to find strange that Medical skill includes all the specialties

well people set up game rules according to their knowledge levels.

imtu "medic" does not mean "specialist" or even "doctor". doctors are found in groundside hospitals or on hospital ships or maybe on big passenger liners with big medical facilities. medics are found in the field, on mercahnt ships, and in transitory care facilities. but they can specialize a little bit: medic 2*(trauma +1, pharmaceuticals +1, else -1).

we used the M16A2

gee, they still make those? or are they .25 calibre smoothbores by now?

 

[BwapTED]

I don't know if the M16A2 is still being manufactured.
It's been years since I looked into anything to do with that.


But when you buy a gazillion rifles over the course of a couple of decades, even if you do decide to replace them all with the hot new model, the phasing out can take many years. Older models are sent to rear echelon units, to guard or reserve forces, paramilitary organizations, maybe foreign allies, etc.

Again, this real-world stuff might apply to Traveller.