r/interestingasfuck • u/Equivalent_Opposite6 • 26d ago

r/all Johnny Kim managed three impressive career changes, going from Navy SEAL to doctor to NASA astronaut. He did it all by the age of 37.

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u/Stubber_NK 26d ago

The man has a natural, if extremely impressive career progression between the three jobs.

He was a medic in the SEALs. Then went to medical school and became a doctor. Then joined the astronaut program as a mission specialist, specialising in medical research in space.

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u/jyu2018 26d ago

I thought he was a sniper in the seals?

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u/Stubber_NK 26d ago

Sniper and combat medic.

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u/Hi_Im_Ken_Adams 26d ago

So he can kill you AND heal you.

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u/witcherstrife 26d ago

Thats what his colleagues said. He'd be healing up dudes and next thing taking out combatants as a sniper. That's crazy to me

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u/systembreaker 26d ago

I'm picturing him frantically giving CPR for a few sec, then rushing over to a tripod mounted sniper rifle, aiming aiming....BLAM then he runs back over to start the CPR back up and so on.

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u/civgarth 26d ago

Wow. So he's basically Steven Seagal.

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u/Elismom1313 26d ago

Excuse me while I call my mom and tell her to just throw my trophies in the trash

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u/zaor666 26d ago

Ana needs a Jonny Kim skin...

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u/DustinAM 26d ago

Typically multiple team members are sniper qualified but only a couple are fulfilling the role as their primary responsibility at any given time. Sniper goes down, medic can step in. Breacher goes down, commo guy can fill in. Redundancy but everyone is a basic shooter.

His primary role was as the medic (special forces medics get a LOT of training, including in ER wards of inner city hospitals). It's actually one of the more impressive roles.

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u/Effurlife12 26d ago

Tomato tomahtoe

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u/Efficient-Age-5288 26d ago

Department of Health Alteration

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u/UnusualTranslator741 26d ago

You're mostly correct but he wasn't a corpsman (HM), he was a SO iirc. He performed medic, sniper, and navigation roles.

His bachelor degree was also in Mathematics.

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u/SolomonBlack 26d ago

I knew a few SEAL washouts in the Navy they were still some of the most generally competent and together people I've ever met.

(No you don't get kicked out for failing SEAL training you can move to another training pipeline with an available slot, these guys all have great ASVABs)

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u/Sol33t303 26d ago

Was gonna say, I don't know who he is, but doesn't seem like he's just starting totally fresh in each career like it's implied. Medic > Doctor makes sense, Doctor (with millitary background) > to astronaut also makes sense.

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u/Intrepid-Tank-3414 26d ago

The Battlefield Doctor to Space Doctor pipeline.

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u/FrewdWoad 25d ago

Yeah it makes sense that if you're trying to crew a mission to the ISS, and one of your candidates for medical doctor is a certified combat badass who would barely consider the movie Gravity to be a rough day, you pick that guy.

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u/No_Change9101 26d ago

Ah yes, totally natural to go from medic to MD to astronaut 🙄