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Here’s How Military Training Helps Veterans Who Work in Healthcare Face COVID-19.
The served in Iraq, and now they serve as first responders and nurses.
Does military training help healthcare workers face COVID-19? According to three Marines who served in Iraq, the answer is yes. These veterans are on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak, and it’s what they learned in the military that is carrying them through.
Semper Gumby: time hacks and flexibility.
Matthew Groth, an ICU nurse at two different Chicagoland hospitals, served as a gunner in the Marines. He believes the Marines prepared him for anything. “I feel that everything that I’ve ever done in the Marine Corps has translated into everything that I face.”
One favorite skills is finding time hacks. “So, why does the Marine Corps wake you up at zero stupid 30 in the morning and make you get dressed 100 times? They tell you ‘Hey recruits, you have five seconds. Put your left sock on right now.’ Then they’ll start counting down 5–4–3–2–1 and if you don’t make it, you take off your sock and start again. Usually, nobody understands the reason why getting dressed, or making your bed early in the morning matters. But it eventually matters, because if you have a time hack, that could be…