Hospital Corpsman

MARINE
Squad Medic	Difficulty: Hard Supervisors: Squad Leader Rank: Not defined Duties: Keep Marines in fighting condition, or as close as you can get them. Medevac those who need to be sent back to Medbay for treatment. Guides: Guide to Medicine Unlock Requirements: Not available. Detailed Description: |__________| Not defined |__________|

"If you insist. After my student years, despite the fact that I had become secretly addicted to morphine, I was considered to be most promising. A man with a future. Then during my first residency I did a thirty-six hour stretch on an ER. So I went out and I got more than a little drunk. Then I got called back. Boiler had blown on a fuel plant and there were thirty casualties. And eleven of them died. Not as a result of the accident but because I prescribed the wrong dosage of painkiller. And I got seven years in prison and my licence reduced to a 3C.

At least I got off the morphine." - Clemens, Alien³

As the Squad Medic, you are your squad's main source of first aid and battlefield triage. While Marines usually try to keep themselves out of harm's way, your actions will often decide who lives and dies that day. Wherever it is administering first aid, popping painkillers for a wounded comrade, performing a medevac, or even bringing someone back from the brink of death, you will often be the lifeline of your squad. Without you on your squad's side, only pain and death await.

As a Squad Medic, you will be placed under a lot of stress. Your entire squad, and often even the entire Marine force, will rely on you to stay in fighting condition and perform medical procedures correctly and rapidly. You will probably mess up your first few deployments, patients will die in your hands, casualties will overwhelm you, supplies will get misplaced or dropped, and hostiles will get the jump on you and eliminate you, but practice makes perfect. If needed, consult this guide again or adminhelp if any doubts arise, and remember that all Squad Medics started here.

Remember to check out the Guide to Medicine for a more in-depth look on how the medicine you're administering actually works, and in case you're stumped by a casualty.

Duties of the Squad Medic

As the Squad Medic, you are probably the one person that will be making sure people stay alive and healthy. Since Doctors will be taking care of advanced medical procedures like surgery and advanced treatments, you will be on the field, taking care of wounds and casualties as they come in, sometimes quite literally. The patients that are evaced to shipside Medbay should be stabilized. By you.

Anything from marines with minor wounds and pain, to dead people in need of emergency defibrillation will be directed to you, ideally, or more likely you will be summoned to them. While you might hope that wounds will be coming in steadily, with easily identifiable and isolated cases, odds are that battle will yield far more messy cases, requiring rapid and efficient analysis and treatment.

As such, you will need to learn to equip yourself properly for the mission, prepare your triage during pre-deployment and upon landing, triage wounds and casualties as they arrive or occur, and know when to send back to the fight, medevac, or simply give up on someone.

Squad Medic Equipment

As the Squad Medic, your loadout is perhaps one of the most decisive factors in wherever or not you will be able to keep the situation under control, or succumb more or less literally as the rest of your squad falls apart. While your work load will potentially be split with another Squad Medic, and all three other squads will be getting two Squad Medics, you should fully expect to carry your part. Rarely are there too many Medics on the field, especially once casualties take their toll.

After waking up from cryosleep and getting yourself some food, it's time to head into Preparation. Ignore the main part for now, and head into your special Medical Preparation Room. There, you will find all the supplies you will need.

There are no actual secrets to a Medic's loadout. Most of the time, it is determined by what one is comfortable with. However, there is a simple directing line to your entire loadout. Your loadout must contain as many usable slots as possible, while allowing you to swap healing items in and out as rapidly and efficiently as possible, without cluttering your inventory and having to drop anything.

The second, albeit still obvious thing to know about your loadout is that you will still be carrying a weapon. Carrying a weapon means carrying ammunition for said weapon, because no conflict will be resolved with only one load of ammunition. As such, you have to juggle slots between your healing gear and your fighting gear. Combat Medic, as some say.

