Just got my HPSP contract and, before I sign anything, I need to be absolutely clear on my options:

If the AF pays for 4 years of medical school and I do a civilian residency of 4 years, then I owe 4 years of active duty and 4 years of inactive reserve duty.

If the AF pays for 4 years of medical school and I do a military residency of 4 years, then I owe 4 years of active duty (4 years of inactive reserve duty was covered during residency).

If the AF pays for 1 or 2 years of medical school and I do a civilian residency of 4 years, then I owe 2 years of active duty and 2 years of inactive reserve duty.

If the AF pays for 4 years of medical school and I do a civilian residency of 6 years, then I owe 4 years of active duty and 4 years of inactive reserve duty.

If the AF pays for 4 years of medical school, I do either type of residency for 4 years, do 4 years of active duty, have the AF pay for 2 years of fellowship, then I owe an additional 3 years of active duty and 7 years of inactive reserve duty.

The AF cannot pull me out of medical school or my first year of residency. They can pull me out of inactive reserve duty, but it has never happened before in the history of the Air Force. At maximum, however, I can only serve 8 years in active duty in an absolute worst case scenario and it would not delay my medical education.

If I am wrong anywhere please let me know.

-Jeff

Military residency incurs a year for year commitment IN ADDITION TO your HPSP commitment. (Except for the intern year which is "free" the first time around). So, in your scenario if you do HPSP and military residency you would owe 4 years for HPSP and an additional 3 years (4 years of residency minus 1 for your internship). Fortunately, these can be served concurrently. So, effectively you'll only owe the longer of the 2 commitments if you are allowed to complete a full military residency immediately after graduation from med school. This is by no means guaranteed.

Residency never counts as time for payback of commitment. And residency can increase your total time on active duty. The best example (and most common way) for this to happen is when you're only allowed to do an internship before entering active duty as a GMO or flight surgeon. So, you owe 4 years from HPSP and begin repayment after your internship (military or civilian). Say you serve 2 years (the minimum amount) on AD before they allow you to return for residency. You complete the remaining 3 years of residency in a military program. This requires a 3 year obligation to be served concurrently with your 2 years of remaining HPSP obligation. Therefore, you'd end up with 1 year of internship, 2 years on AD, 3 years of residency, and then 3 more years on AD. This particular scenario would take you 9 years out from medical school graduation before your Active Duty commitment was fulfilled.

If the AF pays for 1 or 2 years of medical school and I do a civilian residency of 4 years, then I owe 2 years of active duty and 2 years of inactive reserve duty.
6 years of inactive reserve not 2. You always owe the military 8 years. Any combination of that but it'll be 8 years.

Does the contract guarantee you in no uncertain terms that you will be allowed to complete a residency in the specialty of your choice before fulfulling the active duty service commitment?? If not, DO NOT SIGN IT!! Knowing what I know now (having gone the route of AFHPSP), if I were once again in your shoes, I would not sign the contract otherwise. Do not make the same mistake I did!!

I cannot over-emphasize how vitally important it is for you not to sacrifice your freedom of choice at this point in your career. Please be extremely careful!!

Try writing a few contract clauses in and see what they do:

1. This contract contingent upon straight through specialty training immediately following internship. No application to GME selection board is necessary.
2. This contract contingent upon receiving all military pay, bonues and reimbursements within 30 days.
3. If any of these conditions are not met, this contract is null and void.

I know most people think it is silly but I think it is worth a try.

Absolutely not silly.

Residency never counts as time for payback of commitment. And residency can increase your total time on active duty. The best example (and most common way) for this to happen is when you're only allowed to do an internship before entering active duty as a GMO or flight surgeon. So, you owe 4 years from HPSP and begin repayment after your internship (military or civilian). Say you serve 2 years (the minimum amount) on AD before they allow you to return for residency. You complete the remaining 3 years of residency in a military program. This requires a 3 year obligation to be served concurrently with your 2 years of remaining HPSP obligation. Therefore, you'd end up with 1 year of internship, 2 years on AD, 3 years of residency, and then 3 more years on AD. This particular scenario would take you 9 years out from medical school graduation before your Active Duty commitment was fulfilled.

I'm going into medical school for psychiatry, is this only for GMO or flight surgeon, or can it happen to me too and how common is this?

In total that is 5 years of active duty, how is that not a breech of contract?
-Jeff

6 years of inactive reserve not 2. You always owe the military 8 years. Any combination of that but it'll be 8 years.

