The aim of this page is to advise military personnel on what WMT course to attend.
There are so many parallels between wilderness medicine and ‘military’ medicine. Acting independently in remote environments where access to hospital care may be difficult is the core business of ‘medics’ in the expedition setting and the military. WMT offers a wide array of courses to cater for those wishing to advance their medical skills for the ‘military’ environment and civilian expeditions. Many military doctors have attended our Medic courses (in the UK, Chamonix and Morocco) to further their knowledge of environmental medicine (hot, cold, high and low), learn practical skills (improvised splinting and field wound management) as well learning how to plan and lead an expedition, an especially attractive angle to the annual Morocco Mountain Medicine Expedition. Our most specialised Medic course is Mountain Medicine on Skis (Chamonix).
For other health care professionals who have a military background such as Combat Medical Technicians, there are the WMT environment specific courses such Expedition Medic and Mountain Medicine weekends that cover much of the material that would be required to support a tropical or mountain expedition or exercise. However, we suggest that combat medics first attend an Explorer course which will give them access to POMs (prescription only medicines, such as antibiotics, so they can assemble and use a med kit for overseas travels). Of course combat medics are welcome on any of our Medic courses, but please note that these are attended primarily by doctors and do not include POM authorisation.
For those who have no formal medical training but may be thinking of leaving the armed forces to pursue a career in the outdoors or security industry, WMT also suggests taking an Explorer course and in particular, Expedition Skills which is a broad 7-day outdoor skill and medical course (includes Far From Help).
Many military people use their resettlement grant to pay for a WMT course.
WMT can also provide ‘bespoke’ tailored courses that may contain military specific challenges such as gunshot trauma management – this would be particularly appropriate for NGOs and security/close protection personnel operating in hostile territory.