For now, go ahead and put on all the stuff in the locker. Now, here are some headers to simplify your first loadout :

• Choosing between a backpack and a satchel is your first important decision. A backpack is able to carry many more bulky items, such as advanced medical kits, stasis bags, folded roller beds or defibrillators. However, you must take off your backpack to go through it. A satchel is more portable and can be browsed on the fly, but might limit the number of bulky items you can carry. It is generally more of a preference thing, so make a choice between inventory space and ease of access

• Next, choose your belt item. Many Squad Medics swear by the Combat Lifesaver Belt, and it is definitely appealing. Go ahead and grab one, then empty it.

• Now, we must decide what you will actually put in your backpack and belt. A recommended, simple loadout for the belt is one of every pill bottle, minus Russian Red, plus autoinjectors of Oxycodone, Quick Clot, Tricordazine and Dexalin Plus, as you won't find those in pill form. For the backpack, put at least one stasis bag, one defibrillator, and one advanced kit in. If you have more space, double up that loadout.

• Finish up your medical loadout. You will want a HF2 Health Analyser in one of your pockets for ease of access. Another interesting idea is to fill your armor with one autoinjector of Oxycodone and one autoinjector of Tricordazine. This will be used as emergency aid if you are wounded, to allow you to stay in the fight or flee.

• Next, you will actually need to start considering your weapon loadout. The M39 Submachine Gun makes for a great starter weapon, as it can be fired with one hand, allowing you to rapidly react if you are surprised when analysing or treating patients. Its lack of damage is also not too critical as you will not be doing a lot of front-line fighting, especially not alone. Worthy of note, any weapon with a gyroscopic stabilizer will work. If you are confident in your inventory management, you can opt for a two-handed weapon, but don't be surprised if you react less well to ambushes

• Having a gun is nice, but having spare ammunition is even better. A simple loadout for five magazines of ammunition plus one loaded magazine is one magazine pouch and one webbing. Fill to the brim with magazines of your desired weapon.

• It is usually not recommended to carry a sidearm, unless you really want to deploy without a main weapon. You should also not weigh yourself down with flares, let the Privates light the way for you.

• One tactic to optimize backpack space is to empty first aid kits and fill them with more supplies. Do note however that medical kits run out very quickly on the field, so balance it carefully.

• At this point, you may leave to join the Requisitions queue and Briefing. Feel free to swing by Medbay before deployment to get extra goods.

Squad Medic Tactics

As the Squad Medic, your main goal during an operation is to stick with your squad and intervene should anyone get wounded. What sounds simple in theory can quickly become complicated as situations develop. Your squad might be assigned to a static FOB defense, told to scout, or it might even be sent straight into battle. You might be pushing ahead in enemy territory, holding a defensive line steadfast, or you might suddenly find your teammates routing.

In all cases, you will always want to operate in the back line, rather than dance around your squad mates as they unload into the enemy. While casualties will probably be happening in the frontlines, your teammates should hopefully use any lull in the fighting to bring them back for healing, or assuming that they can still stand and walk, they will be bringing themselves back.

Depending on how mobile the fighting is, you might have the opportunity to settle down and create a small medevac zone for frontline combatants. In the best of cases, this area will also be barricaded and defended adequately, and in extreme cases you might even have medical gear and vendors on-site. This is the rather ideal scenario of a FOB Medic. Should you be in this situation, take advantage of it to heal safely and efficiently, and hope the battle keeps progressing the right way.

However, more often than not your squad will insist on pushing forwards, or more worryingly, backwards, sometimes at a moment's notice. As such, it is important that you find a secure area to practice your medicine. Also, remember that all the healing in the world means nothing if the patient doesn't make it out. Being a Doctor for a mobile front will try your patience, and more often than not combatants that are wounded to the point where they can't stand will need to be hurried back to the nearest FOB, after some first aid.

