yikes! questions!

alright. so i am pretty new to this whole thing, and have contributed a good bit to the other forum-- i didn't consider that i'd be posting on this one too. 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

[mommax3]

Emily,

First of all, both of you should go to http://www.studentdoctor.net and read through the military thread in the forums.

Next.....so they pay for four years of med school, and then he will owe them four years of time in return. During med school, his military involvement will be minimal, other than spending a month or so at a military installation each year. When he starts to think about applying for residencies in a particular specialty, he needs to keep in mind that if he goes the Army route, he will likely do an active duty residency at a military teaching hospital, and the Army gets to decide if they will let him train in his preferred field.....i.e., if he would like to do dermatology and the Army already has enough dermatologists, then derm will be a no-go for him. The years of his residency will NOT count towards the years of payback. Deployment during med school/residency will not happen. Deployment during payback, however, is a very real possibility, depending on his specialty. Someone else may be able to answer questions about the length of deployments for Army personnel, because my husband is Air Force, but he has a friend who is an Army OB/GYN at Ft. Bragg and people there are being deployed for a year at a time.....to Iraq.....and obviously, spouses/significant others are not going along. When he is doing his payback, he will spend a significant amount of time doing "military stuff" because it permeates the entire medical system. He will have to do emergency drills, do some soldier-type training, (nothing too major, though) pass PT tests regularly, and spend some nights "in the field". His patients will be active duty military, retired military, and their dependents. His bosses will most likely NOT be physicians, but they will "outrank" him none the less.

My husband has not been deployed, thank God. Air Force doctors used to be fairly safe from deployment, but after 9-11, that has changed. OB/GYNs function as surgeons in the field, so he is not safe from deployment, just lucky so far.....one more year to go. Several of the family practice guys at our base have been deployed, for 3 to 6 month periods. The Army reportedly deploys more often and for longer......maybe Jenn will have some insight here.

Think LONG and HARD before making this decision. He will be giving up control of his life for a minimum of 7 years after med school (3 years....shortest possible residency + 4 years.....payback) and for most people, this is also during primetime for getting married/starting a family. Do not trust the recruiter.....PM some of the people at Student Doctor Network for more information about what it is really like. The recruiter does not care what is best for you, he just wants you to sign on the bottom line. Our experience was.....med school was paid for at a school in our home state. Residency was spent in San Antonio at a military facility.....he was chosen for an active duty residency although he asked for a deferral and never interviewed for a military spot. We ended up loving San Antonio and he feels like he got great training.....he also got a better salary than he would have in a civilian program. He is now in his payback phase at a small AF base and it has been a very negative experience......being away from a huge military medical center and teaching facility has been an eye-opening experience, to say the least. If we had it to do over, we would not go the military route again.

Good luck with your decision.

Sally

[DCJenn]

The military lifestyle can be daunting and Sally is right, it has to be carefully considered before entering it- but it's kind of hard to find people who will give you a straight answer.

I suppose the question to ask is: Do you want to make your career (yours is just as impacted by the military as his) in the military. For my husband, the answer was yes. But he had prior service experience (many do) and that does make a difference, in years needed for retirement or if the prior years were as an Officer, that counts as years in towards acheiving rank, and if the military has a need for that particular specialty. (keeping in mind that the miltiary is run by civilians who are notoriously short-sighted when it comes to dependent care and much of military medicine is dependent care)

We are perfectly happy with the Army. My husband has been able to acheive what he has wanted in terms of his career and since he went to USUHS, he owes 7 years after he finished the fellowship. So, including time in service, plus USUHS time, by the time he's finshed with payback, he'll be eligible to retire for the full retirement. (which is NOT 100% of their salary.) But, he has no intention of practicing civilian medicine because he doesn't want to deal with malpractice insurance, managing a practice, etc. He's planning on staying for 30.

Most of the time, you're sent to a military base for three years at a time. Deployments can range from 6 months to 24 months- and there's no way to know in advance if a 6 month deployment will turn in to a 24 month deployment. Deployments are not accompanied. Most other situations, the spouse can go. Korea is one exception, unless the doctor is being sent for more than one year.

Deployment is kind of dependent upon speciality- those people who have something to offer in the field- i.e. gynecologists do have surgical experience, pediatricians do see teenagers, etc. Since my husband is in training to be a peds neurologist- no, I don't think he'll be the first to be deployed- that said, he's Airborne trained- so who knows. I can't worry about something I have no control over. That is the most important part of military medicine- you can't worry about it because you have very little control.

My husband selected San Antonio third for residency (civilian residency was not an option since he attended USUHS) and that's where he ended up- again, he could make his preference known, but no one cared. Luckily it was a fabulous experience and we made lifelong friends and he had an excellent educational experience.

I love the military lifestyle- but because of his specialty, we won't end up in some Godforsaken place, either.

Research your options, and know that it can go from one extreme to the other in terms of how much you like some place. Most spouses have transportable careers. It does impact the lifes of any children, because they get moved too! Most spouses are SAHParents or nurses, teachers, etc. I'm lucky because I work from the road and it doesn't matter where we live.

Jenn

Service above self

Hey Emily-
I think the others have covered most of your questions but I was hoping to give a small bit of insight. My wife is a former HPSP and we are about to pay back (ask me about that some time!!?) I have to say the best and really only reason to accept an HPSP is service to your country. I know that sounds silly but ALL the others augments do not hold up. Sure when your in med school everything is great- no debt- at least not in money. When payback comes you better remember the motto "Service above self"- the bank will never require this of you. So I really caution people who first think of the money. Trust me-if I could change her AF debt into DIrect Loans (@2% BTW)- I would. The impact her HPSP has had on me and my career is huge but it is the family aspects that I worry most about. We have 130,000 troops in Iraq- anyone who thinks they will not spend time there is stupid or very well conected. The bank will never call and take mommy away. Therefore- if you really want to serve your country then go for it and understand it is a great gift to the rest of us. However, if you think about the money-you will soon realize they do not print enough for that reason.
jack