Sort of an old post but to answer the question about SERE; don't let the fear of that course keep anyone from joining the Air Force, it's all about mind games; to see if you can hack it. They won't beat you (too hard) or starve you (too much), they want to see how you cope but also teach you how to cope. In my opinion it's a waste of time for the AF to put doctors through this. There have been only a handful of physicians that have ended up crashed in the middle of nowhwere in the last 70 years. A few in WWII, a couple in Korea and Vietnam, Desert Storm, that's it. Complete waste of money. They would be better off sending all physicians to a trauma surgery course. But back to the point; anyone can survive SERE; it's all in the mind. Best way to prepare for it is to be in good physical shape.
About older doctors, yes, they will take a bit of pity on anyone over 30-40, but not much. Crawl through a mud puddle on your elbows and knees, yup. In the end you will be proud that you made it through, like a badge of courage, so keep that in mind.
About choice of residency; once you are in they own you. If they only need you for one year as a GMO or flight surgeon then you might get lucky and get into a residency in a year, but probably not. Most likely you will spend a minimum of two years, maximum of four years, at your first assignment before they will let you go into training. You apply like everyone else and takes your chances.
About a radiologist wanting to be a flight surgeon. You must have primary care privileges in order to be a flight surgeon, and the only way to get credentialed in primary care is to be relatively current in practice or after completing a primary care post graduate training course. So maybe if within a couple of years of completing a first year general internship, but JCAHO rules have changed in the last few years relating to clinical privileges. The person to ask would be in the credentialling office at an Air Force hospital or larger clinic. Your recruiter could contact that office and find out for you,
About flying in fighter jets; as mentioned by someone else, two seat fighter jets are going away fast, so you would have to be assigned to a base that has F-16's or F-15's in the AF. Flight Surgeons have what are referred to as AO's or Aeronautical Orders. What these state is that you are required to "Fly Frequently and Regularly", which means a minimum of four hours a month. This is often hard to do in fighters as their sorties or flying time is usually about 1 1/2 hours max per flight. So that means flying at least three times a month. Depending on who your boss is will determine to a more or less degree how often they will let you go fly. In today's Air Force, the Commander of the Hospital may be a physician, a nurse, or PA, or even an optometrist, really. I've found that some non-physicians look at flight surgeons who want to go fly as just trying to get away from work. They do not see it as part of your job, they see it as goofing off. What none of them understand is the importance of those aeronautical orders that flight surgeons have stating "Must Fly Frequently and Regularly". In fact, if you don't complete the minimum four hours of flight time a month a letter goes from the flight management office to your supervisor notifying him/her that you failed to meet that requirement. The only other groups that have aeronautical orders are pilots and navigators. Flight nurses are not issued AO's. On the other hand, if you don't make the four hour minimum you're not in trouble, but it can affect your flight pay eventually. It is much easier to get the required number of hours if you're assigned to a base/squadron with C-5's, C-17's, or C-130's for example, their training missions are usually much longer than in fighters.
Getting late, more later if anyone has any questions or updates from last year??
