As it currently stands, each squad has a billet for a Squad Medic and then a Platoon has a Platoon Medic. In total, this is 6 Squad Medics and 2 Platoon Medics; or 8 people in total.
U.S. Army Stryker Rifle Platoon, and most other Platoons in that sense, as part of the SBCT, or Stryker Brigade Combat Team, have one Combat Medic attached per Platoon from the Company's Medical Platoon. This, for our purposes, would make just two billeted positions for a Combat Medic.
My suggestion is to work out some number that wouldn't be as overpowered as the current one is, but also more than what the real-life counterpart has that would fit the Arma 3 gameplay of being periodically injured during an FTX or Operation. In my opinion, having a Company Medical Squad with 4 Combat Medics in total would be functional; one of them would be the ''Team Leader'' and the rest would just be Combat Medics. At the beginning of an Op or FTX, the Platoon Commanders in conjunction with the Company HQ element would figure out where each of the Combat Medics should be assigned for the specific exercise or operation. I.e. One Combat medic is assigned to First Platoon, First Squad, another one is assigned to First Platoon, Third Squad, third one is assigned to Second Platoon, First Squad and the last one stays at the Second Platoon HQ element, etc.
This, in turn, would make the Combat Life Saver position much more utilized and important for each Squad / Team to have and also make the utilization and movement of the Combat Medics much more thought-driven and organized. Also, the utilization of the 3rd CAB Casevac / Medevac with one / two Flight Medics would also make more sense in missions. Hell, if we had enough people, we could even start talking about a mobile CCP with Battalion staffing.
As a retired Platoon Medic, the need for CLS trained and qualified personnel was always high. The need for the squad medics was always present. In a platoon, having 4 squad medics and the Platoon Doc and Mike, sometimes proves to be enough and sometimes proves to not be enough. The CLS was always the individual to help out.
I had plans around a year ago to rework the whole medical implementation of having it have its own CoC. The response given then was that it would only be possible when certain requirements are met, i.e. that being the whole unit being actual Battalion size meaning that we have 3 companies full of individuals. But it would allow for more movement/freedom of assigning medics to squads/platoons/company wide.
Personal opinion, the amount of medics currently assigned per platoon, it is not overpowered. Especially considering the differences between the capabilities of the CLS and the squad medic. I don't know the current setup as well as the implementation of the flight medics, but decreasing 68W billets is not something recommended. Increasing them from an external source would be beneficial though
9 May 2025 at 4:10 PM
Edited on 10 May 2025 at 1:27 PM by SPC M.Herez
First of all, I dont know how you calculated for 2nd platoon, but we have two squads and our Platoon Medic (PM) and first squad medc (SM) are one person, so we have as company 1 PM and 1 SM + 2ish CLS.
Whem our PM is not there, our quite well trained CLS takes over (if he is there) if not its me (mostly Squad Designated Marksmen). We have to have 2 Medics, since our two elements 99% of time work separete (we can cover more area at same time and do more recon this way). and keep in mind that there are situations, that we only have one medic.
Idk if the number you came up with (8) is accurate, probably its closer to 6 (assuming you over estaminated 1st PLT as well) since this is arma and average amount of people who show up is like 75% that means we are fielding 4-5 medics per operation.
This is arma:
-you touch something or take jump 1 pixel too high, you need medical atention
-"cancer" mechanic called wound re-opening
-ai who can outshoot you from 1km away using ak and iron sights in jungle,
-ai that does not care for its life as its highest value, it will take 6 hits to torse and put you down anyway.
-this is arma, people play way more reckless than IRL (esp actual soldiers xD) = way more gunshot wounds than IRL
-vic driving offroad touch wrong pixel= everyone need stiching
-we are low numbers, our company does not have 120 people, its manpower is more of a platoon, a squad without SM is not independant, detaching it means after one or two fire fights it needs to be bailed out, which means 50% of 1st PLT is out of action)
As of CLS course: it should be like land nav: required to any other course to be allowed in. (personal opinion)
There are definitely some good points raised, both from a realism standpoint and in terms of how things actually play out in Arma. We understand the desire to make medics more centralized or structured differently, but for now, we don’t plan to change the current medical system as we move into this next campaign. It’s something we may revisit down the line, especially if our numbers grow or mission design changes significantly.
For the time being, the current setup works for our size, style of ops, and the general chaos that Arma tends to throw at us. We’ll keep the feedback in mind and appreciate the discussion.
