any air force/military regulations experts?

[TrophyHusband 0]

my wife is an ob/gyn in the air force. she takes her oral boards on december 3rd. it is in her contract the she become board certified. last week, her new squadron commander decided that she couldn't go take her boards because they couldn't give up the appointment slots. her clinic oic was able to convince the squadron commander to allow her to go take her boards, but the squadron commander said my wife would have to pay for it out of pocket. we have no problem eating the cost of airfare and hotel, but its $2000 to take the boards. every doctor at this hospital and every doctor we know in the military has had their boards paid for by the military. like i said, its in her contract to get board certified. is there an afi that requires the air force to foot the bill?

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[gonzalesna 1]

if it's a certification for the military, the military should pick up the bill. End of story. Funding comes out of the unit, so they might be acting stingy with funds, but that's all I could think of. There's no reason all y'all should have to pick up the bill for that.

Some people refrain from beating a dead horse. Personally, I find a myriad of entertainment value when beating it until it becomes a horse-smoothie.

[kbordson 8]

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my wife is an ob/gyn in the air force. she takes her oral boards on december 3rd. it is in her contract the she become board certified. last week, her new squadron commander decided that she couldn't go take her boards because they couldn't give up the appointment slots. her clinic oic was able to convince the squadron commander to allow her to go take her boards, but the squadron commander said my wife would have to pay for it out of pocket. we have no problem eating the cost of airfare and hotel, but its $2000 to take the boards. every doctor at this hospital and every doctor we know in the military has had their boards paid for by the military. like i said, its in her contract to get board certified. is there an afi that requires the air force to foot the bill?

WTF!!!!!!!

(shakes head, sad, but kinda relieved that I didn't take the military offer for medical school.......)

I would be LIVID!

[warpedskydiver 0]

Contact JAG on post, that is the answer.

[TrophyHusband 0]

we are livid. its not just this, she's had to battle every step of the way for this. the chief ob is one year ahead of meg. she was given one afternoon a week to prepare for her boards. meg got nothing. last year the chief ob dumped all of her work and a bunch of extra call on meg because she was "preparing for her boards". this year she has dumped her work and a bunch of extra call on meg because she's a lazy fucking cunt. last year meg was told that she was required to go to a coference to get some cme's. she did and the air force picked up the tab. at that conference meg learned a new procedure that they normally would send a patient out to a civilian hospital. this has saved the hospital thousands of dollars, yet when she put in for funding for her board review couse, it was denied because she had gone to that conference THAT SHE WAS REQUIRED TO GO TO within the last year. funding was approved at the last minute. she applied to a souce outside her unit, and was approved the funding for a 3 day course where they did mock oral boards. she was denied permissive tdy and denied personal leave to go to this because "she's already been to a board review course and didn't need to go". we're getting more fed up every day. you're lucky. right now we would gladly trade med school student loans for this. its just not worth it.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[TrophyHusband 0]

that would be a step to take down the road. first we have to try to get it taken care of within the command. citing the afi requiring them to pay (if it exist) when the request for reembursement is submitted would be the best to handle it. although she may have to see the jag just to find the afi. for some reason, she hasn't been able to acces afi's online recently.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Andy9o8 2]

Pssst!! You need to be cool. There's still edit time.
Seriously, man; think about what your're doing. Edit.

[jtval 0]

I dunno about the med board side of things but The military isn't as rich as it once was. (I'd say sometime around oh, maybe 2002)

They may be cutting corners. it's something you are going to have to dig in to. and I mean DIG.

Don't fall for the "as far as I know" shit.
Talk to the shirt, talk to her OIC, talk to the Legal office and then go and find the link to pubs/forms and read everything you can find concerning her issue.


NOBODY gives a shit about you or your wife.
(That's not meant as a PA, thats is meant to tell you that nobody is going to go out of their way to get you answers)

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[TrophyHusband 0]

i'm unclear as to why i should edit. i notice from your profile that you are a lawyer, so i assume that you have a valid reason, but i'n not seeing it.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[TrophyHusband 0]

its not a cutting corners thing. as a major, she doesn't have a shirt (maybe she's supposed to, but she doesn't), and the oic is 2 levels below the person denying funding. while taking legal may be an option, my wife is worried about retribution. every time someone complains about something the command does, conditions get worse. this new squadron commander just has a hair up her ass.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Andy9o8 2]

e-mail sent to your dz.com account

[jtval 0]

Yea I totally understand that.

I know she doesn't have a shirt but the shirt may know who has the info she needs.

NO matter how much the retribution may be there are military rules and regs to combat those.

Of course, you gotta deal with the bullshit while you go through it, though.

As a Major she's got more of a chance of standing up for this than some enlisted guy/girl.


But it does suck to have to deal with an asshair.

Once she pulls the regs out though, you can expect everyone who wants to be a douche to...well, be a douche about every silly little reg. if her hair is out of place and the retribution crew want to wrtie her up they may.

people suck,don't they.

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[TrophyHusband 0]

you pretty much hit the nail on the head. you can really make someone's life hell completely within the regs. at what point do you just bend over and take whatever they want to give you?

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[jtval 0]

that's called BOHICA.

bend over, here it comes again.

