As a medical student, he completed his first academic year and is reporting today to Maxwell AFB, near Montgomery, Ala., for the Air Force's Commissioned Officer Training course.
COT is how the USAF "blues" officers being commissioned into what we called in the Army the special branches - chaplains, doctors and like specialties. The COT FAQ explains,
What is COT? US Air Force Commissioned Officer Training (COT) is military basic training for medical students / doctors, nurses, dentists, chaplains, lawyers, and veterinarians, all of whom are commissioned officers. Training is split between physical fitness, leadership development, and academic course work. The training program is 5 weeks in length, although you will get paid for 45 days. The excess time on orders will be spent at home or school, and you’re not allowed to leave the country during that time. Additionally, you usually do not have required activities on weekends, meaning that it is usually a 23 training day experience.Air Force officers of the line do not attend COT. They attend Basic Officer Training that is twice as long. Understand that these courses are not MOS schools. For COT students, their MOS training is the graduate education they receive during the academic year. BOT students go on to specialty training at other installations, for example, engineer, supply, personnel, or many others.
COT students are already commissioned officers when they attend. Ranks of students will range from second lieutenant (such as Thomas) to lieutenant colonel, which may be awarded to someone with a rare skill. Further, the services (not just the Air Force) tries to commission special-branch officers in a rank that is about the same as their age peers in the same specialty. I knew a doctor in the Army who was commissioned directly as a full colonel because not only was he already in his mid-40s, he practiced medicine in a rare specialty.
When Thomas completes the coming academic year, he will begin two years of "rotations," as do all med students at that time. That means they rotate from one hospital to another to get on-the-job training in many different medical specialties, being tested on each one. Rotations typically last three weeks each, but some specialties require more than one rotation. As well, several rotations in a row can often be done among different wards of the same hospital.
Thomas will begin his rotations in June 2014. IIRC, at least one rotation per year will be in an Air Force hospital. Upon graduation, he will be commissioned a captain in the regular Air Force and enter a residency program. Only after his residency is completed will he start to pay back the Air Force for sending him through medical school. So he's looking at potentially up to 12 years of active duty service before his obligation is completed - four years of residency (less for some specialties) followed by two years' active duty for each year of medical school.
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