re: 16yo Son wants to be a medic in army or marines

Been a paramedic for fire department 24 years and was an emt for 2 years. I don’t know much about military. I will advise not to go work for any random ambulance service, 5 years he will be burnt out and regretting it. The firefighter route is good but he needs to be cautious on getting on a fire dept that runs ambulance service. Unfortunately I chose a department with ambulances.

Many fire departments will hire you and at least pay to send him to emt school. Paramedic school can be expensive and varies by department whether they will pay or not. If he can find a good fire department that pays extra for being a medic but doesn’t have ambulances I’d go that route. Even for fire departments, if they have ambulances, expect to be stuck on them first 10-15 years.


Eta: I’ll say this, I’ve advised my kids to stay away from first responder type jobs, at least from busy departments, especially involving ambulances. I wish I had chose a different path