shortly after I graduated nursing school (RN) I was recruited by the Army, who assured me I would go in as a Lieutenant, which amused me mostly because my son is an NCO. I would have outranked him!
You’re Mom. You will always outrank him. 
IIRC there was an episode where a male registered nurse got drafted and was only allowed to be an enlisted orderly. In practice he was performing nursing duties because they were so short staffed and complained about being allowed to be an officer like that women despite having the same exact training.
During WWII there was talk of drafting women to serve as nurses, but Japan’s surrender made it unnecessary. The UK did have female conscription during WWII, but it was more flexible than male conscription & women didn’t necessarily serve in the military. Women have never been required to register with the Selective Service System, but IIRC there was a contingency plan for a limited draft of medical personnel that would’ve included women.
But then he’d have had to salute.
Right, the Nurse Corps went co-ed in 1955, *after *the Korean War.
And apropros of nothing, last week I was watching “The Hill” (B&W military prison movie) Where “vet” was a slang term for the medical doctor …
That reminds me of something that seemed strange in an episode I watched last week (from season 10, I think).
The enemy got a bit too close to the camp, so all the nurses* - and nobody else - were evacuated, leaving various male characters to do the nurses’ duties (off the top of my head, I remember Klinger, Fr Mulcahy and Igor).
This seems absolutely bass-ackward, but…hey, '50s, I can imagine that sexism (protect the women-folk!) could trump common sense (staffing a hospital with the trained medical folk), so I’ve been wondering if it’s something that was actually done.
- The official ones…the corpsman-acting-as-nurse mentioned above was presumably still there.
Yep- a good friend’s dad had been a USAF veterinarian. His job was to look after the guard dogs on Air Force bases where nuclear weapons were stored.
I suspect the point of the MASH episode where the male nurse got drafted was that he got drafted as a run-of-the-mill civilian, not specifically as a nurse, and therefore was slotted into the jobs that a trained private could do.
You’d think he’d have been able to show them his credentials and get shunted over into the direct commissioning program though.
Except for the part that the Nursing Corps was exclusively female pre-1955. Which provided the show a clever way of turning the tables on the concept of there being jobs that were gender-excluded.
“Doctor” is both allowed and usually preferred as a way to address military doctors, as it’s seen as more prestigious than their rank. There’s no such allowance for nurses but it’s possible that Col Blake separated them out intentionally to elevate them as a class. Of course, if your order is correct (officers, NCOs, nurses) then putting them last in the list would defeat the purpose.
I wonder if that’s a hold over from the days when much of the food arrived as live animals.
Outside of their sphere, yes. But a Doctor/Captain will certainly give orders to Private/Orderlies, Lt/Nurses, and so forth. And of course when a MD is in command of a unit, like on MASH, he gives all normal command orders. the 8076th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital had personnel including 10 medical officers, 12 nursing officers, and 89 enlisted soldiers of assorted medical and nonmedical specialties m and was commanded by Major Kryder E. Van Buskirk MD.
The commission is more than a “professional courtesy” thing. They do not receive a line officer commission but they are a limited duty officer. And yes they can be put in command of a base and the privates under their command had better follow their orders. The senior officer in command of a hospital will be a medical officer. And like any officer they are not allowed to go around giving order to just anyone in uniform.
Still, a comparatively junior doctor (Captain, for instance) could reasonably give direction* to a more senior nurse (Major) if she were actually providing care for the doctor’s patient. Of course, a nursing Major would probably be equivalent to a charge nurse or head nurse, so probably less hands-on.
*medical direction. And not orders, I would think; rank does mean something. And politely. The standard trope about doctors lording over the rest of the medical team would seem to run afoul of good order and conduct if it violates rank strictures and seniority.
To add to this little hijack on vets, animals are involved in medical research performed in-house, so to speak, by the Army, from lab rats to large animals in disease pathology all the way to wound care and biological and chemical warfare research.
Their physiology often must be exquisitely monitored.
ETA sorry , I see it’s mentioned in the wiki.
NB: an enlistee (non-commissioned) in that branch wear’s a med core insignia without a big “V.” Hilarity can ensue!
Yes, it’s corps. Blame autocorrect.
Hey, it’s better than the other likely autocorrect of that word.
One does not “win” the Medal of Honor. It is awarded. That would make Wood a recipient.
Sorry, but that’s a pet peeve of mine.
Her father was Col. Alvin “Howitzer Al” Houlihan, who might have opened some doors for her.
Doctors and nurses are not LDOs in the US Navy. An LDO is a different path of commissioning. What the doctors and nurses are happen to be staff officers as opposed to Unrestricted Line Officers. All officers still have general military authority, so there are instances where a doctor who is not in the private’s chain of command can give a lawful order to that private.
I also have that pet peeve. Plus it peeves me when media types report that the president awards the Medal of Honor. Congress awards the MOH; the President presents it to the recipient.