Unconventional doc takes top AETC honors Published March 4, 2009 By Senior Airman Emerald Ralston 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs FAIRCHLD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Maj. Mark Robinson, 336th Training Squadron medical flight commander, earned the 2008 Air Education and Training Command Malcom C. Grow Flight Surgeon of the Year award. Major Robinson is the sole Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape flight surgeon and has been for the 18 months he has been stationed at Fairchild as commander of one of the most unconventional clinics in AETC. From the ax and snowshoes tucked next to the couch and the maps and backpacks, looking around his office you realize this is not a normal family practitioner. "The best part of the job is the unique environment," Major Robinson said. "I'm one of the last doctors in America that still makes house calls - except instead of houses I'm going to tents and to the men in the field to ensure they can continue their training and graduate in a safe environment." Major Robinson's role in the SERE clinic is to support the students who come through each course the survival school operates, providing 24-hour coverage, 365 days a year, in all weather conditions, wherever the school is taking place. "I think I won this award partly due to the unconventional nature of SERE," he said. "The fact that most of the medicine I do is beside the campfire. And my job is just fun." But the major made it clear that he is most proud of, not a bullet in his award package, but the people he works with every day. "The chief reason people say you're the best is because you work with the best. I have the best team; my people are constantly getting put up for command and Air Force level awards. It is just an awesome place to work. My job is just FUN. It's just fun, look at my office; I have snow shoes and an ax! I have two back packs, a map and a compass laying around here. It is so outside the norm of what a typical air force family practitioner does. It's a blessing; I really do have it all."