Air Force or Army HPSP?

[ericd8]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[BigNavyPedsGuy]

I applied to all 3 branches and got accepted by all 3 branches. Ultimately, I chose the Navy and have been happy with my branch decision. If you want flight surgery, then the Navy is the only one that offers an aerospace medicine residency. Also the AF flight surgery training is around 6 weeks and the Navy's is around 6 months. I'll let you decide which is better.

All of that being said, read through the pros/cons on this website. There is a lot to know before signing up with the military and it sounds like your current source of information is a recruiter - which is dangerous.

Finally, never say "I expect a minimum of 30 on the MCAT" That's just a dumb thing to say. It makes you sound arrogant and clueless all at the same time. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but until you have an MCAT score - don't tell people what your MCAT score is/will be.

 

[BigNavyPedsGuy]

The only downside to applying for all 3 is the paperwork. More options is always good. That's why you shouldn't join.

 

[UltimateDO]

If you want flight surgery, then the Navy is the only one that offers an aerospace medicine residency. Also the AF flight surgery training is around 6 weeks and the Navy's is around 6 months. I'll let you decide which is better.

Not really comparing apples to apples since the Navy is the only one that include flight training...Air Force and Army only teach the medicine portion. You do not get rated on an airframe in any of the programs.
Army - 6 weeks
Air Force - 8 weeks
Navy - 24 weeks

All three branches offer the Residency in Aerospace Medicine (Navy/Army combined at Pensacola / Ft. Rucker and Air Force at Wright Pat) that are effectively 2 years if internship is included, 1.5 years if a prior internship performed.

 

[Doctor Bob]

I was wondering if the AF would have need for an emergency medicine flight surgeon?

The AF just started an EM/Flight Med track where you complete an EM residency, then work for at least 2 years in a flight med billet. The pros and cons of this are debated in other threads, but yes, the AF has decided they want emergency medicine flight surgeons.

 

[J-Rad]

...If you want flight surgery, then the Navy is the only one that offers an aerospace medicine residency. Also the AF flight surgery training is around 6 weeks and the Navy's is around 6 months. I'll let you decide which is better.

All three services have a residency in aerospace medicine. There was a poster here who had a thread about the Army's RAM (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=914637). I get the feeling that the Army and AF RAMs are dramatically different based on this thread and talking to some AF FSs (+/-RAM). Don't know much about the Navy RAM. And as for the length of FS training, since, I would imagine the jobs are fairly similar and are predominantly learned by OJT, you could argue that the Navy just makes their course unnecessarily long with no proven benefit (the Navy stick time isn't going to make them aviators). Just speculating as I don't have first hand experience. The important point is that, if the dream of being an FS far outweighs all the negatives of military medicine (which I have not even touched upon here), then the length of the introductory course would not seem to be a critical deciding factor.

 

[USAF Flight Doc]

If you end up doing the USAF or USN, I highly encourage you to check out aerospace medicine. The Army has some aviation medicine, but it is not nearly as robust as the former two. I'm a doctor and flight surgeon in the USAF. I've practiced medicine in almost 10 separate countries over the 3 years I've been doing the job. I fly in an F-16 at least monthly. I love my job.

Here is a website I have created promoting the academic discipline: www.goflightmedicine.com

If you have specific questions about flight medicine in the USAF, send me an email at the 'contact us' on my above website or you can also post the question on the forum I just added to my site: http://goflightmedicine.com/forums/military-aviation-medicine-flight-medicine/

Either way, good luck with your decision.