Doctors in the Navy?

[Carno]

Eh? He said around South America OR Canada.

Last I heard taking the Panama Canal was shorter than going all the way around South America.

 

[airwinger]

I looked very carefully at both the Dual Designator Program(Navy) and the Pilot Physician (air force) the best info I found was that while the Air Force is willing to send one doc to UPT provided he/she is physically qualified, it is alot easier to do your time, then go to med school using anything from Health Professions Scholarship to USUHS(Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences) or your own dime if so inclined.

Do note that just because you are rated and are a flight surgeon doesn't necessarily mean that you will be allowed to perform air crew duties. Further, esp in the Navy they tend to have only a few slots(about 1) in each community so there was a doc that winged in 2003 and wound up S-3's, while the prowler doc was slated for F-14's but stuff happened.
check out
http://www.iamfsp.net
their newsletters usually had some good gouge on the state of the various programs

 

[Brett327]

I looked very carefully at both the Dual Designator Program(Navy) and the Pilot Physician (air force) the best info I found was that while the Air Force is willing to send one doc to UPT provided he/she is physically qualified, it is alot easier to do your time, then go to med school using anything from Health Professions Scholarship to USUHS(Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences) or your own dime if so inclined.

Do note that just because you are rated and are a flight surgeon doesn't necessarily mean that you will be allowed to perform air crew duties. Further, esp in the Navy they tend to have only a few slots(about 1) in each community so there was a doc that winged in 2003 and wound up S-3's, while the prowler doc was slated for F-14's but stuff happened.check out
http://www.iamfsp.net
their newsletters usually had some good gouge on the state of the various programs

And he never let a day go by where he did not lament his fate as lowly Prowler Pilot. I mean, Jesus Christ, here you are, a dual designator guy and you've got a huge chip on your shoulder because someone thinks they "deserve" Tomcats. :sleep_125

Brett

 

[greysword]

Unfortunately, the Nimitz class carriers are unable to fit through the Panama Canal. They are just too big.

As for Wikipedia, don't believe everything that is on there, because anyone can edit the entry at any time. It is a good start, but verify the info if you want to quote it. For instance, if it says the USS NIMITZ itself is in San Diego and does Med Cruises, well thats obviously in error.

Each carrier has a homeport, and it could change (almost all have I think). The East coast ships generally go on Mediterainian cruises, where they will normally patrol the Med and the Atlantic Ocean. West coast carriers usually do Pacific cruises that patrol the Pacific and Indian Ocean Area of Responsibility (AOR). If required, the Navy can deploy the carriers to either coast fairly quickly, but in recent times this entails the east coast ships transiting the Suez Canal to get to the Indian Ocean (and Persian Gulf region). Smaller Naval vessels will go through the Panama Canal to get to 'other' coast, but if a carrier needs to change homeports, a lot of times they will do so at the end of a 6-month deployment and just go around the world.

 

[mumiitroll]

Thank you very much for all the info!