Question about the military... ( 1

My husband went into the Navy as a Lieutenant right after he did his internship, and spent his three active duty years in North Carolina with a Marine Battalion, and pretty much did everything they did. He LOVED it. He had a brand new house 5 minutes from the beach, and the military paid 91K of his student loans. He is just finishing up a civilian residency in FP, and is looking at going back in as an active reservist (he still has several years of inactive reserve he owes the Navy). He just got a promotion to Lt. Commander. I don't know if it's for everyone, but it's been pretty good for us thus far.

There seems to be some confusion about medical officer pay. The following sites should answer your questions:

https://www.perscomonline.army.mil/OPhs ... MCinfo.doc
https://www.perscomonline.army.mil/OPhsdMc/mspfy03.doc
https://www.perscomonline.army.mil/OPhs ... edFY03.doc

In a nutshell:

VSP: monthly bonus to all physicians. varies in amount according to training status and years of service. $100/month for interns, $416/month for residents, increases yearly to max of $1000/month, then decreases yearly to about $600/month at 20 years service.

MASP: $15K/year before taxes, about $11k after taxes. Paid yearly in July. Interns and residents in their first residency are NOT eligable. Second-time residents and all fellows are eligable. GMO's and flight surgeons eligable

ISP: paid after residency, according to specialty. Paid yearly in October. Currently $12K to $36K/year before taxes. A couple of examples: Family Practice $13K, Radiology $36K

Board Certified Pay: Monthly pay after specialty board certification. Starts at $208/month, increases yearly up to max of $500/month

MSP: an optional "contract" to serve more time in return for an additional yearly bonus. Not available to physicians who still have a commitment. Not all specialties eligable. $12-14K/year

It is expected that the VSP and ISP may significantly increase next year to help retain physicians.

Also, there is some interest in Congress to include bonuses in retirement pay (currently only base pay is used to calculate retirement pay)

Hope this helps!

The Navy Jen

Well, since there is an Air Force Jennifer and an Army Jennifer, I guess that makes me the Navy Jennifer!
My husband is a third-year pediatrics resident, and we live in San Diego, another one of the most expensive areas on Earth (or at least the United States) to live in. The Navy paid for his medical school, and he'll owe four years after finishing residency this June.
We're not sure yet if he's going to try to do a military fellowship in a peds subspecialty or not. We're torn: it would be great for him to get the extra training, but that's going to mean two years of extra service per every one year of fellowship (and a good peds fellowship is around 3 years long). Can I stand being a Navy wife for that long?
But at least he's nearly through with residency. Peds is so popular in the Navy right now that med students are fiercely competing to get into peds residency programs, and the slots are being reduced, from what I hear. Thank goodness we don't have to worry about that.

[DCJenn]

Navy Jen-

Yup, Same situation here with Peds. This is a combined Army/Air Force program so we hear all of the dirt on both sides.

My husband went to USUHS so, we owe the rest of our lives anyway. My husband has applied for a peds neuro fellowship at Walter Reed (crossing everything I have that he gets it and I get to GO HOME!). What's another three years- he's got 12 in already!! (He jumped out of airplanes and drove tanks in the desert to pay for undergrad).

The really interesting part of the fellowship is that it's not technically a peds fellowship but a neuro fellowship which requires a year of adult neurology. He's not too thrilled about that but his mentor here said she learned a ton while doing her adult neuro year.

All I know is that the neurologists that I've worked with are...Odd. So, I have that to look forward to, as well!

As the moderator for this spot, I'm darned gald to have you join us. As I've said, we've been lacking Navy participation!!

Jenn

Don't worry about not having any Navy participation any more. I have plenty that I can say about being a Navy doc's wife!