Combat medic

Medical personnel from most Western nations carry weapons for protection of themselves and their patients but remain designated non-combatants, wearing the red cross, crescent or crystal.

United States

In the United States Armed Forces, MEDEVAC vehicles display a large Red Cross on a white background. However, ground forces do not display this due to increased targeting of medical personnel by insurgents.

Traditionally, most United States medical personnel also wore a distinguishing red cross, to denote their protection as non-combatants under the Geneva Convention. This practice continued into World War II. However, the enemies faced by professional armies in more recent conflicts are often insurgents who either do not recognize the Geneva Convention or choose not to adhere to it, and thus readily engage all personnel, irrespective of non-combatant status. As their non-combatant status is not respected, many US medics no longer wear non-combatant markings. This can enable medics to be used as medically trained soldiers, fighting aggressively rather than just in self-defence. Combat Medics in the United States Army and United States Navy Hospital Corpsmen are virtually indistinguishable from regular combat troops, except for the extra medical equipment they carry.

The modern-day interpretation of the U.S. Army doctrine requires medics to carry one primary weapon and, if possible, a secondary weapon. It is also common to find American combat medics who are no longer wearing the red or white cross because it is considered unethical to do so when the combat medic is carrying a weapon and could engage in actual combat.

As a result of the 2005 BRAC, the U.S. Department of Defense has moved most medical training for all branches of the armed forces to Fort Sam Houston of Joint Base San Antonio.

China

Before the 1979 Chinese invasion of Vietnam, the People's Liberation Army did not employ armoured ambulances, leading to difficulties in evacuation of casualties from the front lines. To fill this gap, the PLA first developed the WZ750 armored ambulance based on the Type-81 tracked armored command vehicle, and later on the WZ751 and WZ 753 vehicles. In addition to combat roles, PLA medics have been deployed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Germany

Following German rearmament in the 1950s, the medical service was reestablished based on the traditional structure, with a medical service for each military branch. This changed in 2002, when the medical services were largely merged to form the Joint Medical Service. Since 2002, most of the former responsibilities of the Army Medical Service have been transferred to the Joint Medical Service, although the entity still exists as a much smaller organisation within the German military.