It might be worth mention that there was a group of us assigned and trained to respond with SWAT. It started with the SWAT captain asking to have some of his men trained as paramedics thinking is was some sort of course you can take. When he learned that the usual course of study is pretty much the same as for an RN, 2 or 4 year college programs, he realized it would be much simpler to train a handful of paramedics to be SWAT team members.
To be sure, we were the last guys going in, but we took all the training and we were issued, for the most part, all the same gear. We were trained on all the firearms for familiarization purposes and issued a Glock 9mm. It was understood that it was pretty much for display purposes only as we were carrying a jump kit and our roles were carefully delineated.
During the two years I was part of the program I only responded to a handful of calls and they weren't any more dangerous than any other day at work.
I was a great EMS system to work for as they were all about being the first and the best. One year we were national system of the year and runner up another time. We had a dive team with a couple Scorpio boats, a high angle rescue team (HART) so we did all kinds of rope work at extreme heights, swift water rescue team(we trained at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, aka 'the Harvard of whitewater') so half the guys ended up buying kayaks, HAZMAT team, we did all our own extrication work (most places the fire departments do that)you name it. There were pay differentials for taking the training so I did all of it.
Better than working for a living. Eventually, though, it took a physical and psychological toll on me and it was time to move on.