If you find yourself lost, or within the presence of another squad, don't hesitate to stick with them and help out. Assuming that they still have their own Squad Medics, you will probably want to find and assist your squad again, but don't put yourself in extreme danger trying to run back to your squad alone.

As a Squad Medic, you can fight, although it is frankly not desirable for you to head to the frontlines. There are probably many more Privates eager to take your spot and unload their modded rifles at the enemy, while you could be treating people. However, if you are attacked in the backline, don't hesitate to pull your gun and answer on the spot. More often than not, you will be killed if no-one else can assist immediately and you don't react in time.

Common Field Triage Procedure

Triage is the last and most important topic for a Squad Medic to master. You might have the gear, you might be deployed with your squad, and you might have managed to extract a casualty to a safe location to begin treatment, but if you stand helpless in front of it and fail to execute proper procedure, that will all have been for nothing.

The actual triage procedure is long and thorough, but it can easily be compressed as cases are ruled out. The only cases that can be thrown out of the spot are deceased, unrevivable teammates. They are gone, that is all.

In an emergency, you may medevac anyone who is too wounded to receive treatment, especially if other casualties are piling up. Stasis bags can also be used to delay treatment on serious wounds.

Dead patients that can still be defibrillated are an urgent case. From the last point of death, you only have a few minutes before they permanently pass away. If you were brought such a patient, he may have died a mere dozen seconds ago, or a few precious minutes might have already been spent recovering him, as such, it's critical to be rapid and minimize the time before first shock, at least to renew the patient's death timer before it is too late.

Triage procedure usually goes as follow:

• If the patient is currently stationed in or very close to a hazard, such as active fighting, a fire, a pool of acid, danger close to artillery or CAS strike, or some other form of imminent and obvious danger, immediately interrupt treatment until danger has passed or patient has been moved to a safe location.

• Identify the teammate in distress, probably via their health readout on HUD being at yellow or lower, or them actively calling out for you. Use the health analyzer to identify what is wrong with them.

• If the patient is deceased but can still be defibrillated (thunder icon on HUD, instead of skull), apply defibrillation procedure below. If patient is permanently deceased (skull icon on medical HUD), ignore, signify that the patient is a goner if other Marines insist. They may not know their comrade is unrevivable.

• • Drag the patient to a safe spot, apply health analyzer and evaluate situation. If the patient is under 200 combined brute, burn and toxin damage, he will probably be revived on the first or second shock. Otherwise, he will need special treatment.

• • Take out your defibrillator and take out the pads. Remove any suit on the patient. If patient is under 200 damage, immediately apply pads, repeat at least three times, or until the patient is revived, then go back to normal triage procedures.

• • If a patient is over 200 damage, rapidly pull out advanced kits and try to apply as many as possible to lower damage amounts. Once done, apply defibrillator up until damage is under 200, plus one application for safety.

• Check for any medicines that have already been administered to the patient, notably Tramadol and Tricordazine. Do not give a new dose until they run out to prevent overdoses. Overdoses are usually always extremely damaging or even lethal.

• If the patient is in critical health, and especially near death, immediately administer a shot of Dexalin Plus, or a Dexalin pill, preferably both. Then, administer an Inaprovaline pill to stabilize the patient as much as possible (do not administer Inaprovaline if the patient has significant toxin damage)

• If the patient has internal bleeding, or ridiculous amounts of general bleeding (not bloodloss alone), administer a shot of Quick Clot. This will need to be renewed in a few minutes. Patient will need to medevac in the event of internal bleeding, especially if blood levels are already getting low.

• If the patient is suffering from major blood loss symptoms (heavy oxygen and toxin damage), administer Dexalin and Dylovene. If the patient is not actually missing blood on the health scanner readout, it is almost certainly internal organ damage, administer Peridaxon. Peridaxon doses need to be renewed every few minutes to prevent further internal organ damage. Patient will need to medevac in the event of heavy internal organ damage, especially if patient is suffering from heavy symptoms.

