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MILITARY
Future Plans
MEDICINE

IN THE MILITARY AFTER BECOMING AN

OSTEOPATHIC PHYSICIAN

By Johnathon D. Harris, 2 LT, USAF
A s a 31-year-old medical student, I am still trying to decide

what I want to be when I grow up. Many of my younger col-
leagues currently in medical school have known that they
wanted to be a physician their whole lives. They know what specialty
they want, what hospital they would like to work in and have mapped
out a plan to get there. As for me, the only thing I know is that I am
going to get the opportunity to serve some of the most selfless, brave
humans in the world in whichever specialty I am fortunate enough to
join after school.
Although I am unsure of my future specialty, I have always been sure
about the military. My great grandfather was a fighter pilot in WWII,
and my grandfather flew heavies in the Korean War. Not to be outdone,
my father followed in their footsteps and spent a career as an F-16 pilot
before retiring in 2019 as a Lieutenant General. Growing up as a mili-
tary dependent, my family was seen by military doctors my whole life.
I was born on an Air Force base and was taken care of by a new military
physician every three years with each Permanent Change of Station
(PCS). My family and I would get our yearly checkups and physicals
from flight docs and were transferred to military specialists when things
came up. Military providers took care of all of my family’s needs, both
physically and emotionally. (Except for one flight doc when I was about “Questions are more important than answers. Answers change with
eight years old, who told me that he found fingerprints when checking time, but the questions will always be there.” I have a lot to learn about
my nose and made me admit to both my mother and him that I had medicine, but I suspect that will never change. I just hope that one day,
recently picked my nose.) I will be able to fill the shoes of those physicians who took care of my
No one in my family was in the field of medicine growing up, so be- family and me over the past 30 years. And although I do not know what
coming a physician never really crossed my mind until later in life. I type of physician I want to be when I finally grow up, I look forward
started out as a mechanical engineer at Arizona State University, and to the day that I am back on the line where I belong, taking care of
then became an Air Force helicopter pilot. I spent the next eight years those who take care of this country.
working with some of the best men and women that I have ever met. To all of those who have served in the military and their dependents:
In my rescue squadron, I was able to be a part of a team that was literally Thank you.
the difference between life and death. But I came to realize that if I
wanted to make a real difference, it wasn’t going to be at the controls Before commissioning in the USAF Medical Corps,
of a helicopter. I needed to be in the back of the helicopter where the Johnathon D. Harris, 2 LT, USAF was a Captain and Eval-
most important fight was taking place. uator Pilot in the USAF with over 1,300 hours in the UH-
What I look forward to most about the field of medicine is all the 1N (Huey) assigned to the 36th Rescue Squadron and 1st Helicopter
possibilities. There is an endless number of specialties and so much to Squadron. He is married, has one daughter and is currently attending
learn. It is a constantly changing field that requires knowledge, skill and medical school at the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteo-
perseverance. An Army veteran and pulmonologist once told me, pathic Medicine.

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