As it currently stands, each squad has a billet for a Squad Medic and then a Platoon has a Platoon Medic. In total, this is 6 Squad Medics and 2 Platoon Medics; or 8 people in total.
U.S. Army Stryker Rifle Platoon, and most other Platoons in that sense, as part of the SBCT, or Stryker Brigade Combat Team, have one Combat Medic attached per Platoon from the Company's Medical Platoon. This, for our purposes, would make just two billeted positions for a Combat Medic.
My suggestion is to work out some number that wouldn't be as overpowered as the current one is, but also more than what the real-life counterpart has that would fit the Arma 3 gameplay of being periodically injured during an FTX or Operation. In my opinion, having a Company Medical Squad with 4 Combat Medics in total would be functional; one of them would be the ''Team Leader'' and the rest would just be Combat Medics. At the beginning of an Op or FTX, the Platoon Commanders in conjunction with the Company HQ element would figure out where each of the Combat Medics should be assigned for the specific exercise or operation. I.e. One Combat medic is assigned to First Platoon, First Squad, another one is assigned to First Platoon, Third Squad, third one is assigned to Second Platoon, First Squad and the last one stays at the Second Platoon HQ element, etc.
This, in turn, would make the Combat Life Saver position much more utilized and important for each Squad / Team to have and also make the utilization and movement of the Combat Medics much more thought-driven and organized. Also, the utilization of the 3rd CAB Casevac / Medevac with one / two Flight Medics would also make more sense in missions. Hell, if we had enough people, we could even start talking about a mobile CCP with Battalion staffing.
As a retired Platoon Medic, the need for CLS trained and qualified personnel was always high. The need for the squad medics was always present. In a platoon, having 4 squad medics and the Platoon Doc and Mike, sometimes proves to be enough and sometimes proves to not be enough. The CLS was always the individual to help out.
I had plans around a year ago to rework the whole medical implementation of having it have its own CoC. The response given then was that it would only be possible when certain requirements are met, i.e. that being the whole unit being actual Battalion size meaning that we have 3 companies full of individuals. But it would allow for more movement/freedom of assigning medics to squads/platoons/company wide.
Personal opinion, the amount of medics currently assigned per platoon, it is not overpowered. Especially considering the differences between the capabilities of the CLS and the squad medic. I don't know the current setup as well as the implementation of the flight medics, but decreasing 68W billets is not something recommended. Increasing them from an external source would be beneficial though
First of all, I dont know how you calculated for 2nd platoon, but we have two squads and our Platoon Medic (PM) and first squad medc (SM) are one person, so we have as company 1 PM and 1 SM + 2ish CLS.
Whem our PM is not there, our quite well trained CLS takes over (if he is there) if not its me (mostly Squad Designated Marksmen). We have to have 2 Medics, since our two elements 99% of time work separete (we can cover more area at same time and do more recon this way). and keep in mind that there are situations, that we only have one medic.
Idk if the number you came up with (8) is accurate, probably its closer to 6 (assuming you over estaminated 1st PLT as well) since this is arma and average amount of people who show up is like 75% that means we are fielding 4-5 medics per operation.
This is arma:
-you touch something or take jump 1 pixel too high, you need medical atention
-"cancer" mechanic called wound re-opening
-ai who can outshoot you from 1km away using ak and iron sights in jungle,
-ai that does not care for its life as its highest value, it will take 6 hits to torse and put you down anyway.
-this is arma, people play way more reckless than IRL (esp actual soldiers xD) = way more gunshot wounds than IRL
-vic driving offroad touch wrong pixel= everyone need stiching
-we are low numbers, our company does not have 120 people, its manpower is more of a platoon, a squad without SM is not independant, detaching it means after one or two fire fights it needs to be bailed out, which means 50% of 1st PLT is out of action)
As of CLS course: it should be like land nav: required to any other course to be allowed in. (personal opinion)
Appreciate the input from everyone on this topic.
There are definitely some good points raised, both from a realism standpoint and in terms of how things actually play out in Arma. We understand the desire to make medics more centralized or structured differently, but for now, we don’t plan to change the current medical system as we move into this next campaign. It’s something we may revisit down the line, especially if our numbers grow or mission design changes significantly.
For the time being, the current setup works for our size, style of ops, and the general chaos that Arma tends to throw at us. We’ll keep the feedback in mind and appreciate the discussion.