Joining the miltary during residency

[bokelley]

Has anyone ever joined the military during residency?

[DCJenn]

By joined, do you mean enlisted? No- I can't think of a reason why you would. If you mean find a military program that would pay for residency in exchange for time owed, that's called the FAP program- our esteemed member Matt's wife was FAP in the Air Force. HPSP pays during medical school and payback starts after residency and USUHS is medical school.

Here's a FAQ that answers a lot of the basic questions: http://www.militarymedicine.com/faq#n62

J

[bokelley]

Yes enlist is what I mean. Sorry this just came out of nowhere tonight. DH just brought it up to me, he said he has been thinking about it for awhile. I believe he is talking about FAP. We are in the middle of match, but after March he was thinking of enlisting in the AF. I am really not sure what is going on, I am just trying to figure out what all this could mean.

[DCJenn]

He can't enlist. Well, he can but that would be exceptionally stupid. (sorry to be so blunt). Officers are commissioned- which is what he wants. He's got to move fast if he's interested in the FAP though because the military match decisions are done- they'll find out mid-December where they're going. What does he want to do? If it's something that they (and by they, I mean the Air Force) need it might work out.

He needs to find who the military contact is at his medical school- who does the HPSP coordination and talk to them NOW.

Send a PM to Matt and he may be able to offer some better guidance.

Jenn

[Urowife]

Jenn's right - he wouldn't enlist, but would be a commissioned officer. Doctors are officers in the military. FAP is the only option for him at this point, I believe. As far as I know, you can sign up at any time during residency, but it would be subject to what that branch of the military needs - so they might not accept him if they don't need his specialty. Your DH is looking to do rads right? I bet he is looking at his student loan repayment and starting to panic about being able to afford loan payments. My advice: do loan forbearment or deferment during residency - don't worry about loan repayment until residency is over. Also, Rapunzel can verify, but I believe he will make more money as a radiologist out in private practice than in the military and he will easily be able to afford loan repayment. If he were looking at primary care, the military isn't a bad road (in terms of income). There are lots of challenges and benefits to the military. To me, the challenges (i.e. DEPLOYMENT) outweigh the benefits. But, that's just me.

Here's a good little blurb about FAP: http://militarymedicine.com/fap

ETA: Here is another description of FAP: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=189443

[DCJenn]

Things like the South Koreans and the North Koreans throwing missiles at each other has a different meaning when you're in the military...

Also, deployment is a fact of life, especially for the Army and the Navy. The AF deploys a lot of docs, don't get me wrong but subspecialty trained docs deploy less frequently for less time, typically.

J

[bokelley]

I know absolutely zero about military life, so please forgive me when I ask stupid questions. I know FAP is what he was talking about. When you say the AF deploys a lot of Drs, where do they get deployed to, is this like a base where I would move with him or does he go alone. Like I said I am sure these are dumb questions!!

[Urowife]

Deployment is unaccompanied, meaning he goes by himself. He would likely go to Afghanistan or now I suppose Korea could be a possibility too. The Navy deployments are usually about 6 months.

After residency, he would go to work at a base, where you would accompany him. If the air force is anything like the Navy, you don't get much choice about where you end up. We got lucky with Camp Pendleton (just north of San Diego).

[Urowife]

Also, no worries about the questions - I knew absolutely nothing before I met my DH. He had already signed up for HPSP when we met. I've learned A LOT, but there's still a lot that I don't know.

[DCJenn]

You would accompany him to his assignments . If he were deployed, that's to a war zone. Or to Korea which is close enough, especially today.

Docs deploy everywhere. Mine deployed to the jail at Camp Cropper where he cared for "High Value Detainees." Not at all what a Child Neurologist does but what the Army needed him to do.

The Air Force has bases all over the world- some are great, some suck but that's the case with all of the services.

Jenn

[Chrisada]

DH's chief did FAP in OBGYN. DH really wanted to and I called, but they do not need OBGYNs right now. They just started IBR in place of deferment for residency and it sucks. But DH was not willing to forbear on such a big loan. The interest just keeps compounding in forbearance, so we are doing IBR. Our loan was in forbearance for a month while waiting for IBR and we accrued $1,000 in interest. Insane.

[Urowife]

You're right, Chrisada, income based repayment is better than forbearance because of the interest compounding.