Medical Battalion

[capitolfire1822]

Hello Marines. I was wondering if any of you have ever served in a Medical Battalion. I leave for Boot Camp in a few months and will have the MOS of 3531 Motor T.(I'm a reservist) I found out that I will be assigned to a Surgical Company in a Medical Battalion. I was able to ask a few questions at my unit check-in but the Senior Chief(it's mostly Navy in this unit) was in a bit of a hurry. My recruiter said he was unable to find any information himself. I researched as much as I could online but found nothing but a wikipedia article with very little information and a small article on Shock Trauma Platoons.

I'm mainly looking to hear about the experience from someone who is familiar with Medical Battalions. It sounds very small(at least as far as Marine personnel go). I was also wondering what it's like being assigned to a Naval unit as a Marine.

Motor T isn't the mos I was initially hoping for. I wanted to get into 4th LAR or 4th CEB but they were full. Unfortunately I'm 27 so I had to decide what was more important to me. I enlisted for the chance to become a Marine first and foremost so I'm happy to serve in any way possible. Thank you in advance for any answers. I look forward to hopefully earning the title myself and joining the ranks.

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[elliscraig12]

I served with 3rd Med on Okinawa 27 years ago and we basically did what we would do in any other unit. That was active duty though, so I couldn't tell you about the reserves. Since you have a few months before you go to boot camp, try to get down to your reserve unit on a drill weekend and have a look for yourself. It'll give you a chance to meet those you'll be working with and ask a few questions, as well as get an opportunity to see what's going on first hand.

[capitolfire1822]

Thank you sir. That's a great idea.

[MunkyVsRobot]

Why not worry about Graduating boot camp, MCT, and MOS school before you worry about how it is going to be working at your unit. Quite a number of people never even make it past boot camp.

[capitolfire1822]

Don't get me wrong sir, I'm completely focused on boot camp at the moment. However I like to go into things with as much knowledge as possible. I figure it doesn't hurt to ask questions. Being a fireman in a large city, I work with many Marines and they were able to help quite a bit. This is one thing that I was curious about though that none of them had any experience with. I definitely understand my first, and largest goal, is making it through boot camp and earning that title.

[USMC 2571]

Good for you for enlisting to be a MARINE first and foremost, the job second. Very refreshing nowadays.

[josephd]

a motor-t operator in a Reserve Med Bn?.....you will be doing alot of sitting around

You may go out and support a field operation now and then with another local reserve unit where you will drive a truck transporting supplies, people, and anything else they need moved.

I know a Comm Marine with 4th Med in San Diego, he doesn't do squat there

[capitolfire1822]

USMC2571... Thank you sir. I'll already be 28 when I finish my training. I'll be less than 19 years away from retirement with the fire department. I have no reason to use the military as a means for job experience, bonuses, or anything else like that. I joined strictly for the fact that I wanted to serve my country and I wanted to do it in the most prestigious branch. I can't wait for my chance to earn the title and I'll be giving it everything I have.

josephd... Thank you as well. You've made a lot of posts on this forum with great information that has helped me a lot.

[Tennessee Top]

Your situation sounds a little odd. It's been my experience, when someone is enlisting as a reservist, their recruiter takes them to the reserve unit/center for a "job interview" with the command where they can get all their questions answered. Sounds to me your recruiter should have been more involved. But, if you've already signed your contract, they probably figure they've done their job. I expect the Navy Senior Chief will always be too busy. We had a 4th MedBn at the Reserve Center here in Knoxville, I just don't remember any reserve Marines being there (but that was back in 1985). Good luck.

[MunkyVsRobot]

a motor-t operator in a Reserve Med Bn?.....you will be doing alot of sitting around

You may go out and support a field operation now and then with another local reserve unit where you will drive a truck transporting supplies, people, and anything else they need moved.

I know a Comm Marine with 4th Med in San Diego, he doesn't do squat there

Pretty much this youll PM a 7 Ton or a HMMWV weekly or whenever you come in you may drive for a field op once or twice. You may just do dispatching duties not sure how motor t works on reserve side.

[99to07]

You may very well have already gone off to bootcamp by now, so I'll keep this short...

I was with 4th Medical BN, and being in a unit where most of the I&I staff is in the Navy took some getting used to. We always had SNCOs, so I never had to report directly to any of the Navy staff though. They were quite a bit more laid back than other units, but since there were so few Marines, we were a tighter knit group.

On drill weekends, Motor-T would normally just PM the vehicles (mostly ambulances) and go off on drives. On ATs, you may just sit around and wait for people to get hurt

If you haven't left yet, feel free to PM me if you still have questions.