Roll Call!

[seaside*bliss]

So who here is a Army Medical Spouse?

[DCJenn]

Yep-

4 years enlisted (Airborne - jump school at Ft. Stewart and stationed at Ft. Bragg and then a stateside swap to Ft. Irwin where he was Radar O'Reilly aka company clerk)
1 year CA National Guard
4 years USUHS
3 years peds residency (San Antonio)
3 years child neurology fellowship (DC)
4 years attending (7 mo. in iraq) (San Antonio and Camp Cropper, Iraq)

and he owes? at least 7 more years.

Jenn

[seaside*bliss]

Yep-

4 years enlisted (Airborne - jump school at Ft. Stewart and stationed at Ft. Bragg and then a stateside swap to Ft. Irwin where he was Radar O'Reilly aka company clerk)
1 year CA National Guard
4 years USUHS
3 years peds residency (San Antonio)
3 years child neurology fellowship (DC)
4 years attending (7 mo. in iraq) (San Antonio and Camp Cropper, Iraq)

and he owes? at least 7 more years.

Jenn

Oh good God! I feel for you! Garrett regrets doing an HPSP with the Army to pay for his school. As soon as his payback is over we are out!

[peggyfromwastate]

Oh good God! I feel for you! Garrett regrets doing an HPSP with the Army to pay for his school. As soon as his payback is over we are out!

Wow, if he already regrets it, and still in med school... You guys are in for a *long* road.

As for us, we were Newbies to the Army before DH went to USU. He had lots of acceptances from other schools, but really had a lifelong dream of being in the military AND being a doctor. (Can you hear the Battle Hymn of the Republic yet???)

Anyhoo, depending on what fellowship he is going to do, we have... um... I think until he's 50 or so? So, basically we're lifers.

Dh says he could never give up the *perks* of the military system. What perks? You know, military disconts, military only resorts, stuff like that...

[seaside*bliss]

Wow, if he already regrets it, and still in med school... You guys are in for a *long* road.

No kidding.... We are just nervous that we are going to get GMO after 4th year because his board scores (Comlex) weren't fantastic. He already called to check into aways at the hospital in San Antonio and they said it was too soon to schedule them and to call back in the beginning of 2010. The only other place we want to go would be Augusta, GA (Eisenhower Army Medical Center). So we have only two places to list on his match He is wanting to do EM but is considering IM.

[peggyfromwastate]

In our experience, board scores weren't as important as interviews.

As far as the application, he needs to apply to ALL sites which offer his desired specialty. He needs to be ready to throw his eggs into the EM or the IM basket. And he needs to nail the interview at his top spot, if that's really what he wants. He can go there for 2 months (Aug and Sept) to better his chances of getting placed there. But it may be overkill, since usually they will *know* if they want you in the program within DAYS literally.

If he focuses on just getting one site, that probably won't work out. He can't just apply to EM at site X, then IM at site X for his #2 choice. I know the number of sites for EM are limited, so he'd need to rank them all, and then fill the other spots with IM. If he goes with IM, he will need to rank IM for all 5 sites. He will not get the choice to intermix ranks between 2 specialties.

I don't think it's that common to go out on a GMO for the ARMY guys right out of med school. You're kind of useless until you've done the intern year, thus the prevalence of doing a TRANSITIONAL year if you don't match in your chosen specialty. The purpose of the transitional year is to get you to the point where you take the step whatever it is, so then you can be a little more independent-- I honestly can't remember the distinction-- maybe it means you can write prescriptions??

Anyway, sounds like your DH needs some advice as to how the whole military system works wrt match, etc. PM me if you want to have him send my DH an email with questions, or if you want them to have a phone chat about it all. My DH would be willing to help, I'm sure.

[seaside*bliss]

Thank you so much Peggy for clarifying things for me. That makes a lot more sense. I will talk with Garrett this weekend and see about getting a phone call set up. I think that would be very helpful You are great!!

[DCJenn]

Yes to everything Peggy said.

First, if he's nervous about it, that's fine. If he's going in unmotivated then he better wrap his head around the fact that he's about to enter the world of the military. He'll be saluting and being saluted to for a LONG time. He needs to be all about LOVING the Army and everything about it. There are very strict protocols and order and things happen in ways that appear bizarre to the outside world. [example- there was an opinion piece in the Washington Post yesterday all about 'Who promoted Maj. Hasan' and everyone was speculating that it was political correctness, fear, blah, blah, blah, and finally I just wrote in and explained that in military medicine at that part of the process if you've finished your training and PASSED, you get promoted. Period, no nefarious schemes, no hidden agendas- it's all right there in the public eye.]

My husband rotated in Hawaii, DC and San Antonio for peds and ranked them in that order, then he ranked two programs in Family Medicine as a hedge. He got #3 and we knew that the decision had been made long before the announcements were made because the program secretary said, "we're looking forward to having you here next year, Lt. Hussey." IN OCTOBER.

Oh, and you must never ever utter the phrase "want to go" ever again. File that away in the file marked 'past life.' The military gods can sense this hope and they will crush you like a bug.

We're lifers like Peggy and her husband and I'm very happy with the Army as a whole. We have a lot of benefits that others do not. The number one benefit is that when our husbands retire, they will earn a LOT just from their pensions. If my husband stays 10 more years past the commitment, he will retire at 100% of his pay. and he can still go work as a civilian should he choose to do so.

I would encourage you to have him talk to Peggy's husband. (mine is a jerk on the phone but if he wants to shoot him and email, pm me) He's at a competitive disadvantage not knowing the system and being so far away from a military medcen. He also needs to know that they're going to place the USUHS grads first.

Jenn

[peggyfromwastate]

Oh, and you must never ever utter the phrase "want to go" ever again. File that away in the file marked 'past life.' The military gods can sense this hope and they will crush you like a bug.

ITA. Our *goal* was always to go to Madigan (that's in Washington state- Ft Lewis.) It's becoming quite clear that that's just not going to happen. And I'm ok with that. I can't imagine going through this process if I had all my stars hung on going to one particular site. Frankly, even in the civilian sector you must go where the match sends you, right? I mean, you have control at the attending level, but not for residency, as far as I understand it!!

I don't chime in enough here, but my boyfriend's military too and I always love reading you guys' advice. He's MS3 and headed off to rotations at Tripler and Madigan after the holidays, and still deciding on specialties-- he's thinking IM or family practice right now. I'm keeping an open mind, trying to let him decide what is the best fit for him, and knowing that we could end up at any of the big army hospitals. I'm sure as it gets closer to next December match time I'll have more questions for you all

[seaside*bliss]

I don't chime in enough here, but my boyfriend's military too and I always love reading you guys' advice. He's MS3 and headed off to rotations at Tripler and Madigan after the holidays, and still deciding on specialties-- he's thinking IM or family practice right now. I'm keeping an open mind, trying to let him decide what is the best fit for him, and knowing that we could end up at any of the big army hospitals. I'm sure as it gets closer to next December match time I'll have more questions for you all

Looks like we are in the same spot. Garrett wants to do ER but there are only 3 residency spots ( we thought there were 4). He is going to start scheduling some away rotations come January for this summer, then schedule them at the residency spots. Honestly I think any of the 3 spots will be better than where we are now! haha We should keep in touch throughout this process! Where are you guys at right now? We might end up in the same residency location!

[peggyfromwastate]

all I can say is "WOOHOO" a thread in this forum made it to two pages.

[seaside*bliss]

all I can say is "WOOHOO" a thread in this forum made it to two pages.

HOORAY!!!!!

[Meenah]

I'm not an Army medical spouse, but my DD is. I pay close attention