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i posted this same message on the military md board-- i am posting it here just to make sure that anyone who might have info will read it.
i have some big questions about the whole Army scholarship thing. i guess i'll just list them. this whole thing is getting really big and i'm having a tough time seeing what's good and what's not, so i'll just start asking:
1. so wait. one more time, just tell me really fast, the army gets him for eight years total-- can he pay that time down during the four years of medical school to make it only four years after school that he is on 'Active Duty'?
2. what does active duty mean? how much of his time will be devoted to doing army stuff a., during med school and b., after med school, during those years where the military still owns him?
3. how likely is it that he will be shipped somewhere for a really long time? how likely is it that he will be shipped somewhere that i'm not able to go with him to? i'm very flexible, by the way. i'm fully portable. but i'm sure there are cases where they're like, no, you can't go. Gr.
4. how many of you have experienced your spouse or yourself being deployed? for how long was it? did you go? were you not allowed to go?
5. for reservists, is it common to be switched to active duty? is it true that the closer you get to the time where you're going to be free, the more likely it is that you'll be deployed?
6. overall, how much more time/energy/angst will be added to this whole process by joining the military? are there any specialties that he could choose that would make this easier to handle?
it seems to me that we just started to get a handle on not having any idea at all about how one big chunk of a thing is going to be--med school, that is. got used to the concept of that huge unknown. now we have a whole 'nother one to estimate-- he's psyched but he doesn't know what to think. i'm psyched too, but more scared i think... i'm in a position where my opinion carries a lot of weight, although i can't make the decision for him, of course. i want to tell him the best course of action possible. we'll be taking out massive loans for this med school thing without this program. with it... what? will we lose each other for three months twice? for a year? for two years? how often?
please, i know many of these questions have already been asked. short answer is fine. if someone wants to email me, cool. i just need to have answers for my questions, before we sit down with his (very convincing, apparently) recruiter.
emily
i have some big questions about the whole Army scholarship thing. i guess i'll just list them. this whole thing is getting really big and i'm having a tough time seeing what's good and what's not, so i'll just start asking:
1. so wait. one more time, just tell me really fast, the army gets him for eight years total-- can he pay that time down during the four years of medical school to make it only four years after school that he is on 'Active Duty'?
2. what does active duty mean? how much of his time will be devoted to doing army stuff a., during med school and b., after med school, during those years where the military still owns him?
3. how likely is it that he will be shipped somewhere for a really long time? how likely is it that he will be shipped somewhere that i'm not able to go with him to? i'm very flexible, by the way. i'm fully portable. but i'm sure there are cases where they're like, no, you can't go. Gr.
4. how many of you have experienced your spouse or yourself being deployed? for how long was it? did you go? were you not allowed to go?
5. for reservists, is it common to be switched to active duty? is it true that the closer you get to the time where you're going to be free, the more likely it is that you'll be deployed?
6. overall, how much more time/energy/angst will be added to this whole process by joining the military? are there any specialties that he could choose that would make this easier to handle?
it seems to me that we just started to get a handle on not having any idea at all about how one big chunk of a thing is going to be--med school, that is. got used to the concept of that huge unknown. now we have a whole 'nother one to estimate-- he's psyched but he doesn't know what to think. i'm psyched too, but more scared i think... i'm in a position where my opinion carries a lot of weight, although i can't make the decision for him, of course. i want to tell him the best course of action possible. we'll be taking out massive loans for this med school thing without this program. with it... what? will we lose each other for three months twice? for a year? for two years? how often?
please, i know many of these questions have already been asked. short answer is fine. if someone wants to email me, cool. i just need to have answers for my questions, before we sit down with his (very convincing, apparently) recruiter.
emily