Hello,

I am considering enlistment for this MOS and was wondering if there is anyone here who can tell me about it. Where is AIT for this MOS? Do you like it? Where are you stationed? And what are the places where I can end up most likely with this MOS?

I appreciate any feedback.

There aren't a lot of 68As who frequent this board.

If you have AKO access, you can try posting on the medics forum.

Here's the "official" website.

quote:

Originally posted by ugajeepgirl:
There aren't a lot of 68As who frequent this board.

If you have AKO access, you can try posting on the medics forum.

Here's the "official" website.

There aren't alot of us that frequent this board, but I'm one of them who does- just not the medical section. The reason being because we 68A's are the bastards of the medical field. No one ever has any questions for us, so after a while I stopped coming in here.

Anyway, the AIT is in Sheppard AFB, one of only 2 medical AIT MOS's in the Army that isn't at trained at Ft. Sam.

Whether someone likes it or not is purely subjective. If you like to figure out why something isn't working, its a great job. It requires alot of attention to detail as someone's life is at stake if you screw up. Remember, long gone are the days where doctors are skilled enough to cure someone solely with their hands or natural methods- they place a great deal of their faith in those machines, and its up to you to make sure that what those machines are telling the doctor is accurate.

I am currently stationed in Fort Hood, Texas at a Combat Support Hospital. I'm on orders to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

The places you'll most likely end up as a trainee fresh out of AIT are CSH's. Because the Army is going to deploy you. They always need med maintenance and with less than 1000 of us in the Army, we tend to always be in demand.

quote:

Originally posted by 4842263:

quote:

Originally posted by ugajeepgirl:
There aren't a lot of 68As who frequent this board.

If you have AKO access, you can try posting on the medics forum.

Here's the "official" website.

There aren't alot of us that frequent this board, but I'm one of them who does- just not the medical section. The reason being because we 68A's are the bastards of the medical field. No one ever has any questions for us, so after a while I stopped coming in here.

Anyway, the AIT is in Sheppard AFB, one of only 2 medical AIT MOS's in the Army that isn't at trained at Ft. Sam.

Whether someone likes it or not is purely subjective. If you like to figure out why something isn't working, its a great job. It requires alot of attention to detail as someone's life is at stake if you screw up. Remember, long gone are the days where doctors are skilled enough to cure someone solely with their hands or natural methods- they place a great deal of their faith in those machines, and its up to you to make sure that what those machines are telling the doctor is accurate.

I am currently stationed in Fort Hood, Texas at a Combat Support Hospital. I'm on orders to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

The places you'll most likely end up as a trainee fresh out of AIT are CSH's. Because the Army is going to deploy you. They always need med maintenance and with less than 1000 of us in the Army, we tend to always be in demand.

Hi,

I was looking also at the medical field, I am leaning towards 68W but I am interested on the other medical MOS. How long is the AIT for 68A? What is the other 68 MOS that is not trained in FT Sam?

My daughter graduated from this AIT just a couple weeks ago. The school is a little over ten months long. They start a new class every three weeks. It is a joint-service school. There were Navy, Air Force and Army people there. (The Navy does all the medical care for the Marines, so that is why there were no Marines there). There were 13 people in my daughter's class: 8 Army, 4 Air Force and one Navy. Only 3 of the Army people were active duty.
The students go through "blocks" of training, each one lasting 3 weeks. The first week of each block is classroom, and then the next two weeks are hands on with whatever equipment they are learning about in that block. (I might have my info on how long they spend in classroom vs. hands on a little mixed up -- I don't remember for 100 % sure)
One in a while, someone will fail out of a block of training and then get reassigned to the class behind them. It all seemed to come pretty easy to my daughter, but some folks really struggled with the materials.

The last couple of blocks of training are service specific. The Army folks went out in the field and had a field training exercise for thiers, and then set up a portable hospital. I do remember her telling me about a stray cat named Bob who hangs out at the FTX site.

The Army 68A folks were all billeted together in one dorm building. I drove her car out to her last summer, so I got to see her dorm and CQ area. I was actually surprised at how many Army folks were there, seeing as how it is a small career field. But then I realized that with a school that long, that explains why there were so many soldiers there. The Navy dorm was right next to the Army dorm.

I think my daughter might have said that the Army dental school is also there at Sheppard. I'm not sure though.

My daughter just arrived today for her first duty assignment, which is Korea.

Wow knockwurst, I'm highly impressed! She hit everything right on the head. I would also believe here assessment of the course itself as it has changed drastically since I went through.

When I went through, they taught us how to troubleshoot to the specific component, meaning if there was a circuit board with a 60 IC chips on it, we were trained to not only find the specific chip the problem was on, but find the the specific pin, etc that caused the malfunction. Now, the emphasis is on preventative maintenance, not troubleshooting.

