What is the deal with Navy Diving Medical Officers?

[Denny Crane]

Are Diving Medical Officers full-fledged navy divers? Some other threads on sdn would lead me to believe yes, but the ones I have found are ambiguous and dated. So I am hoping to get some more info here. I just dont understand why diving med officers would need to be fully trained as a navy diver and go underwater on missions with them. I figure they would just come along for the ride on the boat/ship and if there is a problem treat the patient above the water. I admit I am ignorant, but I don't see how any medical treatment could be provided underwater. I have seen some threads about these guys jumping out of helicopters, diving, helping diffuse explosives, etc. Lots of crazy stuff like that that I wouldn't have expected a physician to be doing. Also, is the Diving Med Officer just another GMO-type job like flight surgeon or is it its own specialty that you need a lot of training for and is better suited for military career-minded folks?

Personally, it would be a plus for me towards the Navy HPSP if becoming a real Navy Diver during GMO tour is possible. I would love to jump out of copters and go underwater and stuff for two years. Sounds like an awesome opportunity.

Can anybody comment? Thanks for sharing any insight you have.

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[Red Lobster Actual]

I just dont understand why diving med officers would need to be fully trained as a navy diver and go underwater on missions with them.

Dive Medical Officers (DMO) receive diving training so they can experience what their patient population (i.e. divers) go through. Similar concept to why flight surgeons are taught to fly.

Also, is the Diving Med Officer just another GMO-type job like flight surgeon or is it its own specialty that you need a lot of training for and is better suited for military career-minded folks?

A DMO tour is a GMO tour. Following 6 months of additional training after intern year you get shipped off somewhere for 2.5 years.

Personally, it would be a plus for me towards the Navy HPSP if becoming a real Navy Diver during GMO tour is possible. I would love to jump out of copters and go underwater and stuff for two years. Sounds like an awesome opportunity.

Sounds awesome but that's how they hook you to sign up as a "DMO" after medical school. In reality you are actually signing up for Undersea Medical Officer (UMO) training where the bulk of the billets are actually assigned to the submarine community. Only a small fraction actually get the sexy SEAL/EOD/Marine Recon billets.

But hey, nothing risked nothing gained.

 

[Denny Crane]

Sounds awesome but that's how they hook you to sign up as a "DMO" after medical school. In reality you are actually signing up for Undersea Medical Officer (UMO) training where the bulk of the billets are actually assigned to the submarine community. Only a small fraction actually get the sexy SEAL/EOD/Marine Recon billets.

Thanks for the reply. So are they official navy divers? They dive with their patients? And do the SEAL docs go through BUD/S and then actually perform spec ops missions?

 

[Denny Crane]

Dive Medical Officers (DMO) receive diving training so they can experience what their patient population (i.e. divers) go through. Similar concept to why flight surgeons are taught to fly.

So Navy flight surgeons are taught to fly? I may be mistaken, but I have an AF HPSP buddy and he is doing a flight surgeon tour right now, and he did not learn how to fly.

 

[Red Lobster Actual]

So are they official navy divers?

Yes?...but that's like saying I took the motorcycle basic rider course and then only ride it a few hours per month to maintain my motorcycle license but not actually use it for anything useful like commuting and then telling everyone I am a motorcyclist. You can be the judge of that.

They dive with their patients?

They can...but not the way you are imagining it right now.

And do the SEAL docs go through BUD/S and then actually perform spec ops missions?

No and no. There exists a population of special warfare types that go through medical school and become physicians but by then they are physicians. At that point they are putting stethoscopes onto chests and not putting guns into mouths. The only type of people that go through BUD/S are select enlisted sailors and unrestricted line officers, never medical officers. There is absolutely no reason to send a medical officer into the line of fire.

So Navy flight surgeons are taught to fly?

Yes. It is part of the Navy's flight surgeon's course in Pensacola.

Well, now that I have been reminded. There is actually a documentary that shows, albeit briefly, what some DMOs do. Go watch Surviving the Cut: Special Forces Diver. A bit into it they show an Army medical officer CPT. All he does is making sure no one dies during training and selection. He trains the SF medics on recognizing hypoxia, treating it, etc. The DMOs in the Navy are similar in this regard. I'm sure the DMOs with deployed units do other things as well but I just want to emphasize that they will not be kicking down doors, nor disarming mines, nor slaying enemies of the state. That is not what medical officers are for and that is not what they are trained to do.

 

[notdeadyet]

Yes. It is part of the Navy's flight surgeon's course in Pensacola.

Though lest we confuse the OP, though Navy Flight Surgeons attend parts of flight school, they do not finish flight school. They are not considered pilots, nor safe to fly in the eyes of the civilian community.


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