"Bolt Action Medic/AFO question" Topic

If I take a medic and I add the "further" two men, what do they become in game terms? I know it states the two extra men are junior medical officers such as stretcher-bearers, but what are their propose in the game? Do they just act like medic's and use the same rule? If your "main" medic dies, do you remove one of them instead of the medic? Such as how the German's have the rule with NCO's.

The same for the AFO, it states the extra man would be a radio operator but what does he do exactly for the game?

I'm no power gamer and will end up making my lists as historical as possible, just wondering if I missed something or I'm blind. Thanks!

I have a friend that calls such troops as you ask about 'meat shields'. In his opinion, they get killed instead of the Medic or whomever.
I don't tend to field 'extra' troops as offered by the rules. I find that they only really do any good in part of a Platoon HQ group. The Lt. and his two men can be useful as a kind of reserve group.
Historically, the 'extra' man with any FO would be a radio man as the larger sets in use at the time made such necessary.

In game all they do is take bullets and shoot back. I have used a 2 man observer team with SMGs to assault or put the killing blow on a squad after they've used their ability. They can throw another pin on a squad and several times I've has a two man team take one casualty and still be able to function. There is no thematic ability that having an extra man gives you, they're just another d6 to throw.

Bear in mind that the third guy takes them from a small team to a normal sized unit.