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) car with money we borrowed from DH's parents.....and we were able to pay them back within six months because of the stipend. Also, when DH was required to do active duty time (which basically meant he did a required rotation at a military base instead of at his school) he got active duty pay, which became our savings account for the rest of the year. The biggest thing that the military made possible was the birth of our oldest son. I was feeling like life was passing me by 
while DH was in med school (I am a couple of years older than him) and really wanted to have a baby. Having the scholarship and the stipend made it possible for me to give up my job because DH hadn't yet taken out any student loans for med school (or undergrad, for that matter). So in April of DH's second year, we had Luke, and despite everything that came after that in our military experience......I would NEVER undo having had our son when we did!
). A month later, (keep in mind it is April at this point and we will move in June) the assignment changed again, to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls. I was six months pregnant with two little boys and doing an in-state move (albeit SIX hours away) was much more preferable than moving from TX to ID with all of our family in eastern KS and IN. We knew absolutely nothing about Wichita Falls, and we fought to get a two day window to go up there and buy a house.....after buying the house, we STILL knew nothing about Wichita Falls! We have been forever changed by our military experience, and I am thankful for that, and of course, I can't imagine life without my son! So after this whole long post.......I guess my answer is "I'm not sure." Knowing what we know now, we would never have done it, but the only way you can know what we know now is to have gone through the experience, so ????? ) but that would limit possibilities of some of the smaller bases, like Jenn's scenario. The retirement is the biggest draw for staying on for more time, DW could make it to Lt. Col, possibly even Col if she did some of the War University items or become a squadron command. Retirement at those levels is VERY GOOD.
Ummmm, not to pick a fight here, but isn't that a bit frightening? My dh always carps about OB's as surgeons b/c they don't do a surgical residency (you know the specialty to specialt sterotypes). I argue that I'm sure they get surgical training involving the area they perform surgeries on during their OB residency (and he only did intern year of surgery so what the heck does he know). But for the Army to use OB's as surgeons in the field? That seems like a heck of a stretch to ask those folks to make. 
His last rotation as an intern was a month on t-surgery, but he hadn't had anything non-gyn in terms of surgery since then. I really think he was more stressed about what he would be doing if he were deployed than the actual fact of being deployed. ) When OB/Gyn was closing at our previous base, DH was a liason to the civilian OBs in the area, and the only two willing to take Tri-Care were FMGs who were (in DH's humble opinion ) not competent in one case and seeing too many patients to be safe in the other case. The other more respected docs wouldn't take the military patients on because it would increase their clinic load substantially (and also their obstetrics....military folk are in an age range where they are having lots of babies) and the insurance wasn't going to pay enough to make it worth their while. The other issue (in OB anyway) was that military folk are transient and the civilian physicians didn't want the liability risk of "inheriting" a patient late in pregnancy who may not have had *any* prenatal care prior to becoming a military dependent, or who may have had substandard care somewhere else. This happened to DH all the time....here's the scenario. Johnnie and Susie are high school dropouts in Appalachia (or wherever....) somewhere. Johnnie knocks Susie up and is shipped off to Air Force basic training so he can provide for the coming bundle of joy. Susie stays home with mom because spouses are not allowed at basic training. They get married at some point. Susie joins Johnnie at his first assignment after basic training (which was our base.....the first stop for enlisted personnel after basic) having had no prenatal care whatsoever. She is not sure of the date of her last period and her pregnancy is so advanced that ultrasound is not a good indicator of her due date. For a military OB, this happens all the time. If the baby has problems (fortunately rare) the military OB is supposedly protected somewhat from litigation, but a civilian OB is not, so they are understandably leery of taking on a military population. The other issue regarding the need for military physicians is for the families who are in other parts of the world where getting medical care on the local economy is not preferable.
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