Let's say I do 6 years of military residency and 6 years active duty, then do I only owe 2 years of inactive reserve?
-Jeff

Does the contract guarantee you in no uncertain terms that you will be allowed to complete a residency in the specialty of your choice before fulfulling the active duty service commitment?? If not, DO NOT SIGN IT!! Knowing what I know now (having gone the route of AFHPSP), if I were once again in your shoes, I would not sign the contract otherwise. Do not make the same mistake I did!!

I cannot over-emphasize how vitally important it is for you not to sacrifice your freedom of choice at this point in your career. Please be extremely careful!!

It seems to me that they won't not allow me to complete a residency, it just may not be all at once. I wouldn't see how that is so bad, unless extra time is added, but you guys know better than I.

Also, I am going to try the clause idea. If you have any other ideas for adding clauses related to this or not, please let me know... it's worth a shot, and I want to be as confident about doing this as possible.

Thanks for the input everyone,
-Jeff

I'm going into medical school for psychiatry, is this only for GMO or flight surgeon, or can it happen to me too and how common is this?

In total that is 5 years of active duty, how is that not a breech of contract?
-Jeff

If you choose to sign the contract, it does not matter one single bit what you are going to medical school for. What you want to do is irrelevant. If you sign the contract, you will do whatever the USAF wants you to do. If they do not want you as a psychiatrist, or whatever, you will waste four years of your professional life as a GMO.

Try writing a few contract clauses in and see what they do:

1. This contract contingent upon straight through specialty training immediately following internship. No application to GME selection board is necessary.
2. This contract contingent upon receiving all military pay, bonues and reimbursements within 30 days.
3. If any of these conditions are not met, this contract is null and void.

I know most people think it is silly but I think it is worth a try.

Doing this would be hilarious. :thumbup: Not much of a chance of getting the military to accept that contract but it would still be funny.

It seems to me that they won't not allow me to complete a residency, it just may not be all at once. I wouldn't see how that is so bad, unless extra time is added, but you guys know better than I.

Also, I am going to try the clause idea. If you have any other ideas for adding clauses related to this or not, please let me know... it's worth a shot, and I want to be as confident about doing this as possible.

Thanks for the input everyone,
-Jeff

Jeff,

Please see my thread on why a GMO tour is not advantageous.

If you think that the AF will make certain that you complete a residency, think again. I am living proof that notion is false. I was never selected for a military or civilian residency, despite multiple attempts, including in the specialty in which I was working as a GMO!! (FYI, I had a strong academic record and strong OPR's and LOR's.)

They want to obligate you. You have bargaining power right now. As soon as you sign that contract, you will have none.

Once you sign that contract you will become the property of the USAF. Is this really what you want? Or are you just going into this for the money? If you are just doing this for the scholarship money, you will be miserable later on.

The fundamental question is this: Do you want to be in control of your future or not? Who do you want to be in the driver's seat of your life?

They want to obligate you. You have bargaining power right now. As soon as you sign that contract, you will have none.

Once you sign that contract you will become the property of the USAF. Is this really what you want? Or are you just going into this for the money? If you are just doing this for the scholarship money, you will be miserable later on.

The fundamental question is this: Do you want to be in control of your future or not? Who do you want to be in the driver's seat of your life?

Trust me, I am not just doing this for the money, and obviously, I am willing to give up some control to be part of the military. My point is that whether I do med school -> internship -> active duty -> residency OR
med school -> internship -> residency -> active duty,
won't I still cover everything in 12 years? Because as long as no extra time is added, I am still okay with giving up control.

-Jeff

med school -> internship -> active duty -> residency

if it is a military residency or a military sponsored civilian residency you want, add in:

-> more active duty.

as I understand it, this is one of the major drawbacks of getting GMOed, you don't get to serve your med school and residency ADSO concurrently. After residency, you get a 1 for 1 ADSO.

Trust me, I am not just doing this for the money, and obviously, I am willing to give up some control to be part of the military. My point is that whether I do med school -> internship -> active duty -> residency OR
med school -> internship -> residency -> active duty,
won't I still cover everything in 12 years? Because as long as no extra time is added, I am still okay with giving up control.

-Jeff

There would be inherent problems in disrupting the continuity of your education. I address some of them in my thread on the disadvantages of a gmo tour.

"Some loss of control" is an understatement. No freedom of choice in where you live and work, or in what capacity, or how you do the job, etc. is more than just "some" loss of control.

This forum has compared the AFMS to the Borg, and actually that comparison is amazingly accurate. Do you want to be assimilated?