Taking a break from shadowing officers at Sheppard AFB to pose for a picture in front of a T-38.

As my experience with Air Force ROTC comes to a close, I cannot help but look towards the future. I will be going into the Medical Service Corps, which is what the Air Force calls Health Care Administration. Some of my peers will be pilots, navigators, intelligence officers, nurses, civil engineers, computer engineers, etc. Despite the wide range of careers, we all had the same ROTC training and career preparation. AFROTC is a four-year long job interview. During this time, people decide whether the Air Force is right for them, and it is also a time for the Air Force to decide whether these people are right for it. Most of the people with whom I started ROTC did not complete the program. I watched cadets drop out of ROTC to pursue other careers. Some did not make it because their grades were not good enough. Others could not maintain the weight and physical fitness standards. It is always sad to see them go, but it only proves how difficult it is to get the job. The rest of us who have made it to the end can look forward to rewarding careers in the Air Force. 

Almost every civilian job has a counterpart or equivalent in the Air Force. Many people are drawn to the Air Force because they want to fly, but others are drawn to it because of the cutting edge technology that it develops and uses. There are also some cadets who go through the ROTC program knowing they want to be in the Air Force but are uncertain of what career to go into within the Air Force. People are assigned career fields several months before they graduate. These fields are assigned based on a worksheet that each cadet fills out. On this worksheet, cadets list in order of preference the career fields they would be willing to work. Then the Air Force assigns careers to people based on what the Air Force needs and how well the cadets ranked against their peers in academics, skills and qualifications. 

At least once a year there was a career night held during Leadership Lab. Officers from various career fields came in to talk about their jobs and experiences, giving all cadets exposure to what the Air Force had to offer. Most people know what pilots and navigators do in the Air Force, but few know what logistics, transportation and weather officers do. Career night was the best way to introduce cadets to the lesser known fields in the Air Force. There are also opportunities over the summer for ROTC cadets to explore officer careers. Most of these are shadowing or internship programs in which cadets are given a more in depth job orientation. These are usually more helpful than a passing interaction with an officer at career night.

During the summer after freshman year, I visited Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas for 10 days, shadowing several officers in medicine, law, logistics, aviation and security. My interests lay in the medical field, so I spent a lot of time with doctors. After my time at Sheppard, I decided I wanted to become a flight surgeon. These are the primary care physicians for pilots, air crew and their families. Flight surgeons must have flight time each month, so part of their job description may include a back seat ride in a fighter jet. One of the doctors I shadowed flew once a month with an instructor pilot who was teaching him how to fly. It sounded very exciting, but in order to become a flight surgeon, I had to go to medical school. Although I took all the pre-med courses at Washington University, I decided to postpone applying to medical school in order to explore other career fields before making a final decision. 

I wanted to find a career that might utilize my Chinese language skills. When I studied abroad in Beijing, I decided to see what kind of job opportunities there were for Air Force officers at the American Embassy. I was looking for interesting ways to utilize my Chinese skills. I made an appointment with the assistant Air Attach and talked with him at length about Air Force officers who worked at embassies around the world. I learned that the Air Attach in China interacted with the Chinese Air Force representatives. I was disappointed to find that it was a special assignment for which I had to apply. It was a not a career field that I could get into straight out of ROTC. 

In the end I decided to apply for the Medical Service Corps. Health care administration had not originally appealed to me, but once I heard about all the neat things they do, I immediately wanted to sign up. These are the people who run the hospitals, order medical equipment and coordinate patient movement. The patients who were flown from Iraq to Germany and back to the United States had their medical care coordinated by Air Force Health Care Administrators. There is also a program for health care workers that involve the use of a foreign language, called International Health Specialists. These teams of people help out with nation building. Hopefully I will be able to get involved in this type of work once I am active duty. 

I am very excited about my future and all the opportunities that await me. Graduation is around the corner and I will be an officer soon. I am sure the Air Force will help me travel the world and give me unimaginable experiences and memories. I think I will eventually apply to medical school, but if I’m having fun in the Air Force, it might have to wait. Wish me luck as I venture into the wild blue yonder.