Experience factors in performing periodic physical evaluations.

Although I had been involved with examining an asymptomatic population in the Flight Surgeon's Office since 19*4-0, I became immersed in the problem of the Periodic Health Examination (PHE) during the period 1958-1968« In Headquarters Command, USAF, which is comprised mainly of personnel in the Washington, B.C. area, we performed a total of 10,000 to 12,000 complete physical examinations per annum. All personnel on flying status, inclusive of air controllers, parachute duty and physiological training were examined annually. Other officers were examined annually. Other enlisted men were examined on a quadrennial basis with additional examinations being done on assignment to Southeast Asia and isolated duty. About two-thirds of the enlisted men are under age 28 with only about 10,000 at age 50 and above. It should be kept in mind that at the induction centers the hypertensives, those with valvular heart disease, with muscular-skeletal defects, with gross mental and neurologic disorders, diabetics, albuminurics, those with deafness and severe visual errors, are screened out. Even so, at the Basic Military Training Center, another group is washed out within a few weeks primarily with skeletal and mental defects.