When we think about Athletic
Trainers, we immediately refer to those people who are in charge of taking care
of athletes when they get hurt. It never crosses our mind that Athletic
Trainers’ scope of practice goes beyond the High School and College setting. According
to the Board of Certification for Athletic Trainers (BOC), “Athletic Trainers
(ATs) are health care professionals who collaborate with physicians. The
services provided by ATs comprise prevention, emergency care, clinical
diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation of injuries and medical
conditions”. In other words, athletic trainers can be employed at any setting
where injuries may potentially occur.
One of these non-traditional
settings is the military. According to the most recent NATA’s (National
Athletic Trainers Association) demographic statistic, 301 athletic trainers are
currently employed by the military or other governmental law enforcement
organization. Ian Woods, MS, ATC, currently works for the military and states
that “Not too long ago, the only way to serve our nation as an athletic trainer
(outside of the four military academies) was to become a member of the U.S.
Armed Forces as a medic or corpsman. Today, there are many other ways to serve
our country using the knowledge, expertise, and certification we have earned as
athletic trainers.”
Finally, athletic trainers in the
military, just like every other athletic trainer, are passionate about what
they do. They prevent injuries, provide immediate emergency care, and get the
“athlete” ready to battle. This athlete is just slightly different than your
common athlete but braver and stronger than any other one. Certainly, it must
feel amazing to take care of the ones that take care of all of us and to serve
this great country through their abilities and courage.
To learn more about this Athletic
Training job setting, visit the CEPAT website at www.nata.org/CEPAT or the
AFATS website at http://afats.org/index1.htm.
I after reading this article it really made me think about the trainers that are in the military because at my first thought, when you say trainers I think about the trainers who take care of athlete when they go down from injuries. But the trainers that are helping the Military are just as, if not more, important as the trainers for sports. Personally I think the trainers in the Military are a little bit more important because the individuals they are taking care of are the ones who are fighting for our rights, and the trainers in sports are taking care of individuals who do something they want to do. Not saying that what athletes do is not important because athletes do risk their lives to when they go through the activities they do and compete as hard as they do, but I just think that fighting for the country is a little more important.
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