Since 2016, Fayetteville Technical Community College’s Emergency Medical Science and health programs have conducted training for Fort Bragg 68W Army Health Care Specialists, or combat medics. In October 2017, FTCC and Womack Army Medical Center collaborated to develop an accelerated, 20-week National Registry Paramedic program of study in order to meet the unit operational needs of the combat medic. The accelerated program provides a unique opportunity for soldiers to earn National Registry Paramedic Certification Licensure as well as providing advanced medical training and skills required to save lives on the battlefield. 

This training is critical for combat medics to mitigate the 25 percent of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom soldiers who died of wounds and were deemed potentially survivable. This equates to almost 1,000 service members. 

The military’s future operating environments may require field care lasting hours to days before evacuation can be achieved, whereas past evacuation times were minutes to hours. This is why this training partnership is so vital to the advancement of prehospital military field medicine.   

FTCC and Womack AMC have created two options for military soldiers to choose from when pursuing paramedic training. 

The intense, 20-week traditional paramedic course consists of 600 hours of didactic/lab, 600 hours of internship, 300 hospital hours and 300 field EMS internship hours. The 40-week Distance Learning Hybrid Paramedic Program allows soldiers the opportunity to complete online training utilizing distance learning technology and attend face-to-face classes during specific blocks of training.

Upon completion of the course, students are eligible to take the North Carolina State and National Registry Paramedic Licensure Exams. Students also earn certification in American Heart Association Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Cardiac Life Support, and Advanced International Trauma Life Support. 

Upon successful completion of the paramedic program, in addition to obtaining the National Registry Paramedic Licensure, Fort Bragg 68W medics enroll in an accelerated two-week Military Critical Care Flight Paramedic program. This intense two-week program prepares paramedics for the Flight Paramedic Certification examination from the Board of Critical Care and Transport Paramedic Certification. The Critical Care Emergency Medical Transport Program is designed to prepare paramedics to function as members of a critical transport team. The critical care paramedic receives training beyond the training received by “ground” paramedics. Course training prepares the paramedic to appropriately assess and manage patients who have already received significant medical interventions, including the use of advanced pharmacological agents and the insertion of hemodynamic monitoring and assistant devices. 

FTCC is pleased to collaborate with Womack AMC to provide this unique training for military paramedics, leading to opportunities for soldiers to advance their professional skills through specialized certifications in areas beyond basic training in the area of emergency medical services. 

For questions about Emergency Medical Services training at FTCC, email baxleyc@faytechcc.edu. If you are a soldier interested in requesting an enrollment reservation, contact Staff Sgt. Lombard at tiaan.lombard.mil@mail.mil or call 910-907-6214. Learn more about all FTCC has to offer at www.faytechcc.edu.