Reimbursements and the days ahead...

A lot has happened since my last blog post a few months ago, and a lot is about to come my way. I'll go one by one, starting with the Air Force stuff, and then narrow down to some odds and ends I've been doing. Then I'll close with what's to come... enjoy!

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!

waiting...

Well, not much has been going on this last month. I should be getting my military ID soon, so I'll be able to head over to the base and get some tax free shopping whenever I decide I need something big enough to justify getting it tax free! Which will probably be everything.

Anyway... I'm required to collect 100 intact human teeth for dental school and I believe I'm almost there. About 2 weeks ago I went out to all the offices (4 total) that I dropped jars off at and had the following count at each one: 4, 4, 20, 45. So I took the jar with 45 home with me (the solution was pretty murky), emptied it out, put them in my own little jar at my house, and ran it back over to them the next day. I left the other 3 at the offices because the solution was still clear and there was no reason to waste a trip home and back just to unload some teeth. I also have a jar at a local free clinic with about 12. So the tooth quest continues...

Other than that, I'm just waiting a few more days for that 60 day mark to hit so I can get some stuff taken care of so the Air Force will reimburse me. Oh, and I may need about $800 of work done on my car... luckily I have a pretty good job right now and I'm blessed to have a car as it is. So despite the big bill that is staring me down, I'm just smiling and plugging along.

Should be hearing from me again in a couple of weeks at the latest...

Finding all my ducks... and getting them in a row.

Well I haven't posted in about a month... but seeing as no one is probably reading this right now, I think we'll all survive...

I took my oath of office on March 5th so I am officially a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force! I don't feel very official yet, probably because I don't yet have a military ID (hopefully in a month!) and haven't really done any "military" things yet. Speaking of military things, on the 4-year scholarship, they "require" you to attend COT during the summer before dental school. I had mine deferred to the summer between 1st and 2nd year because I have an orientation thing for dental school that was the same day that COT was set to end this summer. So for those of you wondering if you can change your COT date around, the answer is yes. To an extent. If I didn't have this legitimate reason to move it, I would have, in all likelihood, been in Alabama at COT this coming summer and missing the last week of my job... not good. Luckily I will be able to work the final week and hit up COT between my first and second year, giving me one last summer of salvation before school. For those on a 3-year scholarship, COT will be tacked on after your 4th year. So you'll graduate, go to COT, and be off to the Air Force!

Here are some other things I have been up to lately...

I got my scrubs ordered! Our class, the great class of 2014, will have hunter green scrubs. There are far worse colors than hunter green to be stuck with for 4 years. In fact, I think hunter green is probably the best color we could have gotten in my opinion... I really like that color.

I have to get a CPR certification for dental school (CPR with Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers, aka BLS) and I plan on doing that sometime in June just before school starts. The certification through the American Heart Association expires every 2 years (as opposed to every year like some others, for example, the Red Cross) so I checked the 2009 school schedules to make sure my certification will extend beyond my 2nd year so I will have a gap with no school when it expires.

I also recently got my vaccination history from my pediatric doctor and was lacking 2 minor things which I got taken care of a couple days ago.

I had my final transcripts mailed off to dental school this morning... since I graduated in 3 1/2 years, I don't have to wait around for grades to be posted in May (since I graduated this last December) because I'm not in school right now. So bonus for me and my sanity.

One other thing that is slightly irritating is that to be reimbursed through the Air Force, my required items must be purchased within 60 days of the start of my scholarship. For a 4-year guy like me, this means the start of school in late June. That's not a HUGE deal, but it did require some delaying of payments with the scrubs company (who were very nice about it and helped me out a ton) as well as some potential little things that may not get covered (vaccinations, etc.). Not terrible, but a bit annoying. Obviously I have yet to send in a reimbursement form but hopefully when I do my first one that will go smoothly.

Other than that, I'm just waiting for an updated book list from the school so I can go ahead and purchase thousands of dollars in books! How exciting... I know...

As a final note for anyone who is interested... I have yet to determine where I will be living for my first year of school. Possibly with my dad which is preferable in terms of $. Stay tuned...



I'll try to be more diligent about keeping up with this so that people referring to it years down the road will have a better idea of the steps I have been taking with the start of dental school just over the horizon.