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New Air Force doctor brings deployed medical experience with him

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Lindsey
  • Air Force Recruiting Service Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AFB, Texas (AETCNS) --  In March, the Air Force gains a highly-experienced physician, Dr. Michael Ripley. This is significant, not only because health professions accessions are a challenge for all U.S. military services, but also because of his medical expertise, earned from years of caring for frontline Airmen.

For some physicians, the experience and leadership skills gained while providing healthcare for Airmen and their families at home base and for deployed servicemembers is a desirable benefit. For Dr. Ripley, his experiences caring for military members in austere locations around the world peaked his incurable travel bug and sent him looking for a new challenge.

"With all the conflicts going on, I want to help," Dr. Ripley said. "It feels good as a doctor to do something with meaning. Deployed, there is a sense of camaraderie and I felt very comfortable there."

Dr. Ripley's medical career didn't start with a lab coat and stethoscope, but encouragement and education benefits helped make it a reality. Airman Ripley began his military career in 1973 with a four-year, active-duty enlistment ensuring the health of F-4 Phantom II avionics systems. He then joined the Maine Air National Guard and earned a bachelor's degree in Medical Technology using his G.I. Bill, an education benefit from his active-duty service.

Following a brief service as an Air Force Reserve lab technician in New Mexico, Airman Ripley rejoined the active-duty force in 1989 and served as a laboratory officer at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., when Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield kicked off. In 1990 he deployed to Taif, Saudi Arabia, where the physicians' staff encouraged Captain Ripley to earn a degree in medicine. Back at home station, he passed the Medical College Admission Test and attended the University of New Mexico under the Air Force Health Profession Scholarship Program.

After serving a year in an active-duty psychiatry residency at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, Texas, Captain` Ripley yearned to return to the flightline and applied for a flight surgeon's position. From 1997 to 2000, the former enlisted avionics systems technician served as an active-duty special operations flight doctor at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

"It was a super job," Dr. Ripley said. "It allowed me to travel. Wherever our guys went, I went too."

Dr. Ripley provided medical care for 353rd Special Operations Group Airmen on flying status in exotic locales including Korea, Thailand, Philippines and Australia, treating a variety of ailments from contaminated food or water, insect bites, contact with vermin and more.

From 2000 to 2003, Dr. Ripley was assigned as a flight doctor for the 352nd Special Operations Group stationed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, United Kingdom, where he cared for Airmen deployed to bare bases in Turkey in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"Providing healthcare at bare bases definitely involved a team effort between public health, bioenvironmental medicine, Independent Duty Medical Technicians and the flight doctors just to provide the essentials -- clean water, shelter and food," he said. "There I dealt with an incredible variety of ailments and trauma from major to minor"

Additionally, serious respiratory ailments required Dr. Ripley to aid in patient transport to Landstuhl Army Medical Facility at Ramstein AB, Germany, for advanced medical care.

"This was back when aeromedical evacuation teams were still new," he said. Today, Critical Care Aeromedical Teams transport and treat patients in flight.

In 2003, Dr. Ripley left the Air Force to complete a civilian Family Practice residency. During a leave of absence in 2005, he served at Baghdad International Airport as a civilian doctor caring for Department of Defense-sponsored special tactics training of Iraqi police forces.

"It was interesting caring for a mix of different people and cultures," he said.

Then in 2006, Dr. Ripley left the residency for two months again to support Airmen at Balad Air Base as an Air National Guard flight surgeon having continued his Air Force career during residency. There, as part of an active duty, Reserve and ANG Air National Guard team, Dr. Ripley cared for newly injured and stabilized Airmen entering the aero-evacuation system.

"This was a sobering deployment," he said. "I knew I was in the right place to help, but I did have a hard time initially adjusting to seeing these young dedicated troops so severely injured. Their strength became my strength.

"I'm definitely thankful for the opportunities the Air Force has given me for educational and rank advancement," Dr. Ripley said. "Not many civilian companies will do that. The G.I. Bill helped me earn my degree and scholarships helped me with my medical practice and advance in grade, and the Air Force Reserve, Guard and active duty helped me gain training."

In March, at age 51, the doctor returns to active-duty Air Force flight medicine as a lieutenant colonel at RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, where he hopes to take on a leadership role managing a clinic and coaching other healthcare workers by sharing the expertise he gained in the field.

"I don't want to just teach, I want to share in the adventure together," he said. "I want to be where the action is."

In addition to a wide-variety of medical experience gained while serving at home station and deployed, healthcare professionals also benefit from not having to pay malpractice premiums; working with a highly-trained medical team and high-tech equipment; and having healthcare coverage and a retirement program.

For 2007, the Air Force seeks more than 1,000 fully-qualified recruits for 43 medical service corps specialties, 12 dental corps specialties, 14 nurse corps specialties and 16 biomedical corps specialties. Although the potential to deploy is real for all Airmen, some medical fields head out more than others. Physicians who want to serve downrange should apply for positions such as flight doctors, surgeons, and on critical care air transportation teams, which "are tapped regularly," said Maj. Ray Sirak, Air Force Personnel Center physician assignment officer.

"Today's Air Force physician is a dynamic individual who must possess the knowledge and caring to provide exemplary care to America's heroes and their families as well as the charisma to lead others at the same time," said Tech. Sgt. Jason Joyce, 319th Recruiting Squadron healthcare professions recruiter. Sergeant Joyce helped Dr. Ripley complete the return to active-duty application process while the doctor served in Iraq.

The Air Force examines several factors when screening applicants for the medical corps. Basic physical and education qualifications are considered first. The second criteria examines if the applicant meets the service's current needs in specific medical specialties. For example, currently there's a high demand for family-practice physicians.

"The Air Force requires that all physicians who serve must be residency trained," Sergeant Joyce said. "This ensures we access physicians who have been mentored in advanced training and educational situations, which vastly improves their knowledge through hands-on experience. It also allows them to develop stronger leadership qualities, which are very important because physicians are not just healthcare providers, they are also commissioned officers who are looked to for leadership."

For more information on healthcare professions qualifications, visit www.airforce.com. The site features links for career information, education scholarships and financial assistance, online advisor chat, recruiter contact, recruiter office locator and more.