First off, the Air Force.
2 things I need to cover here. For those awarded a 4-year scholarship, Commissioned Officer Training (COT) is supposed to happen the summer before their first year. For 3-year scholarships, COT happens after the last year. For me being on a 4-year, mine was supposed to be this summer. However, the dental school I'm attending starts so early (I'll talk about that soon) that COT would have ended too close to the start of school so it was deferred to next summer, between my 1st and 2nd year. So you'll have to wait another year to hear all about that!
Now about reimbursements and dealing with AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology, where the people you'll be in contact during your scholarship work, located at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio). Let me say that dealing with AFIT has been one of the easiest, quickest, and overall amazing experiences I've ever had. The people working there are extremely fast at responding to e-mails, accommodating my needs, and making things absolutely clear. It truly has been a joy to have my questions answered so quickly and to deal with such professional people. One of the best parts is about reimbursements. When I was awarded the scholarship, I was under the impression that I would need to mail my reimbursement packages to the Air Force base, which would be a big pain, and if anything was wrong, I'd have to mail it in again. Well all those worries went away when I was informed that reimbursement packages can be submitted by e-mail! It was such a relief, because they respond so quickly to my e-mails, I could get almost immediate confirmation that my package was accepted or what needed to be altered. Huge weight lifted off my shoulders. For those that are wondering what a 'reimbursement package' is, it's fairly simply. If I buy something the Air Force will pay for, lets use my textbooks as an example, then I go buy the books and then assemble what's known as a reimbursement package. A reimbursement package is simply 4 things, proof of requirement (I have to prove that my dental school makes me have what I'm asking to be paid for), proof of purchase (basically a receipt or a credit card statement), an AFIT form 31 (this is where you list everything you are buying and total it up for the AF), and an EFT form (a form where you verify who you are with SSN and signature and give the AF the bank account # where you want them to direct deposit your money). All in all, reimbursements are much easier and smoother than I could ever imagine, one of many reasons I am very happy with my choice so far! My first reimbursement was submitted by email around May 22, and my account had the reimbursement money in it on June 15. Only about 3 weeks! I was very impressed.
Secondly, about what I've been up to since my last post.
I went and paid for my scrubs! Cost me about $250 and the Air Force actually doesn't cover the whole cost of that, but it's enough! They cover basically everything else in full.
I got health insurance through the dental school which the Air Force will pay for too, awesome!
I finally got my military ID and have gone over to Tinker a few times. It's pretty weird still to think I'm in the military because I haven't really done any 'military' type stuff yet.
I think I've got all the teeth I need. I almost had 100 at least check and I've got a bit more than that so I'm sure I hit my mark. I hear we don't need them until spring anyway so I'm considering the possibility of continuing to collect them this fall.
Class starts for me on June 29, so I've got all my anatomy books ready to go. We take anatomy by itself from June 29 to about mid-August, so it's going to be pretty intense. Once it hits mid-August, anatomy ends and we start in on our normal 24-25 credit hour schedule... ahh!!!
For now, that's all I can remember. School starts for me next Tuesday... wish me luck!
I graduated from OU College of Dentistry in 1996. Best wishes to your future.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog. As a future member of the Class of 2015 considering AF HPSP, thanks for writing about your experiences.
ReplyDeleteThanks you two!
ReplyDeleteFor you who is considering the HPSP, feel free to e-mail me (top of the page) if you have any questions about it. Talk to some dentists who have done it with all the branches and just see what they have to say. I never heard a bad thing about it so I felt it was the right thing to do. So far, 100% happy. I never get caught in the "school is so expensive" discussion with my classmates, haha! Best of luck!
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