anchorage alaska

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USAF MD '05

USAF MD '05

Just another dumb ER doc.
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anybody spent any time in the anchorage during their service? the fam and I are thinking of ranking it highly. Pros? Cons other than the long dark winters? I'd love to hear some opinions.
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I am about to go out there for a job in oral and maxillofacial surgery in a few weeks. I was there a few weeks ago. Believe it or not I really liked the place. Granted it is not New York or Cali but the weather and the daylight didnt seem to bother me.
 
Alaska is paradise. It looks like you're an emergency doc so you should like the job (slightly higher acuity than most other AF/Army EM billets). I ranked it first and couldn't get it so I wouldn't get your hopes set.

Downsides to Alaska:

1) It's cold
2) It's dark
3) It's isolated
4) There ain't a lot of culture

Upsides:
1) It's beautiful
2) It's light
3) It's isolated
4) There ain't a lot of culture
 
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I was stationed at Elmendorf and loved it. Alaska is such a highly coveted place to be stationed that getting assigned there is difficult. My wife enjoyed the winters more than the summers. If you like to do anything outdoors, Alaska is the promised land: fishing, hunting, hiking, snowmobiling, etc. If I went back, I'd definitely get a snowmobile. Make sure your vehicles are good to go before you get up there because cars are much more expensive. We lived in the south part of town but if I were to do it over again, I would live in Eagle River. A few of my aviator buddies sold their souls to stay there as long as possible ("I'll do a 1 year unaccompanied remote to Korea if you'll give me a follow-on back to Elmendorf.") A few of them actually were able to work that scam until the assignments guy figured out there was no shortage of people clamoring to go to Alaska and he didn't need to give those guaranteed follow-on assignments. It's a hard assignment to get so if you have the chance to go there, I'd grab it up ASAP.:thumbup:
 
Heeed! said:
I was stationed at Elmendorf and loved it. Alaska is such a highly coveted place to be stationed that getting assigned there is difficult. My wife enjoyed the winters more than the summers. If you like to do anything outdoors, Alaska is the promised land: fishing, hunting, hiking, snowmobiling, etc. If I went back, I'd definitely get a snowmobile. Make sure your vehicles are good to go before you get up there because cars are much more expensive. We lived in the south part of town but if I were to do it over again, I would live in Eagle River. A few of my aviator buddies sold their souls to stay there as long as possible ("I'll do a 1 year unaccompanied remote to Korea if you'll give me a follow-on back to Elmendorf.") A few of them actually were able to work that scam until the assignments guy figured out there was no shortage of people clamoring to go to Alaska and he didn't need to give those guaranteed follow-on assignments. It's a hard assignment to get so if you have the chance to go there, I'd grab it up ASAP.:thumbup:
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When were you at Elmendorf? Were you an SME?
 
Jan 99-Jul 03. Just a regular ol' WSO slaving away in the squadron Plans shop.
 
Hmm, so is Alaska actually a good location . . . or do the rest of the Army's locations just sucks so much that it seems good?
 
Mirror Form said:
Hmm, so is Alaska actually a good location . . . or do the rest of the Army's locations just sucks so much that it seems good?
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There may be some confusion here. Elmendorf is in Anchorage and is an awesome billet. My father in law was stationed there and the city and proximity to Alaska's natural splendor was awesome. He would happily go back.

Fort Wainwright is the Army post in AK and is located in Fairbanks, not Anchorage. Fairbanks is about 4 hours north (much longer in the winter with the snowy conditions) of Anchorage. It is not on the ocean. It is not close to the outdoor activities for which AK is famous. It is a giant frozen plain where the thaw lasts forever.

I don't want any army folks thinking that an alaska billet is paradise. In the med corps, Wainwright is well known for being one of those bargaining chip assignments: doing a tour there can help you get what you want on down the line. The young IM doc there was looking for his cardiology fellowship and the junior pathologist was looking toward his fellowship as well. Neither liked the assignment.
 
Heeed! said:
Jan 99-Jul 03. Just a regular ol' WSO slaving away in the squadron Plans shop.
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Flight Surgeon 12th FS 98-01. I was going to be your FS but Taylor took the job before I got there.

Shotgun.
 
Milrad said:
Flight Surgeon 12th FS 98-01. I was going to be your FS but Taylor took the job before I got there.

Shotgun.
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No way! I saw that Taylor (a.k.a. (Nut) "Juggler") was on the list for that program to get your MPH, etc. I can't quite recall what it's called right now. I just spent 3 hours retracing my steps throughout the hospital 6-9 times trying to find my patient list with all my notes, phone numbers, etc.:mad::mad: Since I'm carrying the pager tonight, I sure hope I don't get called!:scared:

What's the name of the Army post connected to Elmendorf? Isn't that an available Army billet?
 
Heeed! said:
No way! I saw that Taylor (a.k.a. (Nut) "Juggler") was on the list for that program to get your MPH, etc. I can't quite recall what it's called right now. I just spent 3 hours retracing my steps throughout the hospital 6-9 times trying to find my patient list with all my notes, phone numbers, etc.:mad::mad: Since I'm carrying the pager tonight, I sure hope I don't get called!:scared:

What's the name of the Army post connected to Elmendorf? Isn't that an available Army billet?
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Ft Richardson I think.

Juggler is probably going for the RAM program. Pusher (Scott Bryk) and I used to torment him at work. Pusher sister was married to one of your WSO's, I don't know his name.

What specialty are you going into?
 
Anchorage isn't even Alaska. It's more like North Seattle, with snow instead of rain. It doesn't even get COLD there, but you still see the long daylight/dark cycles. Although they aren't as bad as most people from CONUS think. Anchorage is where you go in Alaska if you can't hack it in the Interior, where it actually does get cold and dark, and the women have fewer teef.

Ft. Rich is the Army post there, though.

Ft. Ain't-right, 97-00...
 
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