Army Operational specialty

[Plaster225]

Hey all. OMS-1 with a question about being an Army battalion surgeon for a MTOE or operational unit, infantry, airborne, ranger, special forces, all that jazz. I'm stuck between FM and IM. Places for FM I've looked into include Belvoir and Benning, and Walter Reed for IM. Does anybody have any thoughts on which specialty is more preferred for those kinda units? On the medicine side I'm into the big scope of FM, while IM fellowships are pretty nice, I know the post military civilian job market for FM is nice, and I don't wanna lose scope to sub specialize, but have no real qualms for doing it for any other reason. Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

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[DeadCactus]

Just one person's opinion: A good FM program will generally be a better fit with the broader training and generally outpatient focus. Spend some extra elective time in a busy ED and Sports Medicine. The only downside is the lack of fellowship options: you might not care now but in a decade or two you don't know what you will want and the ability to drastically change your practice by doing a fellowship is a huge plus to internal medicine.

 

[Plaster225]

Just one person's opinion: A good FM program will generally be a better fit with the broader training and generally outpatient focus. Spend some extra elective time in a busy ED and Sports Medicine. The only downside is the lack of fellowship options: you might not care now but in a decade or two you don't know what you will want and the ability to drastically change your practice by doing a fellowship is a huge plus to internal medicine.

Okay, that makes sense. Can IM fill operational positions, for infantry, SF, etc?

 

[DeadCactus]

Okay, that makes sense. Can IM fill operational positions, for infantry, SF, etc?

Yes. The majority are slotted for field surgeons or flight surgeons meaning basically anyone who finishes an intern year can fill them. There are some operational medicine type positions that are specific to certain specialties like EM, surgeons, CCM, anesthesia, etc but I can't think of any that would differentiate between FM and IM. In either case, pick your specialty based on what you want to practice and what options you want to keep open for the future, then sort out a path to operational medicine from there.