Anyone here a Navy (or Army/AF) Reservist?

[Chetamine]

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I currently have 10yrs active duty, with 4yr HPSP for med school, looking to get out at the end of this tour (11.5yrs AD total). I will have to do about six months of reserve time after AD for GI Bill obligation. I am hoping to discuss what it's like being a reservist with anyone here, especially someone in a busy private practice group. I'd hate to throw away those years of AD, if staying in the reserves is manageable. I briefly talked with the Anesthesiology Reserve specialty leaders, and they said the Navy is currently willing to match four good reserve years, with good credit for each HPSP year, giving you 8 total, with a yearly bonus. I have also heard that they 'promise' they won't deploy you for at least the first two years as a reservist. Now, I have been in for 14 years and know what a promise from the Navy is good for, but at least they try to make it sound good. My specific concern about this is trying to make partner and then being deployed before, or soon after partnership. Also, Is it possible to consolidate your reserve time into larger blocks of time, instead of a weekend a month which would be scheduling hassle? Something along the lines of one week per quarter? Or, two weeks every six months? Thanks.

 

[deleted126335]

"My specific concern about this is trying to make partner and then being deployed before, or soon after partnership."

I am not in the military. I think that to some extent it depends on the attitude of the leadership of the group that you eventually end up joining. In my local area during Desert Storm CRNAs from 2 different groups were called up. One group met their legal obligations. The other group exceeded their legal obligations and supplemented his military pay up to his salary to make him whole and sent it to his family while he served. BTW, the first group was a more lucrative practice than the second.

 

[pgg]

There's a military medicine forum here that might be of better use.

I'd be a little anxious about joining a small group as a reservist. There's a lot less slack there to buffer unpredictable absences.

If you PM me I can put you in touch with an anesthesiologist I know who left Navy AD for the reserves a couple years ago.

 

[Ready_User_1]

I am. I am currently in my 15th year (~8 AD and the rest in the Air National Guard). No bonuses for anesthesiologist right now but 90K for a flight surgeon. Would require ~6-8 weeks of training total.

Feel free to ask me anything via PM.

Edit: To clarify, I am not an anesthesiologist but a M3 filling a flight surgeon billet (it's an early commission program), with hopes to match into Anesthesia next year. If all goes well will maintain my flight surgeon status in the guard and Anesthesia on the civilian side.

 

[Chetamine]

Thanks for the replies. I will also post in the military med forum. I just wanted to check if there were any Reserve Anesthesiologists here first.

 

[epidural man]

Chetamine,

I left active duty with 15 years AD - now during the Reserves.

There are so many things to consider.

A pension is a wonderful thing. Make a guess of how much you would probably make monthly with your Reserve retirement - then there are calculators out there you could then figure out how much cash would be required to make that pension. But the difference is, in the case of cash - after you die - there is a huge pile of cash you can give to someone.

One thing that you might consider is if you do the reserves, you can also get a job at a VA or GS job - and buy your AD time with that system and it is as if you worked for them during those years. In your example, you will have 12 yrs AD, so if you got a job at the VA, you could pay money and start working and it would be like you had ALREADY worked 12 years. Work another 8 and you could get a VA retirement and if you stayed in the Reserves, you could also get a Reserver retirement. It's an amazing system allowing you to double-dip.

But let me tell you - the Reserves SUCKS. I cannot emphasis enough how horrible the Reserves is.

I could give story after story about the incredibly frustrating system that it is.

The bonus system takes MONTHS to get payed - way after they promised they would pay. That HPSP matching system you mentioned is EXTREMELY difficult to get anyone to actually do it - but all this is eventually done, but only after significant stress, emails, calls, frustration, etc. But that stress and frustration is with EVERYTHING you have to do in the Reserves. It is a ridiculously broke system.

But the people you work with in your detachment are wonderful.