New to forums - Navy HPSP

[Urowife]

Hi all, I figured I would introduce myself here too. My husband did Navy HPSP for med school and is currently on a full civilian deferment for his 5-year urology residency (currently on year 3).

I know I will have lots of questions as we get closer to actually finishing residency, but if anyone has any important advice that we can't live without, feel free to impart the knowledge.

I know almost nothing about the military, other than what DH has told me. But, neither of us really know what it will be like once he's active duty. My main concern is that he is stationed in a place where he is actually getting to do surgeries and practice urology. I've heard that depending on where you go, it can be tough to get board certified because you don't see enough patients.

My second concern would be about where we'd be stationed. There is a fairly small list of places where Navy urologists go, with the worst probably being Guam and the best being either San Diego or Portsmouth, VA, where we have some family (and cost of living would be good!).

Third concern (most troubling when I allow myself to think about it!) is deployment. But, I try not to dwell on that one too much since it's a part of the military and something that you don't have much control over.

Anyway, thanks all! I've already gotten some good info from the boards, like when you get your orders. I had been wondering about that.

[DCJenn]

Welcome!

Like I said, we don't have too many (any?) active posters from the Navy but we used to and maybe they're still lurking about.

What about Bethesda? Do they have urology there? Guam would suck if you had to do it for a long time. I didn't want to go to Hawaii for that reason- stuck on a an expensive island for three years thousands of miles away from everyone.

Welcome aboard!

Jenn

[Meenah]

What about Newport, RI?

[Urowife]

Bethesda is definitely one, and that wouldn't be a bad choice for us. But, I don't think Newport, RI is one because if so, I would have put all my eggs in that basket long ago. Much of our family lives on the east coast, and we will likely return there after all this residency/Navy stuff is done. And, I would LOVE to be closer to my family.

But, now that you mention it, I have to go and make sure...

[peggyfromwastate]

Hi- DH is an intern at Walter Reed for the ARMY. Most of his Navy friends are doing specialty training at Portsmouth, Navy (Bethesda), and San Diego.

I think that this is one of those times where you have to sit and wait for them to tell you where you will go. It is even possible to be told one place, and then the needs of the military changes, and you actually get sent to another. So until you have orders in hand, be cautiously optimistic.

As far as where you will get stationed, in the ARMY during the last year of residency training, the surgeon general's office comes up with a list of openings in each specialty. Those are offered to the highest ranking people first. They work down through the list to the bottom, where you will be. We, for one, are planning on a deployment sometime in the first year, if DH doesn't get into a fellowship program. It is unusaul to deploy his specialty (ENT), but that won't stop them from deploying him as a GMO or as a gen surgery person, even though technically he won't have sufficient training for general surgery. AS a urologist, however, your DH will be eligible for a general surgery deployment. I'm not sure how many of the NAVY docs deploy, but it can't hurt to prepare yourself.

ANyway, good luck and keep us all posted!!

[Urowife]

Peggy - thanks for the info! I'm pretty much preparing myself for anything. I know of a woman whose husband was a Navy doc long ago, and he got stationed in Okinawa, and they ended up having to move there about 2 days after she delivered their first child. But, they survived just fine, and she actually had an amazing experience living abroad. It would be hard to be so far away from friends and family (especially if we have kids at that point), but I look at it as an opportunity to experience a different part of the world/country.

The deployments are the part that will be really hard for me. I don't know how frequently Navy docs deploy, and it's hard to tell at this point what the political climate will be in 2010.

Oh, and I checked on Newport, RI, but they don't have a urology dept

[peggyfromwastate]

From what we've heard about frequency of deployments, it's probably going to be hard to predict. It seems to be hard to predict even who will be sent out on the Comfort. I guess we will all just have to sit back and wait to be told, and to be flexible. This is really really hard for me to even contemplate! But I can talk about being flexible since DH won't be deployed for at least another 5 years. Technically they could deploy him sooner, but it's really not likely...

Hello Urowife-

My husband just started on active duty as a Urologist with the Navy. He did HPSP and a 5 year civilian residency too. If you want to find out any info you can e-mail me.... katydavol@gmail.com

My husband would also be more than happy to talk with yours if he had any question.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Katy