Combat medics’ personal identities can become indistinguishable from the professional responsibility they have to provide care to a particular group, as a result of the official training and unofficial acculturation they receive in the military. This constructs an intensified moral world in which medics live for a time and sets the stage for a specific kind of moral experience in combat, one grounded in a sense of personal responsibility for the physical well-being of their comrades. When combat medics are unable to fulfill their professional role, this can cause a distinct form of moral trauma, because they have also failed to fulfill a personal sense of purpose.