would usuhs allow u such an opportunity? if u planned to be a career medical officer, could u spend most of your career on a base in rota,spain?

or is it better to do civilian med school+residency and then if u still want military, sign a contract that guarantees the base that you want?

also i know there is a naval hospital in rota,spain(very nice location) but is there one in vicenza, italy? if you went into the army, what are the chances of doing residency and then getting stationed in vicenza?

would usuhs allow u such an opportunity? if u planned to be a career medical officer, could u spend most of your career on a base in rota,spain?

or is it better to do civilian med school+residency and then if u still want military, sign a contract that guarantees the base that you want?

also i know there is a naval hospital in rota,spain(very nice location) but is there one in vicenza, italy? if you went into the army, what are the chances of doing residency and then getting stationed in vicenza?

Most posts in "old Europe" are considered desirable and thus are sought by many, this includes those in Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK. I can't say for the small port posts like la Madd in Sardinia and Souda Bay, in Crete, but those are more remote. There is usually a waiting list. You probably would not be able to homestead in any of them; three years for an accompanied tour is the norm.

And don't plan on spending any time in Europe during your first tour (you'll have to pick up more commitment to go) or if you're in an unusual specialty. The only base I know of near Vicenza is Aviano Air Base. Rota is a Navy Base (as you know.) I have seen people go directly there out of residency, but the ones I knew did a GMO tour pre-residency.

Thank you for the info! What about work in the foreign service dept? like an embassy dr at some european country(say u speak their language)? From the net, i only know that they pay about $120k/yr which sucks (if you are EM u can obviously make more). I dont think they pay taxes and i think they also get a housing allowance. but still the pay is smaller and vacation is smaller than for a civilian ER doctor.. So why do people go into that line of work? i mean am i missing some of the perks? because i do want to live in europe, but if i can make more money in usa and take a 10wk vacation in europe, it's better than working there 48wks/yr.
And if you work for foreign service dept i heard they can switch your assignments every 2yrs. does it mean that you can switch between moscow and stockholm and paris if u wish. or does it mean that you settled down in some city and they'll decide to move u to haiti?

Thank you for the info! What about work in the foreign service dept? like an embassy dr at some european country(say u speak their language)? From the net, i only know that they pay about $120k/yr which sucks (if you are EM u can obviously make more). I dont think they pay taxes and i think they also get a housing allowance. but still the pay is smaller and vacation is smaller than for a civilian ER doctor.. So why do people go into that line of work? i mean am i missing some of the perks? because i do want to live in europe, but if i can make more money in usa and take a 10wk vacation in europe, it's better than working there 48wks/yr.
And if you work for foreign service dept i heard they can switch your assignments every 2yrs. does it mean that you can switch between moscow and stockholm and paris if u wish. or does it mean that you settled down in some city and they'll decide to move u to haiti?

From your posts here and in the pre-allo forum, it doesn't sound like you want a military career. It sounds more like you want a European career, but paid in dollars?
Anyway, maybe you should check out the European Medicine forum on SDN and find out how to be an American doc in Spain there.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=91

The military isn't going to send you from one cherry assignment in Europe to another. If you're lucky, you'll get one or two accompanied tours to Europe in your 20 year career. In my humble, personal opinion, you are not going to get what you want from the military.

If you want to live in Rota, then move to Rota post residency. If you speak the language then you can get a job in a civilian hospital in Spain and have 52 weekends a year to explore.

If you want to treat American soldiers and their families, then join the military. It seems pretty straight forward that you probably can't do both. You will definitely NOT spend a significant portion of a military career in Spain... unless they discover oil there and start making WMDs.

Hate to burst your bubble.

Thank you for the info! What about work in the foreign service dept? like an embassy dr at some european country(say u speak their language)? From the net, i only know that they pay about $120k/yr which sucks (if you are EM u can obviously make more). I dont think they pay taxes and i think they also get a housing allowance. but still the pay is smaller and vacation is smaller than for a civilian ER doctor.. So why do people go into that line of work? i mean am i missing some of the perks? because i do want to live in europe, but if i can make more money in usa and take a 10wk vacation in europe, it's better than working there 48wks/yr.
And if you work for foreign service dept i heard they can switch your assignments every 2yrs. does it mean that you can switch between moscow and stockholm and paris if u wish. or does it mean that you settled down in some city and they'll decide to move u to haiti?

The State Department does have medical doctors on their support staff at some larger missions that have a medical unit. Mostly these doctors supervise several national missions in a particular region of the world--U.S. embassies and consulates--that have a nurse as the regular official on station. The care is outpatient only and the doctors are usually family practitioners or general internists. Most of the docs I met were older--late 50s or 60s, retired from some other kind of practice. I do not believe they are Foreign Service Officers; they are professional support staff in the same way lawyers, security and IT people might be employed on embassy staff. Rotation in the Foreign Service is usually every couple of years, typically abroad followed by the USA then overseas somewhere else for FSOs with the requirement of fluency in foreign language and demonstrated superior performance as a precondition for continued promotion. No promotion is usually a ticket out; people are generally not allowed to remain at the same level for long. With staff, including doctors, that requirement doesn't apply, and long periods of overseas assignment is the rule.

(I did some work with U.S. mission medical staff in several places I deployed and had a clinic briefly in at least a couple U.S. missions when deployed. At one point I even took and passed the Foreign Service Entrance Exam (before med school) but decided to do the med school thing instead.)

As for Moscow-Stockholm-Paris circuit riding, don't count on it. You are more likely to find yourself on the Lagos-Abidjan-Accra route or the Riyadh-Sanaa-Manama circuit, parked most of the time in one city only.

orbitsurgMD gave you a great explanation of how docs in the FS work.What about work in the foreign service dept? like an embassy dr at some european country(say u speak their language)? From the net, i only know that they pay about $120k/yr which sucks (if you are EM u can obviously make more).
You will almost never find a "non-traditional" clinical career path in EM that will pay more than a regular gig at a U.S. E.D. Not on a cruiseship, not for MSF, not for the State Department.
.So why do people go into that line of work? i mean am i missing some of the perks? because i do want to live in europe, but if i can make more money in usa and take a 10wk vacation in europe, it's better than working there 48wks/yr.
The attraction is that there is a big difference between living abroad for a year and visiting as a tourist for a few weeks. The experience of living abroad for a year is one available easily to college students. Once you enter medical school? It requires a lot of financial sacrifice.

Regardless, it sounds like your main interest is living abroad. If you're in college, take a year out and do so, or if you're not yet in med school, do it before you apply. It may be your last realistic chance. Talk to doctors who lived abroad either with the Peace Corps or education abroad, and you'll find that for many/most of them, it was one of the highlights of their life.

Don't go in the military for the possibility of travel abroad. There are worse ideas, but nothing is coming to mind right now.

Thank you all for the information! notdeadyet, you are right, living abroad is so much harder after ugrad:( so have to evaluate all the opportunities.