1

Melissa Recht
LDR 7300
HW #2

What are the Experiences of a Female Officer and Medical Student in the Air Force?

Introduction

The unique experiences of a female medical student and Air Force officer provide a

valuable view into two worlds, medicine and the military. Hearing the story of an individual who

has successfully navigated four years of medical school and is now embarking on a career in the

military with a medical residency through the Air Force opens a window into the challenges and

opportunities that this experience creates. In addition, the experiences of a female working and

serving in fields that are male-dominated are also worth inquiry and examination.

Interviewee and Setting

I interviewed a family member, E., for this project. E. is a thirty-year-old female who lives in

Harrison Township, Ohio. She is a recent graduate of the Case Western Reserve Medical School

program and was commissioned as an officer in the Air Force in May. E. was a participant of the

Military Health Professions Scholarship program and is planning to become on OB-Gyn. We sat
2

down at my kitchen table in Vandalia on Saturday morning, June 3rd, at 10 am. Over a cup of

coffee, I asked E. questions about her experiences as a female medical student in the Air Force.

Methods and Techniques

I asked E., a family member, if I could interview her in person during a family visit to her

house. She was nervous but willing. We set up a time for Friday evening, June 2nd, but ran out of

time. We rescheduled for Saturday, June 3rd. Using the iPhone application “Just Press Record,” I

recorded the approximately twenty minutes of conversation E. and I had. I asked her a series of

semi-structured questions about her experiences and followed-up with additional questions as

needed. Once the interview was done, I used the transcription feature on the application to turn

the recording into text, and then replayed the recording to correct the transcription.

Narrative Inquiry

E., a recent medical school graduate and newly-commissioned officer in the United States

Air Force, shared her story about the experience of being balancing medical school and Air Force

service, as well as how her experience differed from that of her medical school classmates. She

also touched on being a female medical student and officer in the military.

E. described the timeline of her acceptance into and subsequent experiences with medical

school as a participant in the military’s Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP).

Accepted into the program in 2013, E. began medical school at a prestigious medical school in

Cleveland, Ohio. In the summer of 2014, she went to commissioned officer training, and in 2016

did two separate month-long rotations at military hospitals. E. noted that while her direct time in

the military settings have been limited, her experiences have been positive. She has found the

military personnel to be helpful and able to answer her questions about the program.
3

In addition to sharing details about her entry into the HPSP and the military, E. discussed

her path to deciding to become a doctor. “So it was not my childhood dream, as it is for many

people. But when I was in college I got interested in healthcare. I started taking a lot of science

classes and volunteering at Children's Hospital in Seattle and then I worked as a medical

assistant for a couple of years after finishing undergrad,” E. explained. Her circuitous route

including shadowing doctors and others in the healthcare profession, which solidified her plans

to go to medical school. E. stated, “I wanted to have that depth of knowledge to help take care of

patients.”

E. wanted to find a good way to pay for medical school. After a conversation with her

father, who jokingly suggested she have the military pay, E. began to explore the option. E.’s

father had a long career in the government on the civil side, and she has multiple family

members in the military, so she already had some familiarity with the system. She discussed this

option with her family and chose the Air Force because she had heard positive things about how

the Air Force values education and training. It was also important to her that the Air Force treat

women well, and she had heard from others in the service that they did.

E.’s entry into medical school and the Air Force at the same time meant she had some

different experiences than her classmates at her medical school. E. spoke about how she had to

incorporate her military requirements into the already busy schedule of a medical student. She

mentioned that the Air Force requirements for a medical student are limited, which she

appreciated because, as she said, “medical school is hard!” However, even these limited

experiences meant that she had to speed up some of her research, spend her last summer break at

officer training, and alter her schedule in a way her classmates did not. What she learned during

officer training, she notes, was worth the tradeoff. She explains her experience in officer training:
4

And I got this added experience of going to training and learning about sort of this

additional career path I chose and learning about the military and the Air Force. And I

got to get up and work out every morning, which might sound terrible to some people,

but I loved. You get lots of great leadership training, you get to do different types of

leadership challenges ad activities, obstacle courses teambuilding activities. I think I

really gained a lot from it that is applicable to the military of course but also to medicine,

since it's very much a team sport. So a lot of the leadership and the team building is

widely applicable and I think it only helped me moving forward.

