Diving Medical Officer/Undersea Medical Officer

[Flyerlax42]

Thanks for your time,

I was wondering what exactly the training was like for the diving medical officer.
That is what exactly it's like at NUMI, and at dive school, and the third phase?
Also what is the final oral board like?
My main curiosity is the physical difficulty at dive school and NUMI, do they swim/run you into the ground? any advice?

Finally, what are your chances of working with the NAVY seals on your first time around? is it tough b/c it mostly goes to 2nd round GMO people?

thanks

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[RugbyJC]

Also what are the physical requirements, how tall do you have to be? What about for flight surgery? I'm 5'4" and am concerned.

Definitely not the best person to ask about this, but I see no one else replied. I assume you are both Navy? I just visited the dive school and flight school as part of my AT.

For flight school, for MEDICAL officers, I actually qualify and I am 5'0". There is this whole polymetrics system and they take many measurmenyts. I would probably never be able to fly a plane outside of training, but I do fit on the training rigs and helos.

As for the dive school, I know the physical requirements are set high and there is a lot of classroom time and physical training. I don't remember the specifics, but the part in Groton I think included radiation medicine and instuction and the physical parts were in Panama City...the experimental dive unit is also down there...I have email contacts for both sites, so ill try to find them and post.

 

[mumiitroll]

Navy Dive Doc made a lot of posts on this topic. Try a search for "dmo" or "dmo eod"

"The above is definitely true. In my Navy DMO class there were 2 recent FP grads, one internist and a PA, all from the Army. All of them were headed for assignments with Special Operations units, and were being sent to FS and Dive training enroute. The 2 FP guys were fresh out of residency, no prior service. The internist had been a Ranger before medschool and was headed back after a hospital tour, the PA was a Green Beret medic. So the Army does have some good options open to various specialists. The Navy does the same thing. As a DMO, I can reenter the community after residency and a utilization tour, even as a Radiologist. Same is true for senior level flight surgeons. I've known pathologists, radiologists, psychiatrists and others in these positions. EM is not the only "HOOYAH" specialty, though it is the most natural and sought after, so in a competition for the most coveted spots, they'll win. SPECWARDEVGRU aka SEAL team 6 is a classic example of this. They have huge numbers of applicants, a long screening process and they're very specific about what they want..i.e a DMO with a SPECWAR tour who's board certified in EM, and they get exactly that despite prd's, etc. But for the garden variety specwar jobs, many are able. All of the other SEAL jobs are just plain ole DMOs like me."

 

[mumiitroll]

Navy Dive Doc made a lot of posts on this topic. Try a search for "dmo" or "dmo eod"

"The above is definitely true. In my Navy DMO class there were 2 recent FP grads, one internist and a PA, all from the Army. All of them were headed for assignments with Special Operations units, and were being sent to FS and Dive training enroute. The 2 FP guys were fresh out of residency, no prior service. The internist had been a Ranger before medschool and was headed back after a hospital tour, the PA was a Green Beret medic. So the Army does have some good options open to various specialists. The Navy does the same thing. As a DMO, I can reenter the community after residency and a utilization tour, even as a Radiologist. Same is true for senior level flight surgeons. I've known pathologists, radiologists, psychiatrists and others in these positions. EM is not the only "HOOYAH" specialty, though it is the most natural and sought after, so in a competition for the most coveted spots, they'll win. SPECWARDEVGRU aka SEAL team 6 is a classic example of this. They have huge numbers of applicants, a long screening process and they're very specific about what they want..i.e a DMO with a SPECWAR tour who's board certified in EM, and they get exactly that despite prd's, etc. But for the garden variety specwar jobs, many are able. All of the other SEAL jobs are just plain ole DMOs like me."

I wonder if this means that if you're a doctor in some army specwar unit, you get to go to the navy dmo and fs schools? What kind of jobs could you do then? I realize that as a doctor you don't do any shooting. But can you go on patrols with army or recon guys? By that i mean do the type of hikes/dives that you couldnt do in the civilian world?

 

[Kris1]

Reviving an old thread... as a FAP applicant and PGY-1 in EM, can I get a spot to dive school? Would the Navy be hesitant to send me as a board certified EM doc and instead use me at the base emergency room or could I specifically request a shot at this with my recruiter before signing any paperwork?

 

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

Reviving an old thread... as a FAP applicant and PGY-1 in EM, can I get a spot to dive school? Would the Navy be hesitant to send me as a board certified EM doc and instead use me at the base emergency room or could I specifically request a shot at this with my recruiter before signing any paperwork?

My guess would be the Navy would want you to do at least one staff tour as an ER attending if they are paying you FAP during residency. So, I would expect to do a tour at a military ER for your first 3 yrs if you sign on for FAP. After that, it would be up to your program manager as to whether they would release you to do dive medicine.

Now, on the other hand, if you suck up the finances for three years of ER residency and THEN want to join the Navy as a board cert ER doc, you are sitting in the cat bird seat. I even think there is a "critical skills ascession bonus" of around $300K for ER physicians right now. AND, you could probably negotiate a first tour UMO/DMO slot as part of the deal. Something to consider....

 

[Kris1]

My guess would be the Navy would want you to do at least one staff tour as an ER attending if they are paying you FAP during residency. So, I would expect to do a tour at a military ER for your first 3 yrs if you sign on for FAP. After that, it would be up to your program manager as to whether they would release you to do dive medicine.

Now, on the other hand, if you suck up the finances for three years of ER residency and THEN want to join the Navy as a board cert ER doc, you are sitting in the cat bird seat. I even think there is a "critical skills ascession bonus" of around $300K for ER physicians right now. AND, you could probably negotiate a first tour UMO/DMO slot as part of the deal. Something to consider....

Hmmmm... (rubbing my beard).

 

[Gastrapathy]

Hmmmm... (rubbing my beard).

You'd probably get a better dive billet too. See the prior threads about DMOs. Oh, and say bye bye to the beard. This isn't the Navy of the 1970s

 

[mcpremed]

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