Are you military? I am Air Force so I can tell you how the USAF works.

I'm applying for Army ortho residency right now. My understanding is you either have to be on HPSP scholarship or USUHS student to get a spot. For this year, the Army applications are due on 15 Oct, this Sunday. The Army has their own web site that requires forms to be filled out, then all applicants also do an ERAS application. The military match is 15 Dec, if I don't get a spot on the military match by already having ERAS done I will go directly into civilian match to try to get a spot as a civilian. lemme know if you have any questions. Are you on a military scholarship?

Thanks for the info, I'm not in the military, however I heard people talking about it at the hospital and was wondering how it worked and if a civilian could enter. Ryan

you definitely can't get an AF spot. can't say for sure about the others. if you want to serve, consider joining later. the services pay bonuses based on specialty. why are you considering the milit progs anyway? cheers. fg

I'm Army scholarship and have rotated at San Antonio and Honolulu, my understanding is that civilians can't apply for the Army ortho programs. To get a definite answer I would just call/email the contact person listed in ERAS, the PDs in Army are very friendly, good luck

Thanks guys fg - I just heard about it from a student I was rotating with and was curious

right on. given my personal experience, i highly recommend to civic minded young docs with no existing commitment-- join as an attending so you can choose where and when you train. that's just me. oh, and i wasn't trying to create friction, i was just curious if you had heard some outstanding scuttlebut regarding one of the milit residencies. cheers. fg

any thoughts on the best way to get a civilian deferal for the AF? if your rank list looks like this: 1) civilian defer 2) wilford hall does that look bad, as though you're not committed to the AF...thus getting less points at the selection board? is there any difference on how your application is viewed/scored if you opt for civilian defer as your first choice? or should you just rank military first and bank on GMO/FS bumping you out of the 4 military spots? does anyone know how many interns/GMO/FS will be applying for AF ortho this year?

If you want to know how the military scores apps go here: http://airforcemedicine.afms.mil/idc/gr ... CTB_047647. The GMO/FS applicant will almost always score higher than any med student. As an aside, if you have to do the GMO/FS, its not too bad. The year I graduated from school none of the 35 applicants for ortho got accepted. So, I did it and decided to keep doing it for 5 years because I was having so much fun. As a flight surgeon, you'll be way closer to the real AF mission than as an orthopod. I'm about to finish my deferred residency now and go back in. I'm looking forward to it.

last year's numbers: civ def spots 6 spots at big willie 4 sponsored 1 applicants (approx): captains 14 graduating (2lt's) 17 matched: captains 8 lt's 3 it sucked to be a butterbar last year this year 26 spots, so if things are similar, everyone who applies should have some degree of a chance. cheers. fg