• If the patient has bleeding limbs, patch them as rapidly as possible using advanced trauma kits.

• If the patient has massive amounts of brute and burn damage, locate limbs with particularly heavy damage on your health scan and patch them up using the appropriate advanced medical kit. Additionally, administer Bicaridine for Brute damage, and Kelotane or Dermaline for Burn damage. If available, Tricordazine can be administered for both types of damage.

• If the patient is suffering from major toxin damage, check for chemical OD. Then, administer Dylovene. Additionally, administer Peridaxon, as this kind of damage is usually due to, or causes, damage to the liver and kidneys. Toxin damage is slow to heal.

• If the patient has minor to medium brute or burn damage, administer kits to any limb with damage above 10 units, plus one pill matching the damage type.

• If the scanner reveals fractures with an identifiable location, or a fracture is indicated while one limb very clearly centralizes most or all of the brute damage on the body, apply a splint to the location. Additionally, patient may indicate correct limb if conscious. Patient will need to medevac in the event of a bone fracture, splints will easily be torn and broken in any additional fighting.

• If the patient is unconscious, unable to get up, stutters or complains of pain, and his health is not below critical, administer a pill of Tramadol, or a shot of Oxycodone. Both may be administered without causing issues.

• If the patient is missing a limb, account in diagnosis. Patient will need to medevac in the event of a missing limb. A combat ready Marine needs two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet.

• If the patient has small amount of oxygen damage, check blood levels. If blood levels are near full, administer Dexalin or Peridaxon. This is probably minor heart damage. This should not require a medevac

• If patient is showing an infection, administer Spaceacillin.

Squad Medic Tips and Tricks

• Nobody is perfect. You don't have to perform at peak efficiency. Go at your own pace and have fun. Being a Squad Medic should never feel like a chore you're obligated to do. Depending on your mood, it can be a challenge, or an assistance to your team, but never let other people drag you down for failing a difficult rescue or getting overwhelmed when triaging

• Remember that you can restock your autoinjectors, so don't just throw them away. Put them back into your belt instead, they can be refilled at the vendors - just drag and drop them onto it, then vend them again.

• If you can't remember on the fly which pill bottle is which, SHIFT+Click to examine them, even while they are in containers.

• If you feel like your life is at risk, or you need to medevac and the way back to the FOB is not secure, ask a fellow squad member or two to protect you. More often than not, they will agree.

• Macros can help make your life easier. Give and pull roller-bed can help speed up handing out medicine and making it easier to snag a wounded marine then running for your life.

• Stacking different medicines with the same effect is critical to rapidly heal squad mates. Bicaridine stacks with Tricordazine. Kelotane stacks with Tricordazine and Dermaline.

• Mixing Dylovene and Inaprovaline generates Tricordazine. Be careful when healing critical patients with toxin damage. Do note however that this reaction can be caused on purpose to create and apply Tricordazine with one pill of each, just be careful not to overdose your patient. Practice makes perfect.

• If you find a Marine with relatively minor damage coming to get your help, avoid administering pills. Instead, patch their wounds with kits. If they insist, give them a Tramadol pill to suck on while they heal up.

• When in doubt, Tramadol always works. Don't hesitate to hand those out, even a bit of burn damage can cause a person to be near pain crit.

• If a Marine dies after a successful defibrillation attempt, their death timer will be fully reset. Use this time to fix them up further and prepare another shock, or to move them for medevac.

• Do not underestimate the damage infections can cause. Always tend to wounds if you can.

Squad Medic Skillset

To find out about how the skill system works head over to the skills system page.

Sources and Reading

• Miserable Medic's Sharing Tips (A great reading tips from veteran CM players!)

• Medic Loadout sharing thread (Good to see other players loadouts to see what you might change about yours.)

• Defibrillator Guide!

• Guide to Medicine (Highly recommended you have this open if you struggle with remembering which pills and autoinjectors do what)