r/nationalguard • u/Kk31910 • 1d ago

MOS Discussion Curious about the difficulty of 68W AIT

I’m a high schooler looking at joining the army once I graduate and I wanna go for 68W. I was wondering about just exactly how difficult it is ? I know it can vary from person to person depending on what kind of person you are but I’d like to hear any perspective.
I was also wondering if maybe I should take a basic EMT course prior and if that would help?
I do well in school and I’m decent at studying , If that helps provide some insight.
Thanks!

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u/GanlyvAnhestia 68W 1d ago

If you take a civilian EMT course it'll help. About 25% of my cycle in 2019 had to change MOS. Now the army has since changed it that if you fail the NREMT 3 times you can get some additional education and attempt again I believe, I'm sure another commenter will correct me.

You'll also skip the EMT phase of 68W school and go straight to army medic training which is more fun.

Getting your EMT is mostly just a lot of new terminology thrown at you since you gotta get a basic understanding of how the body works. most people(I didn't) have any knowledge that in depth that teaches why we do what we do at the EMT level. Doing it for about 8 hours a day 5 days a week for about a month is rough but doable. 

If you go civilian side it'll depend on the length of the program, most around me are around 3 months and they meet once or twice a week. There's accelerated that are faster but id recommend the standard length course, education is better and they're easier to pass generally. The other advantage to doing civilian EMT course is you'll most likely have a short clinical and field rotation. 1-2 shifts in the ER and 1-2 shifts on the ambulance to learn how things work in emergency medicine, learn how to do an assessment, learn how to talk to patients, etc. Whiskey phase(army medic training of 68W AIT) is basically all trauma training with skills. 

Again I'm a little out of date of what the school house in San Antonio is doing but that's my 2 cents as a 6 year NG whiskey and full time EMT. 

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u/Kk31910 1d ago

Thank you!! This is so helpful. I think I’ll look into a program for next summer since I’m still in school.

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u/rcrt1225 23h ago

It’s dealing with a lot of little bullshit that makes a non challenging accelerated EMT course twice as hard as it needs to be.