Royal Army Medical Corps
Cap badge of the Royal Army Medical Corps
Active	1898 - present day
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Nickname	The Linseed Lancers;
Motto	In Arduis Fidelis
March	Quick: Here's a Health unto His Majesty (arr. J.A. Thornburrow) Slow: Her bright smile haunts me still (J Campbell)
Anniversaries	Corps Day (23 June)

The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace. Together with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps and Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, the RAMC forms the British Army's essential Army Medical Services.

The RAMC does not carry a Regimental Colour or Queen's Colour, although it has a Regimental Flag. Nor does it have battle honours, as elements of the corps have been present in almost every single war the army has fought. Because it is not a fighting arm, under the Geneva Conventions, members of the RAMC may only use their weapons for self-defence. For this reason, there are two traditions that the RAMC perform when on parade:

• Officers do not draw their swords - instead they hold their scabbard with their left hand while saluting with their right.
• Other Ranks do not fix bayonets.

Unlike medical officers in some other countries, medical officers in the RAMC (and the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force) do not use the "Dr" prefix, in parentheses or otherwise, but only their rank, although they may be addressed informally as "Doctor".

Insignia

The RAMC, like every other British regiment, has its own distinctive unit insignia.

• Dark blue beret, the default Army colour worn by units without distinctive coloured berets. The exceptions are members of 16 Close Support Medical Regiment, who wear the maroon beret, 225 Scottish General Support Medical Regiment (previously Field Ambulance) and members of 205 (Scottish) Field Hospital, who wear the traditional Scottish Tam O' Shanter headdress with Corps badge on tartan backing, and medical personnel attached to field units with distinctive coloured berets, who usually wear the beret of that unit (e.g. maroon for The Parachute Regiment and sky blue for the Army Air Corps).
• Cap badge depicting the Rod of Asclepius, surmounted by a crown, enclosed within a laurel wreath, with the regimental motto In Arduis Fidelis, translated as "Faithful in Adversity" in a scroll beneath. The cap badge is worn 1 inch above the left eye on the beret. The cap badge of the other ranks must also be backed by an oval patch of dull cherry-red coloured cloth measuring 44mm wide and 55mm high sewn directly to the beret. Officers do not use the backing, but have a sewn-on cloth cap badge instead.
• Silver regimental collar pins (collar dogs), a miniature of the cap badge. Worn with the snakes heads facing inwards.
• Stable belt comprising equal horizontal bands of (from top to bottom) dull cherry, royal blue, and old gold, reflecting the old uniform worn in the 1900s (dull cherry and royal blue), the gold depicting the royal in the title. Members of 16 Close Support Medical Regiment stable belt is maroon with two sky blue bands.
• Silver belt buckle with engraved regimental badge.

Regimental flag

History

Medical services in the British military go as far back as the formation of the Standing Regular Army after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. This was the first time a career was provided for a Medical Officer (MO), known as the Regimental Surgeon, both in peacetime and in war. The Army was formed entirely on a regimental basis, and an MO with a Warrant Officer as his Assistant Surgeon was appointed to each regiment, which also provided a hospital. The MO was also for the first time concerned in the continuing health of his troops, and not limited to just battlefield medicine. This regimental basis of appointment for MOs continued until it was abolished in 1873.

In 1898, officers and soldiers providing medical services were incorporated into one body known by its present name, the Royal Army Medical Corps.

The RAMC began to develop during the Boer War, but it was during the First World War that it reached its apogee both in size and experience. During Britain's colonial days the RAMC had set up clinics and hospitals in countries where British troops could be found. Major-General Sir William Macpherson of the RAMC wrote the official Medical History of the War (HMSO 1922).

In modern times it has once again contracted and its main bases, the Queen Alexandra Hospital Millbank has now closed.

The military medical services are now very much tri-service, with the hospital facilities of Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy combined. The main hospital facility is now the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine in Birmingham, a joint military-NHS centre. The former Royal Naval Hospital Haslar in Gosport, near Portsmouth, became the tri-service Royal Hospital Haslar, however it was decommissioned in March 2007. The majority of injured service personnel are now treated in Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, despite recent press coverage of poor conditions there.¹ Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Friarage Hospital in Northallerton (near Catterick Garrison) and Frimley Park Hospital (near Aldershot) also have military wards.

Before the Second World War, RAMC recruits were required to be at least 5 feet 2 inches tall and could enlist up to 30 years of age. They initially enlisted for seven years with the colours and a further five years with the reserve, or three years and nine years. They trained for six months at the RAMC Depot, Crookham Camp, Aldershot, before proceeding to specialist trade training.²

Colonels-in-Chief

• FM HRH Arthur William Patrick Albert, 1st Duke of Connaught & Strathearn KG, KT, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, GCVO, GBE, VD, TD (1919–1942)
• HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother LG, LT, CI, GCVO, GBE, CC, ONZ, CD (1942–2002)
• HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG, GCVO (2003–present)

Order of Precedence

Successive changes in title

• Medical Staff Corps (1855–1857) (other ranks only)
• Army Hospital Corps (1857–1884) (other ranks only)
• Army Medical Department (1873–1898) (officers only)
• Medical Staff Corps (1884–1898) (other ranks only)
• Royal Army Medical Corps (1898–present)

Gallantry Awards

Since the Victoria Cross was instituted in 1856 there have been 27 Victoria Crosses and two bars awarded to army medical personnel.³ A bar, indicating a subsequent award of a second Victoria Cross, has only ever been awarded three times, two of them to medical officers. Twenty-three of these Victoria Crosses are on display in the Army Medical Services Museum. The corps also has one recipient of both the Victoria Cross and the Iron Cross. One officer was awarded the George Cross in the Second World War. A young female member of the corps, Private Michelle Norris, became the first woman to be awarded the Military Cross following her actions in Iraq on June 11, 2006.⁴ One VC is in existence that is not counted in any official records. In 1856, Queen Victoria laid a Victoria Cross beneath the foundation stone of Netley Military hospital.⁵ When the hospital was demolished in 1966 the VC, known as "The Netley VC", was retrieved and is now on display in the Army Medical Services Museum, Ash, near Aldershot.⁵

Trades/Careers In The 21st century

RAMC Officer Careers:

• Doctor (Medical Officer)
• Pharmacist
• Physiotherapist
• Environmental Health Officer
• Medical Support Officer

RAMC Soldier Trades:

• Clinical Physiologist
• Combat Medical Technician
• Operating Department Practitioner
• Pharmacy Technician
• Environmental Health Technician
• Laboratory Technician
• Radiographer

See also

British Army portal

• Structure of the British Army: The Services
• Combat medic
• Category:Royal Army Medical Corps officers

References

External links

• Official site
• Army Medical Services Museum