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[lawrocket 3]

First go to the next higher up. Then JAG and, of course, the IG.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[GQ_jumper 4]

As a few people have posted earlier, take it up with the people in the Air Force who have the job of enforcing standards. In the Army we have the IG, and JAG is there to interpret regs if need be.

The way to go about it is to ensure you have all the paperwork in hand your wife signed stating what she is required to do and have. Then find the regs covering it and bring them up to the chain of command, if they continue to resist tell them you intend to bring the issue up through outside channels(ie IG) if a better solution isn't found.

the GQ_jumper method of dealing with command issues in which you threaten to rip the spine out of the next person to mouth off to you only works if you have that GQ_jumper charm so stay professional at all times

good luck

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

[Andy9o8 2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frag_(military)

[kbordson 8]

I don't think others (not just on this forum, but in the military as well) understand just how important boards truly are.

Opinion on it probably varies from "its just an expensive lil test that you can take anytime you want" to "being Board Certified and getting those five silly letters is REQUIRED and the most important thing there is"

They don't understand that this is an 18 month test ending in 3 hours of the oral exam. With collecting cases for a full year, compiling the caselist, organizing the review courses, and the exam itself. Then you have to worry about the actual board.

And now to add to it, she has to fight to get funding / leave?!

(shakes head again).... there are times that I truly regret separating to go to medical school, and seriously consider giving a call and getting back in.... but then knowing that situations like THAT is why I didn't take the military scholarship.....

I decided early on that the only way I would go back in is as a Board Certified OB/Gyn. Might be selfish of me but I understood the whole "needs of the military" and knew that the challenges of getting the residency that I wanted, or stationed where I could get the number of cases that I would need or (as above) even taking the boards would be at the discretion of the military.

I wish Meg LOTS of luck. It's getting close. I bet she's getting quite .... anxious. Give her lots of support

[TrophyHusband 0]

that's funny, but it might be a little suspicious when meg is the only one left standing.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Icon134 0]

I don't really have any real assistance other then look into the regulations and bring it to the command and that I agree that the unit should fund her board certification.

I hope it works out...

Scott

Livin' on the Edge... sleeping with my rigger's wife...

[TrophyHusband 0]

i think only doctors and doctors' spouses truly appreciate just how much work goes into boards. i am in awe of meg every day for her dedication. i takes a special person to do all of that. i know i couldn't do it

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there are times that I truly regret separating to go to medical school, and seriously consider giving a call and getting back in....

please call me before you call and ask to get back in. for some reason the air force is unable to retain doctor beyond their initial obligation. this means that most of the people in your chain of command will be nurses. nurses are wonderful people, until they get put in charge of doctors. as a major, meg is at the bottom of her chain of command. she has no authority over nurses or techs. she has no control over anything and is treated like a third grader.

right now, its all about her. i'm keeping the kids busy when she's home so she can study and i bought her a day at the spa that she can use after her boards are over. 16 days to go.

"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

[Andy9o8 2]

I'm just curious - you've been in the military previously; now you're a civilian ob/gyn - what is it that attracts you to possibly re-enter the military to practice ob/gyn? Is there a shortage of qualified ob/gyn's available to women in the military that you would help fill? Other career reasons? A general desire to be back in the military? Other?

[warpedskydiver 0]

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As a few people have posted earlier, take it up with the people in the Air Force who have the job of enforcing standards. In the Army we have the IG, and JAG is there to interpret regs if need be.

The way to go about it is to ensure you have all the paperwork in hand your wife signed stating what she is required to do and have. Then find the regs covering it and bring them up to the chain of command, if they continue to resist tell them you intend to bring the issue up through outside channels(ie IG) if a better solution isn't found.

the GQ_jumper method of dealing with command issues in which you threaten to rip the spine out of the next person to mouth off to you only works if you have that GQ_jumper charm so stay professional at all times


Dude, are we related?
good luck

[kbordson 8]

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please call me before you call and ask to get back in. for some reason the air force is unable to retain doctor beyond their initial obligation. this means that most of the people in your chain of command will be nurses. nurses are wonderful people, until they get put in charge of doctors. as a major, meg is at the bottom of her chain of command. she has no authority over nurses or techs. she has no control over anything and is treated like a third grader.

I know the problems.... and I know that to go back in would GUARANTEE me a divorce. I know about "try-to-care" and how that system has totally messed up the military medical system. But to answer Andy9o8 as well.... it's more of a desire to serve. My Dad was 20yrs retired, I've had/have so many friends serve. I just sometimes feel that the 5yrs that I gave wasn't enough. . . . but I also did know that I wanted to be an OB/Gyn (and there is a need for that in the military... as long as there are females that get pregnant... and might need c-sections... Family Practice/IM/Flight med can do a lot of the annual gynecology, and General surgery can do the hysterectomies and c-sections... but the obstetrics and some of the bad stuff that can happen when women get pregnant.... there really should be an OB/Gyn available.) And with my surgical training, if needed, I can assist in OR with the general surgeons on the military issues as well.

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right now, its all about her. i'm keeping the kids busy when she's home so she can study and i bought her a day at the spa that she can use after her boards are over. 16 days to go.

Good Man. She needs the support right now. I wish her luck (but I know she won't be needing it.... now next year this time... you better be praying to whatever little tin god for me too!)