AF COT June, 2004

[DoctorInSpace]

Hey everyone. I was wondering who out there will be attending AF COT at Maxwell AFB this June? There are 5 from my school alone that are going, and was wondering who else will be there. It should be interesting to see where everyone will be coming from. I expect it to be a rather diverse group, which is great.

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[cdreed]

Hi Doc in Space! I am a MSI from AZCOM, and I will be seeing you this summer. I am looking forward to COT. It has only been 9 months since I separated from active duty to attend school, and I already miss AF life. Cyndi

 

[DoctorInSpace]

Cyndi,

What did you do before med school that you were active duty? Several of my classmates aren't going to COT because they were officers in their past lives. I have so many AF coffee mugs, hats, etc. I'm so thrilled to be Air Force!!

I'm M1 at NSUCOM---glad to see another DO out there!!! Hopefully more people will reply as the time gets closer.

 

[cdreed]

Hi Doc! I was a medic at Wilford Hall assigned to the Surg Ops squadron. I enlisted after college because I needed clinical exposure. The AF offered a path to achieve that goal. While there, I learned a great deal about active duty life and the medical corps. You can definitely be proud of serving in the AF. Cyndi

 

[DoctorInSpace]

Cyndi,

That's awesome. I know that the AF hospitals are some of the best, and am looking forward to my 3rd and 4th years when I can experience them first hand.

Are you flying or driving to COT? Just curious. I'm flying....although I gave driving some serious consideration. I love to drive and having the freedom of having my car with me. Oh well....i can survive for 4 weeks without a car, right?

Jill

 

[cdreed]

Hi Jill! I chose to fly to COT because I don't think I could take the cross country drive all by myself. I would be bored to tears without someone to talk to. You're in Florida, right? I lived in St Pete for a while quite a few years ago. I haven't been to the eastern coast of the state except Jacksonville and Daytona. I hear that Miami is really nice. Do you guys do any kind of clinical/preceptor training in the first two years of school? If so, I would suggest attempting to contact someone at one of the AF bases nearby to see is you can spend some time with the Docs. I know that Patrick is on the eastern coast, but I am not too sure how close it is to you. I have been fortunate enough to be able to spend some time at Luke AFB. I will try to continue that after COT this summer. You could probably talk to the nearest healthcare recruiter for advice or just call the base operator and ask for the clinic's ext. Once transferred, ask for the Office of Education and Training for the medical corps. I am glad to hear that you're so enthusiastic about the AF. Cyndi

 

[DoctorInSpace]

Cyndi,

Yep, I'm in Florida...Ft. Lauderdale. I've lived down here for almost 12 years. Patrick AFB is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours away, so it would be an all day ordeal, or a long weekend if I wanted to go up there at this point to their clinic. But Kenendy Space Center is right there too, and we had one of the physicians from KSC come down and talk to us several weeks ago. I can actually do a 1month rotation there if I want to during my 4th year as an elective.

We do a preceptorship staring our first month of school. Every other friday we go to a physicians office, one that is assigned to us. My physician is really great and now that you had mentioned it, maybe toward the end of my sememster I will try to get up to Patrick to see if I can shadow a doc up there for a day or two.

Enthusiastic about the AF? ABSOLUTELY!! I even got a certificate of appreciation from my recruiter for helping w/his recruiting efforts as well as performing several commissioning ceremonies. I can't wait to fly!!

 

[bbawco1]

I'll be there, I'm in undergrad at LSU and will be going to Tulane. Can't wait to go!

 

[jmruby3]

Hi Everyone,

I am planning on attending COT this June also. I just found out I received the 4 yr scholarship a week ago. I have not been signed up for COT yet. Can my recruiter sign me up before I have been commissioned? I am beginning to worry that the June class will fill up and this is the only one I can make this year.

Jaime

 

[DoctorInSpace]

Jaime,

First of all Congrats on getting the scholarship!!! I'm not 100% sure, but I think the deadline might have passed for this summer's COT. I could be wrong.....but check w/your recruiter to find out for you. If it hasn't passed, then it will shortly. You can get commissioned at any time, as long as there is someone of equal or greater rank. So, if there is a person locally that is either on the HPSP scholarship, or just ranked Lt or higher, then you can get commissioned.

I found out last year at the beginning of march and did not make the cutoff for COT last summer, which is why I'm going this summer. Be sure to check it out.

BB--that's awesome! How far are you from Maxwell AFB? Are you close enough to drive??

 

[cdreed]

Hi Jaime!

The best advice I can give you is to call AFIT. Ask for Tom Guertin. He will actually be the person to assign you to a specific COT class. I am glad to know that you decided to join the AF. I believe that you will enjoy your time on active duty!

By the way, Mr Guertin's contact info follows:

1-800-543-3490 ext 3036
[email protected]

Hope this is helpful to you.

Cyndi

 

[jmruby3]

Hi Cyndi and Jill,

Thanks for all of the advise about signing up for COT. I hope that I am able to attend the June class. I am currently living in St. Paul, MN so I am not sure if I will drive there.

This August I will start at Touro Univ. on Mare Island. I am especially excited because Travis AFB is only 20 min. drive from Touro. I know they have some ADTs for MS1 and MS2 students which I would like to check out. Perhaps I can also work out a preceptorship as you were talking about.

I am very exciting to be joining the Air Force. I look forward to meeting you all this summer.

Jaime

 

[bbawco1]

The drive for me will not be long at all so yes, I'm going to drive. Everyone from up north....get ready b/c it is going to be a hot one!!!

 

[NJEMT1]

I had no idea that it was so hard to get into COT! This is very surprising to me bc my recruiter made me think we HAD to attend the summer before med school and you could only go the summer after MS1 if you had a serious conflict... So does this mean that those of us waiting to hear from the second board have relatively little chance of attending this summer? If someone must wait until next summer to do COT, does this mean he/she misses out on the chance to do the special "summer after MS1" ADTs?

 

[DoctorInSpace]

NJEMT

I will do my best to clarify. Out of the 6 people in my school that are M1s that are AF HPSP (and i'm not including the one person who was prior AF), only one of them was able to go to COT before our first year. So, this summer he is going to School of Aerospace Medicine Orientation Course. You have to do 4 ADT's. For me and my classmates, we will do COT this summer, I will do SAM Orientation Course next year, and then 2 rotation in years 3 and 4 for those ADTs. Now, you can do that, or you can do 3 rotations. It really depends on what you want. I'm certain I want flight surgeon and eventually to go to SAM for real. My ADTs in 3rd and 4th year I hope will be at Travis and Andrews, but we shall see.

It is NOT a big deal to do COT after your first year. The only reason why you CAN'T do it before your first year is if your application and acceptance aren't done in time. So I would say that your chances of doing COT this summer are slim, especially since I have already received two email confirming my attendance and requesting my mode of transportation.

Good luck with your second board!!! I hope this helped.

 

[DoctorInSpace]

bump! I wanted to bump this up since we start in two days, and if anyone is still around.......

I'm mostly packed, and looking forward to starting COT.

See you all soon!