Thank you - Lace is above average for sure

Congratulations! Enjoy BMT and let it mold ya. It was life changing for me (Drew speaking - that was 13 years ago) and you’ll have doors open that never existed before!

Absolutely! Please send me an email at twonomadichearts@gmail.com.

What did you learn from your research? Did you pick AF Or Army?

she's craaaaazy

As a pilot, she's an observer and will fly to experience flight symptoms with AC (aircraft commander) oversight. While she won't fly solo, she is still aircrew and keeps the tip of the spear sharp. thanks for the awesome question.

We will definitely look into that!

Yes you can

Yes. Its a position more than a "practice" that many types of specialties can apply for. I've known Rheumatologists and Oncologists who have been Flight Surgeons. Once a Flight Surgeon though, you move to a Family Practice position for that period of time.

@@TheirStoryVeterans Thank you for the clarification.

Just a slight clarification, flight surgeons fill flight surgeon billets not family medicine billets. It’s true that flight surgeons come from all different specialties but before being allowed to be in a flight surgeon role the specialty consultant for your primary specialty would have to agree to allow you to do so. There is a significant shortage of flight surgeons and thus it’s not uncommon for a specialist to return to their specialty after serving as a flight surgeon for a while. Also to note there is a specialty known as an Aerospace Medicine Specialist who is a graduate of the residency in aerospace medicine who is board certification under the American Board is Preventive Medicine and the usually are the Chief flight surgeon on a base.

Awesome clarification. Thank you.

You should look into DET 685 - the flying beavers. And yes - if you’re flying in a fighter - you’ll have a basic overview of the planes ejection capabilities (how to arm the seat, select single/dual, and ultimately pulling).

@@TheirStoryVeterans Alright, thank you!

But still live in Atlanta and travel down to the base.

Send me your contact info and I’ll forward your contact info to Lace. She can fill in where I miss on the surgeon side. The answer to your question on the pilot side is yes. I flew and had reserve/guard pilots who were MD’s/anesthesiologists. It is based on unit openings or reserve slots- you’d interview at an associated unit. A lot of members travel long distances for reserve time and some for Guard. To fly, you’d qualify for UPT by taking the AFOQT. You’d interview based on scores from that and your TBAS/PCSM. All these are acronyms if you wanna fly - should look up and give you all the information you need. Email me below for more. I finished pilot training in 2016. twonomadichearts@gmail.com

@@armanioliver3588 this is a super late reply, but if you never got an answer I'd be happy to give you one. The short and long of it is probably not. It's not impossible, but highly improbable. If you truly want to be a fighter pilot as well as physician you would need to become a pilot-physician which is entirely different from what the Lt. Col here does. It is also an extremely rare position to be available and be qualified for. She is a Flight surgeon and as such is not rated to fly the aircraft on her own. The second caveat of this is that a cardiothoracic surgeon is a "fighter pilot" in their own regard. The training is simply too long, too strenuous, and the surgeons themselves too rare, that it is highly unlikely that a subspecialist like that would be placed into a billet like this. It would be a "waste" of resources in the eyes of the Air Force. Lt. Col Tina is a family medicine physician and as such is perfectly suited to administer care in this setting. The other problem is that taking a position like this would cut into the time you could operate significantly if you were a surgeon. A deployment could potentially take you out of the OR for months at a time. Flight surgery is not something you're going to see true surgeons do very often because of the old adage, "if you don't use it, you lose it." When you're going to be cutting into people's chests you can't afford to be out of practice to go fly backseat.

I'd Doubt it. You have to pass the same flight physical as the pilots. As they say though, there's a waiver for everything.

Thats correct. Once you accept a scholarship or commission as an officer, there is standard commitments that you have to keep. Typically, it's a one-to-one - for every year of medical school is a year of Active Duty commitment. Different situations (Guard, Reserve, etc.) can happen however.

sure why not!

With an extremely annoying voice.