Air Force Reserves Aerospace Medicine Specialist

[2s0ckz]

Hi I'm new here. I'm still an undergraduate, so this may be a bit far off for me. I was wondering if anyone knows exactly what are the steps to becoming an aerospace medicine specialist in the air force reserves? I couldn't find much detailed information on it anywhere.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[2s0ckz]

after medical school, of course.

 

[DeadCactus]

Medical school -> Residency in Aerospace Medicine (RAM) +/- residency in a traditional field. The RAM residency is 2 years if doing it in addition to another specialty, 3 years if doing it alone. There are one or two civilian RAM programs which theoretically would let you do the whole thing as a reservist, but if you really want to go that route you're better served on active duty. It's meant for people who want to do occupational/flight medicine full time. If you just want to flight medicine on the side, become a flight surgeon (has nothing to do with surgery, the military just calls all physicians surgeons) the training program for which is only a few weeks long and it much more amenable to sticking reserve the entire time.

More importantly, what do you think the job entails and why do you want to do it?

 

[2s0ckz]

Medical school -> Residency in Aerospace Medicine (RAM) +/- residency in a traditional field. The RAM residency is 2 years if doing it in addition to another specialty, 3 years if doing it alone. There are one or two civilian RAM programs which theoretically would let you do the whole thing as a reservist, but if you really want to go that route you're better served on active duty. It's meant for people who want to do occupational/flight medicine full time. If you just want to flight medicine on the side, become a flight surgeon (has nothing to do with surgery, the military just calls all physicians surgeons) the training program for which is only a few weeks long and it much more amenable to sticking reserve the entire time.

More importantly, what do you think the job entails and why do you want to do it?

I think I might be interested in that specialty simply because I've always been interested in aerospace. My father was a pilot. If I'm not wrong, the reserves could be a good stepping stone into working as a flight surgeon for NASA, which would be very interesting in the coming years as they prepare for missions to Mars, which is a very different environment from any humans have been to so far.

You mentioned that it is possible to take one of the civilian routes as a reservist. Would the air force recognise these programs on the same level as they do their own? Also, I believe the UTMB program is only two years compared to three in the air force. Would that route still qualify me to be a specialist in the reserves then?