Meta: resources relating to BAMF Doctor John

[aely]

Over on LJ there have been a few useful meta posts recently about a certain Dr John Watson and the exact nature of both his army and medical career. They're written by someone who is both British and a medical student and they make fascinating reading!

 

 

I'm posting it here rather than in the Mind Palace because I think it would be interesting for everyone, not just for fic writers and other creators.

 

Part One: The Semantics of Healthcare - John wasn't fighting in Afghanistan he was busy being a GP!

 

Wherein it is discussed that as John was able to do locum work as a GP, he must have been trained and qualified as a GP before he was invalided out of the army, and exactly how this worked within an army career. This gives us an insight into an essentially non-combative but still BAMF John who focused on the medical side of his career and whose rank of Captain was not true army status, but a reflection of his medical status.

 

 

Part Two: Semantics of Healthcare Part 2 - How we can keep BAMF!John and be Realistic.

 

This post discusses how John could have joined the army after training as a civilian doctor first, rather than having been committed to the army medical training program. To become and officer - and therefore a Captain - he would have had to go through officer training at Sandhurst. This means he essentially ended up as a career soldier who also happened to be a doctor. John is old enough to have taken this route but it is explained so much better on LJ.

 

 

Part Three: Semantics of Healthcare Part 3 - Guide to Making John a Real Army Surgeon

 

Addresses just how John could be a trauma surgeon, be Dr Watson rather than Mr Watson (as is the tradition for British surgeons) and also a Captain.

 

 

A lot of thought has gone into these posts and they raise some excellent points as well as being a fantastic resource for fic writers, especially those without medical experience and non-Brits. Our NHS is frequently confusing, for those who work in it and all, just as much as anyone else.

 

Well done to the writer!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks for posting those links, aely! I would like to understand the character better, and am therefore curious about John's background. I know precious little about this sort of thing, since I am non-military, non-medical, and non-British!

 

I'm heading out in a short while, but will read those write-ups as soon as I have the time to do justice to them.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks again for those links, aely. I've read most of the write-ups (the author keeps adding more), and find them fascinating, though a bit slow-going due to the magnitude of information.

 

However, it just occurred to me that I'm not sure how to say "BAMF" -- is it pronounced as the four separate initials, or as a single-syllable acronym -- or does it vary from person to person? I'd like to know before I have occasion to use it in live conversation!

[aely]

I don't know how everyone else pronounces it but I pronounce it as one word like Banff (the town in Scotland and Canada).

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, I was thinking it would sound an awful lot like Banff, though I wasn't aware of the (original?) one in Scotland. (Wonder what the folks there think of the term?) But I've been spelling it out.

 

I'll go post the question on The Language Thread.