- Joined
- Jul 24, 2000
- Messages
- 3,525
- Reaction score
- 323
Greetings everyone...
I've been lurking, and thought I'd give an update for anyone who may be interested. I'm a peds subspecialist, and separated from active duty in 2018 after 14 active duty years. i'm currently in the IMA as a general pediatrician, so i'm still accruing points and thanks to having HPSP years count in the reserves (each good reserve year "activates" 1 good HPSP year) i should have my reserve retirement polished off shortly. we also transferred our GI bills to our kids and managed to get a little VA disability which is nice. 😉
first-- getting out (even at 14) was 110% the right decision for us. my wife is also a peds sub, and was also active duty. the dual military physician lifestyle sucks-- it's twice the abuse and risk exposure for operational tours and deployments without any perks (except for 4 day weekends?). TRICARE and other benefits that normally would be considered as part of your compensation isn't utilized. which is why anytime the "get rid of dual BAH" folks crop up i get a little agitated...
work wise things are great. we basically stood up our clinic and had all the backing (and then some) from admin. we are paid well for our specialties (i almost doubled my salary, she increased hers by 30-40%). we still get 5 weeks paid vacation. weekends are free-- you don't get charged for them! we're treated like adults and don't have to have 12 different mandatory trainings to take vacation. our EMR isn't perfect, but i have IT support immediately available on business skype when issues arise. when problems come up, and i ask about them, people listen.
honestly, it's been so good i think my institutionalized military brain was apprehensive about the other shoe dropping, the honeymoon ending, the shininess to wear off, whatever expression you want to use. but at 16 months her and counting things are the same. we may just be lucky but we're happier than we've ever been and just moved into a house we built on acreage we own and feel like we can finally "put down roots" for our kids and not game plan 3 years out when we may have to go be a brigade surgeon. or be reluctant to plan vacations because we may have an NTC rotation or deployment.
timing wise i feel lucky. we're in the old retirement system which will kick in at 60, and still have time to get a reasonable addition to our TSP we saved during the military days, which is even better now because our employer matches up to 5% of our income we put away. it's free money! we transferred our GI bills, got a little VA disability (tax free forever, woo hoo!) and still keep our CAC cards for TSA precheck and those sweet military discounts (lol). the IMA isn't a bad gig, either, and gives you just enough taste of the military medical dysfunction to remind you of why you left.
DHA appears to be hell bent on killing itself. buckets, reverse PROFIS, and budget cuts all brought to you by the horde of good idea fairies. and now the surgeon general of the army is a MSC officer. when i was in, the older folks would always tell me how the pendulum would swing back. well, several years later i'm not sure how much worse things can get while people bide their time for improvement. fool me once, right?
-your friendly neighborhood the the grass is actually alfalfa on this side of the fence caveman
I've been lurking, and thought I'd give an update for anyone who may be interested. I'm a peds subspecialist, and separated from active duty in 2018 after 14 active duty years. i'm currently in the IMA as a general pediatrician, so i'm still accruing points and thanks to having HPSP years count in the reserves (each good reserve year "activates" 1 good HPSP year) i should have my reserve retirement polished off shortly. we also transferred our GI bills to our kids and managed to get a little VA disability which is nice. 😉
first-- getting out (even at 14) was 110% the right decision for us. my wife is also a peds sub, and was also active duty. the dual military physician lifestyle sucks-- it's twice the abuse and risk exposure for operational tours and deployments without any perks (except for 4 day weekends?). TRICARE and other benefits that normally would be considered as part of your compensation isn't utilized. which is why anytime the "get rid of dual BAH" folks crop up i get a little agitated...
work wise things are great. we basically stood up our clinic and had all the backing (and then some) from admin. we are paid well for our specialties (i almost doubled my salary, she increased hers by 30-40%). we still get 5 weeks paid vacation. weekends are free-- you don't get charged for them! we're treated like adults and don't have to have 12 different mandatory trainings to take vacation. our EMR isn't perfect, but i have IT support immediately available on business skype when issues arise. when problems come up, and i ask about them, people listen.
honestly, it's been so good i think my institutionalized military brain was apprehensive about the other shoe dropping, the honeymoon ending, the shininess to wear off, whatever expression you want to use. but at 16 months her and counting things are the same. we may just be lucky but we're happier than we've ever been and just moved into a house we built on acreage we own and feel like we can finally "put down roots" for our kids and not game plan 3 years out when we may have to go be a brigade surgeon. or be reluctant to plan vacations because we may have an NTC rotation or deployment.
timing wise i feel lucky. we're in the old retirement system which will kick in at 60, and still have time to get a reasonable addition to our TSP we saved during the military days, which is even better now because our employer matches up to 5% of our income we put away. it's free money! we transferred our GI bills, got a little VA disability (tax free forever, woo hoo!) and still keep our CAC cards for TSA precheck and those sweet military discounts (lol). the IMA isn't a bad gig, either, and gives you just enough taste of the military medical dysfunction to remind you of why you left.
DHA appears to be hell bent on killing itself. buckets, reverse PROFIS, and budget cuts all brought to you by the horde of good idea fairies. and now the surgeon general of the army is a MSC officer. when i was in, the older folks would always tell me how the pendulum would swing back. well, several years later i'm not sure how much worse things can get while people bide their time for improvement. fool me once, right?
-your friendly neighborhood the the grass is actually alfalfa on this side of the fence caveman
