BOHICA-FIGMO said:
Could someone please explain to me (or send me a descriptive link) the training a USN flight surgeon undergoes?
Specifically:
How much of the 6 months in Pensacola is flight school and how much is medical training? What does the 6 mo. of training allow you to do out in the fleet (e.g., fly P-3 but not F-18)? What are the monthly flying hour reqs. for docs? Do you get flight pay/bonus? Any info is much appreciated. Thanks!
The course has been tailored one way and another over the years, but basically there are three parts: (1)a mini-OIS, largely a waste of time for the Navy interns, but the basic instruction on officerdom for the new accessions off the street: marching around, who to salute, what to wear and all that. There was training in aircraft egress with dunkers, dive decompression chamber, swim training, land survival, parachute egress over water and helo rescue in water, (2) an aviation medicine and physiology component with didactic lectures about physiology of flight, anoxia, etc, and aspects of various medical disciplines as they pertain to the aviation community, and admin issues for flight surgeons And (3) basic flight training. This was done at a remote base about an hour northeast of Pensacola. When I did the FS course, the candidates had to choose either fixed-wing or rotary training. You couldn't do both. Fixed wing started on the T-34 mockup, then the primary flight course. If you got scheduled well and the weather was good, you could get enough flights in to solo. The rotary guys couldn't solo. During the first and second parts, they made us take sick call clinic at the hospital.
You aren't qualified for any combat platform after flight school. You can be assigned to any kind of squadron or claimancy billet from there.
All naval aviators progress through several phases of primary training beyond basic: instrument, formation, aerobatics. There is a billet for a flight surgeon at the training command.
Combat aircraft training diversifies after basic. Where you go depends on what community you have selected. Flight surgeons do not do this. P-3 aviators went to advanced prop then to the RAG (replenishment air group) for type qualifications. After that, they get their first assignments in an operational squadron. Helo guys had a separate pathway after completing primary fixed-wing training. Jets was the longest IIRC, a couple of years in all.
I flew with a P-3 squadron. If you like travel, it's great. Getting hours is easy. On the whole, I really liked my squadron experience.
I am way too far out to tell you anything about pay. You get all the usual medical bonuses and some extra when deployed (though not like in the old old days when the deployed guys got full U.S. Gov't per diem).
