Diversity in the military medical corps

[leumas614]

Anyone know how diverse the military medical corps is? How many types of people do you get in the army, air force, navy, etc?

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[swampthing]

Anyone know how diverse the military medical corps is? How many types of people do you get in the army, air force, navy, etc?

I am a minority and I can speak on my Navy experience. The Navy is mostly White. I define minority as black, spanish/hispanic, native american, asian and/or pacific islander. In my intern class, I was the only minority. In my flight surgery class of approximately 30, there were only 2 minorities (including myself). In my current command, I'm the only ethnic physician. Personally, I think minorities don't join the Navy because we generally don't swim well

I have met and worked with some Army docs and it seems they have more diversity in their medical community.

I don't know much about the Air Force

 

[R-Me-Doc]

I am a minority and I can speak on my Navy experience. The Navy is mostly White. I define minority as black, spanish/hispanic, native american, asian and/or pacific islander. In my intern class, I was the only minority. In my flight surgery class of approximately 30, there were only 2 minorities (including myself). In my current command, I'm the only ethnic physician. Personally, I think minorities don't join the Navy because we generally don't swim well

I have met and worked with some Army docs and it seems they have more diversity in their medical community.

I don't know much about the Air Force

If anything, military medicine is less diverse than civilian because you don't have the large number of foreign med grads in the military that you have in the civilian world.

RMD 364

 

[MoosePilot]

In a volunteer force, what difference does it make? I'm curious.

 

[swampthing]

If anything, military medicine is less diverse than civilian because you don't have the large number of foreign med grads in the military that you have in the civilian world.

I don't know if that's completely true, but you do have a point. You must be a US citizen to attend USUHS and participate in HPSP. If you are not a US citizen, then your chances of getting a military scholarship are significantly decreased.

I also have noticed some immigrant parents (Asian, Indian, African, etc) do not want their child joining any type of military force. In general, these parents sacrificed a lot to bring their families to the USA, sometimes to escape a military dictatorship or communist government in their native homeland. Therefore, they do not have favorable views of any military force and do not want their child to become involved with the military.

Some people do not realize there was blatant racism in the military not too long ago. Let's take my father for an example. He faithfully served many years in the military, fought in 2 major wars, and achieved the highest enlisted rank before his retirement. During his service in the 1960s, the military only let him be a stewart (aka "butler") or cook. Those were the only ratings he was allowed to serve as. Fortunately, the civil rights movement occurred, the ultra-conservative military changed, and more opportunities opened up for minorities like my father. My father changed his rating from cook to corpsman and moved up the ranks quickly.

Being a Navy brat and currently serving my country as a physician, I have noticed the Navy and Marines Corps is mostly Caucasian. A significant number of people from the South and Mid-West join the military. Some of them have confederate flags on their vehicles. Just an acute observation over the years.

Overall, I have enjoyed my experience in the Navy and serving my Marines and Sailors. I got to travel on a super carrier, fly in a F-14 Tomcat, and fly in a F-18 Superhornet. Not many physicians can say that. Overall, it has been a positive experience. However, there are times I know I'm a minority. Like I said, I'm the only ethnic physician in my medical command. Among the line officers in my command, there's only 1 minority pilot. My call sign among the pilots and NFO's is based on an ethnic movie character (but I don't mind because these guys are great and they let me fly). And sometimes people do judge you by the color of your skin, even if you graduated from the Naval Academy and Harvard Medical School.