SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- The Weasel of the Week series asks Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, heroes, experts, and all-around great Airmen to share their likes, dislikes, Air Force spirit and personalities. We sat down with Tech. Sgt. Marcos Charles Davis, Medical Group physical therapy flight chief, to get to know him. Davis currently oversees all physical therapy at Shaw, and plans to retire in five years.
Please explain your career field and job.
I’m in physical therapy, so we treat anything from minor musculoskeletal injuries, to surgeries and troops rehabilitation. We do electric shock therapy and surgeries to help people return from injuries to their regular duties and able to keep the mission running.
How do you affect the wing’s mission capabilities?
We keep troops fit to fight and ready to deploy by helping them work out their musculoskeletal injuries.
What inspires you to strive and excel at your job?
I like seeing the impact on patients. I like seeing people progress from being in crutches, all the way to being able to run and jog again. It means we did our job and the mission can still happen.
What advice do you have for people coming into your career field?
Be open minded and treat every patient the best you can. The number one thing is patient safety. They have lives outside the military, so help minimize any long-term affects the military can have on the patients so they can have a life afterwards.
How do you define success and how does this definition of success help you succeed in your career field?
When there is nothing left in the tank and you feel satisfied with where you’re at in life, it means you are successful. I’ve always ingrained that with how I work and rehabilitate patients.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I hit 15 years in October, so I see myself retired in five years and continuing helping people after my service.
Do you believe Airmen coming through training should be set up to almost have their Physical Therapy Assistant license?
We’re going through a lot of changes now. I think in the future you’ll see a lot more of us licensed for the board exam as we come out of technical school. It wasn’t like that when I came through.
What is one change you wish you could make to the Air Force or your career field?
We need more people to help. We have a very high demand for physical therapy, and it isn’t going away because everyone needs doctors and to stay healthy.
What is one thing you wish people knew about your job?
I think people have this concept that PT (physical therapy) is working out only. We do electric therapy and surgeries as well. We have a lot of hands on stuff as well.
What is one thing that is taken for granted about your job?
A lot of people feel like they’ll get better PT (physical therapy) off base because they receive more appointments weekly. People don’t realize you may not necessarily need all that. Those doctors are operating based off money so they’re going to see you as many times as they can.
What impact have you made in your career field and at this base?
After serving in the honor guard for three years, which made me see the bigger picture and take that back to work, I think about the future of our patients now. It’s not just wake up come to work and go home; our impact is much bigger than that.