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4th year med student, looking for advice on pursuing military medicine. I am going into Internal medicine with the ultimate aim of a pulm/crit care fellowship. I choose the guard/reserve route after considering HPSP, and ultimately rejecting it, prior to M1. For most of medical school, I had assumed I would finish pgy1, and then join the local army national guard, as all of the service websites say they take MDs with 1 year of GME training. My understanding of this role is as an outpatient-style clinician who doesn’t get hospitalist-style work at home and possibly not on deployment. I tried to find information on what military medicine looks like deployed, but struggled to find clarity. It is my understanding that I would serve in a CSH as a possible internist/intensivist, or in a battalion aid station (not sure what they do), or hang out on “base” (not sure about any of this terminology) and do primary care.
I then stumbled upon the CCATT and TCETT roles in the Air Force and they really caught my eye, as it seems like they are definitely practicing ICU medicine. The concept of learning to apply my trade in a non-traditional setting with unique challenges is particularly attractive.
All of that being said, I have many questions and I would appreciate any amount of clarification.
I then stumbled upon the CCATT and TCETT roles in the Air Force and they really caught my eye, as it seems like they are definitely practicing ICU medicine. The concept of learning to apply my trade in a non-traditional setting with unique challenges is particularly attractive.
All of that being said, I have many questions and I would appreciate any amount of clarification.
- The internet says there are slots in the air guard/air force reserve for CCATT/TCETT physicians, but nothing about the chances of getting selected. Is it likely that if I make this my goal, I can work towards this and eventually end up in that capacity, or is it highly probable that I end up atrophying my critical care skills in clinic (as the general negative-military SDN paradigm usually suggests)
- Can anyone speak to CCATT/TCETT as a job? ive never met anybody even peripherally associated with it, although ive read basically everything I can find on the internet.
- Was my initial interpretation of medical service in the army national guard correct? After research, it seemed unlikely that I would get a lot of ICU time.
- Any clarification of the guard vs reserve role for a physician? I understand the dual mission of the guard, but I mean more practical stuff. Likelihood of going overseas, icu vs clinic, proximity to combat etc.
- How do people that go into the guard/reserve time their commissions? The residency training pipeline seems unlikely to facilitate a month or more to go to COT/BOLC, even if you don’t have to worry about deploying.
- If you join any part of the service as a resident, what is the chance it prevents you from getting accepted/finishing a fellowship? I don’t want to tank my lifelong goal of being a critical care doc. if this risk is too real to join in residency, would you suggest joining as a fellow or just waiting until im a board-certified intensivist?
- Any obvious misconceptions y’all see from my hideously naïve point of view? advice on whether or not to take STRAP, experience with the lifestyle, pros/cons etc.