E. also discussed how the military has a different residency match timeline. Medical

students “match” with the hospitals they will do their four-year residency with during their final

year of medical school. This match program culminates in a celebration in March called “Match

Day,” when students find out where they will do their residency (American Academy of Family

Physicians, www.aafp.org, Retrieved June 4, 2017). E. talked about how military students match

earlier, in December. Finding out that she had matched at Wright State University in December

took some of the pressure off, but she also had a sense of loneliness celebrating it early. She did

get to enjoy Match Day with her classmates in March, celebrating them. But she notes that it felt

like she and her husband were celebrating alone in December when they found out.

E. reflected on some of the most important things she’d learned through the HSPS

program for medical school. Even though she says she has not had a great deal of military

experience yet, knowing that she will quickly be thrown into a leadership position is a bit

daunting. She worries about making sure she finds the balance between owning her role as an

officer and being respectful of those ranked below her who may have vast knowledge and

experience she does not. To combat this worry, she says she reminds herself that she did work
5

very hard to get to this level, and that she will be a team player and recognize where she needs

the knowledge and experience of others.

When asked about challenges or opportunities she has faced as a female in the military

and in medical school, E. paused and briefly reflected on the question. She stated that her

experiences so far had been mostly positive, in both arenas. E. shared how impressed she was

with the number of other female trainees in the commissioned officer program. As for her

experiences in medical school, E. noted that she did notice subtle ways in which women were not

treated the same way as male classmates. She explained, “It's still in many ways an old boys

club, so I think as a female you have to fight a little harder to be seen and heard. It varies from

specialty to specialty. There have definitely been rotations where there are male classmates who

get offered opportunities to do things, especially procedural things, where is I have to ask for it

and little things like that.”

E.’s future medical career is determined a great deal by her service in the Air Force. She

will spend four years in residency, and then will be a full-time physician with the Air Force. She

plans to see how her time in the Air Force is and then make a decision about what she will do

after she serves her four years. She says she is open to opportunities and hopes to end up in a

large urban area, possibly at a teaching hospital. E. hopes to have the kind of medical career that

will allow her to have a good work-life balance.

Discussing her positive experiences in medical and school and the Air Force, E. credited

some of her success to her support system, some to her personal strengths, and, as she

emphatically said, “lots of luck!” Being able to roll with punches and have a sense of humor also

helped her make her way through medical school and her military training.

Limitations of Study
6

Some of the limitations to this narrative inquiry were that

Commentary and Concluding Remarks

This narrative inquiry homework was quite a bit of work! The process of thinking up the

research question, finding the right person to interview, and conducting/transcribing the

interview all took a substantial amount of time and effort. I realize that most professional-level

research probably multiplies all of that by multiple interviewees. Even setting up the interview

proved difficult, because the first date we scheduled ended up not being enough time for a

complete interview.

I do see the impact of hearing someone’s story in this manner. I’ve known the

interviewee for a few years, and certainly knew she was working hard in medical school. Yet I

learned more about her entry into, experiences in, and plans for life after medical school than I

learned in many past conversations with her. This is surely a result of having specific questions,

but also the act of allowing her to freely speak about a topic important to her. I was able to get an

in-depth reflection from her about two topics I am not familiar with—the military and medical

school. It was an enlightening experience for me on that level, and allowed me to get to know her

better as well.

As I transcribed and then re-storied E.’s words, I reflected on how valuable this

information could be to future medical students interested in going through the Health

Professions Scholarship program. E.’s insightful and detailed descriptions of her timeline,

training, and experiences could also be a part of an interesting comparative study. Because her

experience was so positive, it would be interesting to hear from someone who did not have a

positive experience. Were her positive outcomes based on her personality, support system, and

luck (as she described), or is the program designed in a way that truly encourages successful
7

students, and later, successful doctors? It would be interesting to find out from a more

representative sample.

Narrative inquiry interviewing is definitely a form of research I can see myself doing. I

think I learned quite about how to handle an interview, and would do a few things differently

next time. Since we were both nervous, there are a few moments on the recording where I hear

myself interrupt her to tell her something. I need to be more of an observer. It is a bit difficult to

do that when you already know the person you are interviewing. I think I would be less casual

with someone I didn’t know well. My questions were useful, but I did find that some of them

were a bit unclear. Formulating research questions the right way surely takes some finesse and

skill. Now that I am better aware of how an interview might naturally flow, I would probably

rephrase some of the questions I asked.

8