It makes sense to do the latter because when something malfunctions, the Army just replaces the entire circuit board rather than the specific component.

The failure rate for this MOS is very high but a majority of it is a lack of discipline in these new soldiers. They won't buckle down and study. In Block 11, we were assigned over 100 pages of reading the first night. We had an oral quiz the next morning and I was the only one who passed. (the only one who read)

I'm so glad to see some info on this MOS! My husband was trying to go RA, got turned down and is now attempting the NG. There is a medical unit about 2 hrs. away and this is one of his top pick MOS's. What job would this translate into in the civilian sector and what would be the certifications needed to do this as a civy? Pay?

I am Leaving June 10th for Sheppard for my 68a AIT and I was wondering what to expect from the work load to the living conditions just wondering what to expect any input would be greatly appreciated. I am also prior service just recently switched to active service. Also i was wondering about the advancment eligibility and the advanced training, is it possible to get a BA in biomedical engineering through this program. Thanks

This is mainly a "bump" moreso than anything since I don't visit this forum as often I should.

In the military and the civilian sector- We are known as "BMET's" or Biomedical Maintenance Equipment Technicians, which the Army recently changed to BMES, specialist rather than tech.

Anyway, the AIT is rather long, 40+ weeks and is located in Sheppard AFB, Texas which is in Wichita Falls, Tx. It is about a 30-45 minute drive to Oklahoma (Fort Sill)

The course is not one for the light-hearted, it is a 2 year clinical engineering degree program consolidated into 41-45 weeks of training, not including common tasks and daily duties that soldiers must perform.

The schoolhouse (AIT) is scheduled to move to Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio Tx in 2009 or 2010.

This job involves performing preventative maintenance, calibrations, and repair of all types of medical equipment to include: MRI, CT, ventilators, defibs, vital signs monitors, anesthesia units, etc. etc.

It is always in high demand, by the military and the civilians, ensuring good job security and high pay.

I am currently stationed at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany which I believe is the best assignment someone from our MOS can land. If anyone has any questions about the 68A MOS, please send me an E-mail because I don't frequent this board often.

They are moving to Fort Sam In 2010 and hopefully if all goes well i will not be around here for that. I the course is challenging and it can be hard at times, but honestly the time you have to spend here far out weighs anything else that sucks here. It is approximately 11 months there are 12 blocks of instruction each are 17 days long the last block is service specific if your army you will spend 3 days in the field working on equipment and getting shot at with paint balls. As far as jobs in the civy world we have been told they pretty much line up to get the BMET students out of this program a plus for the time you spend here. It is a 2 year program crammed into 11 months but when you leave here with the exception of some basic general education credit you have an associates degree in BMET another big plus. If you have any questions just post i will try and check back as often as i can.

I want to attend this school for the air national guard. does anyone have a realistic idea of how much a person can make as a civilian with this school under his belt? i guess you're working for hospitals? perhaps there are just companies that get calls for broken diagnostic equipment? thanks for any advice.

I was wanting more info on the 68A training. I am married and was wandering if you stay in the barracks and family lives off post, and you see them on weekends? I am currently at FT. Bragg, N.C. My mos is 94P Multiple Launch Rocket Systems Repairer(formerly 35P, 27M).I have been thinking of reclassing to this mos and wanted any and all info anyone can provide.

quote:

Originally posted by gangster371:
I want to attend this school for the air national guard. does anyone have a realistic idea of how much a person can make as a civilian with this school under his belt? i guess you're working for hospitals? perhaps there are just companies that get calls for broken diagnostic equipment? thanks for any advice.

It depends on what certifications/qualifications that you attain. For instance if you pick up the M1 ASI for our MOS, then when you ETS, you're looking at AT LEAST $70K/yr. You can either work for the hospital working on most everything in it, or you can work for a specific company as a Field Service Technician (FST). For instance, you could get hired by Cardinal Health, working only on a certain piece of equipment with Cardinal Health- like an Infusion Pump, or everything with Cardinal Health or its affiliates. You could also work strictly as tech support for the unit over the phone, although this is usually for highly experienced techs who have paid their dues.

quote:

Originally posted by popsleepy:
I was wanting more info on the 68A training. I am married and was wandering if you stay in the barracks and family lives off post, and you see them on weekends? I am currently at FT. Bragg, N.C. My mos is 94P Multiple Launch Rocket Systems Repairer(formerly 35P, 27M).I have been thinking of reclassing to this mos and wanted any and all info anyone can provide.

This is what is called a "hardship duty" AIT so after 20 weeks, you'll be given the chance to "phase up" which in turn will let you move into On-base housing at Sheppard. However the first 20 weeks you have to stay in the B's unaccompanied. You can still see your family on the weekend, even during the first phase- you just need to sign them on base and stay on base or request a day pass. Please send me a PM if you want more info as I tend to be rather detailed in my explanations.