Can anyone give me detailed info on what the army primary flight surgeon course entails? Types of classes, what sort of aviation experiences there are, altitude training, etc - the more details the better. The main web site just gives a very general overview...
I would like to apply for next year so I need to start working on my appl but I know I will need to request a waiver or two and it would help to know exactly what folks do in the course so I can accurately build my case for a waiver and/or do whatever else I need to to get in.
Many thanx!!!
So the Army FS course is essentially a gentleman's course. It's only six weeks long. You learn the basics about aviation, flight physiology, the different airframes the Army uses. You have classes about how to be a Flight surgeon, the types of medical stuff you'll encounter, illnesses you should be aware of, and of course all the administrative paperwork involved with it. When I did the course (Spring 2005) we had an instructor training for triathalons so we pretty much did PT every morning. From what I hear it's lightened up considerably since. You do some swimming because you'll go through Dunker training (helo in water and you have to swim out). You'll get up in the air (you don't get stick time if you're wondering about that) for about 4 flights, one night flight. We did some time in the flight simulators, and we spent some time in the hyperbaric chamber and experienced breathing at high altitudes (50,000 ft?). We spent some time seeing what flight medics do, and did a couple of scenarios on moving simulators where we had to transport a patient for 15 min and we had to start IVs, give blood, do CPR, etc. Some of the training simulators are pretty good - night missions with NVGs, vibrations/rocking of helos, etc. We had 3-4 tests with a couple of group projects. It's as academically challenging as OBC was...many foot stomps were heard.
When I went through the course we had a mix of AD, Reserve, and NG, in addition to PAs in the class. Almost all had deployed and were able to make the class much better because they were able to apply their past experiences into scenarios in class. Ft Rucker is a pretty standard post - in the middle of nowhere. It's in the southeast quadrant of Alabama. But Panama City is only 1.5 hours away and we pretty much went there every weekend. The Navy lodge there is awesome and only $25 bucks a night for O1-O3's and about 10 min away from the beaches and clubs (supposedly the biggest club in the US is there). Pensacola is about 3 hours away and worth the drive too.
So what can you do now? First get the flight physical. You don't need the same physical as those who want to be full fledged pilots. You'll need the 2F physical if I remember correctly. It's a 2 step process so plan for that. One appointment to get measured/labs/EKGs, another for the actual physical with the FS after all the results are in (at least that's how it was done for me). You also need dental and optometry exams. Waivers aren't really a problem (unless it's something extremely major), just get the physical done now so the FS can submit them if needed.
As you can see, I had a great time at the course. But with all that being said, I am still young and most likely naive. I'm still in residency and haven't gone out as a FS yet (did the course as an MSIV with my last ADT - great way to end medical school) so all I can give you is my experience at the course. Hopefully it's everything I'm want it to be, but I know the Army will piss me off at some point in time, I just don't know when. I'm gotten mostly very positive comments about it from those who have recently been out as FS's, but you'll never know until you get out. The FS badge is essentially a big "Deploy me!" badge as one famous Caveman likes to put it. So if you're not looking to deploy, it's not for you (although you most likely will deploy w/ or w/o the badge - hopefully you know that by now). Feel free to ask me any more questions.
