# Tactical Emergency Medical Services



## RBI Tactical Educators (Jul 21, 2008)

I am trying to get an idea of how much interest there is for a tactical ems (TEMS) course in Massachusetts. If anyone is interested or would like additional information please let me know. Thank you.

Justin.


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## USMCTrooper (Oct 23, 2003)

The MSP has been training Tactical EMT's for years. I believe they also train some municipalities too.

*Tactical EMT's*








Massachusetts State Police Tactical Emergency Medical Technician troopers deploy into the field to assist with search and rescue operations. They provide immediate remote-on-scene emergency medical assistance to either victims or searchers who become injured during an operation. They are equipped with advanced field medical packs and emergency evacuation gear for removal of injured persons from isolated wilderness locations. EMT-Tactical teams respond to searches with the Tactical Operations Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) which is stocked with medical and support equipment for field deployment. State Police Tactical EMT's have been providing general physical assessment for volunteer civilian search and rescue personnel.


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## KEVDEMT (Feb 20, 2008)

there will be a ton of interest. however, most of it will be rookies with <1yr of experience and know idea what they need to actually get a job as an emt-t or what that designation even means. you'll get tons of basics with the various privates that will think its "really cool" to sign their pcr's for their dialysis call with john smith, emt-t

a few questions:
what curriculum are you teaching?
where did you obtain your certification to teach tactical ems?
who recognizes your program?
what is the makeup of your instructor staff?
what does your program include? specifically, are your students taught fire and movement tactics, advanced a&p and how it relates to ballistic trauma, zone based treatment etc?
how long is your course?
what is the cost?
upon completion of your course, do you tell your students that they are now official emt-t's?

im interested to hear your responses and how they correspond to the one and only nationally accepted tactical ems course.


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## PMK252 (Jul 2, 2008)

KEVDEMT, 

I liked your questions of this schools creds. What school were you refering too? I spoke to one of the Instructors at this class and i guess they are all military medic / infantryman / ranger snipers with various backgrounds in EMS / Fire / Security. They are teaching based on their military training and something called TC3. Its seems to be a 4 day / 32 hour course and is about 500 bucks from what they sent me. It is OEMS recognized and youget ConEds from it. They seemed pretty good, but if there is a better school I would like to hear about it.


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## Becks27 (Jun 24, 2008)

How long of a program? How similar is it to combat medic training? Do you mean Tactical MEDIC or Tactical EMT (basic).


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## KEVDEMT (Feb 20, 2008)

heres the first thing you need to get about ems programs in ma:

if all the paperwork is filled out completely and correctly, my grandmother could submit a class on "needlepoint designs for ems" to oems and it would be approved. the fact that oems issued an approval number doesnt mean that the course is any good. merely that their coordinator knows how to read and write.

those are fairly general questions regarding experience and credibility. that member pm'd me some details on his course and it just occurred to me that i havent gotten back to him yet. rbi, i'll be back with you shortly.

the end all be all of tactical ems is the contoms program. it is the only program that is universally accepted across the us. that being said, its also not currently operating(budget issues) and requires a current swat affiliation to get in. some tems course are all hogwash. some are great programs. what you have to look at is what you can do with it. along those lines, the dept you try to work for is going to look at who trained the instructors. what curriculum were you taught and all those other questions that i asked of the op. if the course you attend is all on the level, your good but if you took a low budget course taught by hacks dont expect it to carry any weight out in the world(note: im not implying anything about pbi's course, just in general. dont read between the lines. there nothing there...)

another thing you have to look at is the school itself. if nobody has ever heard of the school, your fancy certificate is nothing more than pretty toilet paper. since there isnt mcuh in the way of a national independent certification of tems courses, its hard to evaluate whether a course is legit or not. thats a pretty big downside(again, no implications here, just generalizations).

the only school that has ever been able to confer the title of EMT-T, and have it carry any weight, is contoms. thats not to say they are the only worthwile, just that they are the only ones that EVERYBODY respects. take that for what its worth.

is there a better school? well i cant really offer much info on that one for you. i dont know much about this one. i can tell you that their are school that have been around longer, which doesnt necessarily mean they are better. 

FOR THE RECORD: at some point this will come up, seeing as im asking and answering all sorts of questions regarding tactical ems programs so i'll get it out of the way: i am not a graduate of any respected tems program. this is how i came by all this knowledge of what programs are respected on the street and which are laughed at. i went to one that had no credibility(and soon their after went tits up). i used the certificate they gave me to light my barbecue a short time later. after taking that course, i researched every tems program in existence at that time, which is how i came to learn what to look for. so everything i say needs to be taken with that grain of salt.


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## Mass (Jan 21, 2006)

It's nice that some people make mistakes and show others how not to make them. Very respectful of you to share this info with all!


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## Sgt K (Mar 31, 2004)

I know "H&K" used to offer tatctical EMS courses with high powered staff instructors....not sure if they still offer them or when.


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