Army Army HPSP wife with Army Officer husband

[fernweh2438]

Hello! Does anyone have any experience with dual military couples where one is a doctor? I will be starting med school next fall and plan to do the army HPSP as my husband is an active duty army officer with no plan of getting out anytime soon. I have heard that dual military couples are only deployed if they deploy together, but I have a hard time believing that. I have also heard they try to assign you to the same base. Does anyone know if this means they would try to find him a job wherever I do my residency as well or not until my pay back years?

Any information about differences in dynamics for army doctors who also have an army spouse would be greatly appreciated.

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[fernweh2438]

This part is 100% false.

hence the " I have a hard time believing that"

Still curious to hear about anyone's experiences though

 

[j4pac]

As a guy who has struggled with colocation issues over the past 7 years, I wish you good luck.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Seen lots of dual mil couples where one is line and one is medical. Its tougher than when both are medical. Your husband's career track is probably pretty inflexible if he wants to remain due course and you are very limited in where you can go. It may work fine but there are very likely to be long separations. It isn't any better if you stayed civilian, other than the fact that you can quit working.

 

[Ziehl-Neelsen]

I have heard that dual military couples are only deployed if they deploy together,

HaHaHaHaHaHa! Who did you hear that from? Jayson Blair? You will get orders to deploy separately. You may get orders to deploy concurrently. Develop a good family care plan.

I have also heard they try to assign you to the same base. Does anyone know if this means they would try to find him a job wherever I do my residency as well or not until my pay back years?

They will try to co-locate you while you are a resident. As Gastrapathy alluded to, your husband's AOC and how flexible he is about his career will determine if you can be co-located during residency. As a staff physician, the flexibility of your specialty will be paramount to you being able to be moved to wherever he is moved.

Figure out what specialty you want to do early and which Army MTF's offer that residency. Then figure out which residency location would have an appropriate position in your husband's AOC, so he can grease the skids in preparation for landing that position while you are a resident.

If staying together is very important to you as a couple there a things you can do to make it more likely. Don't choose a super competitive, hyper-specialized medical specialty (FP and OB/GYN is needed everywhere and you will be able to follow your husband to virtually any post--radiation oncology not so much). Be the best applicant you can be (if your husband has a staff position lined up at Schofield Barracks in the 25ID you don't want to be a below-average applicant applying for peds at Tripler). Learn to love America's @ssholes and armpits (Your HRC managers will squeal with delight and pencil you in immediately when you tell them you'd like to go to Fort Hood instead of saying "I'll get back to you" when you tell him you'd like to go to Fort Carson or Fort Lewis).

 

[j4pac]

Seen lots of dual mil couples where one is line and one is medical. Its tougher than when both are medical. Your husband's career track is probably pretty inflexible if he wants to remain due course and you are very limited in where you can go. It may work fine but there are very likely to be long separations. It isn't any better if you stayed civilian, other than the fact that you can quit working.

This...so much this. My wife got into medical school after me. She considered HPSP...but very wisely decided to stay civilian. Has it been difficult at times? Yes. Would it have been better if she went military...ABSOLUTELY, NOT IN A MILLION YEARS, NOT.

 

[TheEarDoc]

Hello! Does anyone have any experience with dual military couples where one is a doctor? I will be starting med school next fall and plan to do the army HPSP as my husband is an active duty army officer with no plan of getting out anytime soon. I have heard that dual military couples are only deployed if they deploy together, but I have a hard time believing that. I have also heard they try to assign you to the same base. Does anyone know if this means they would try to find him a job wherever I do my residency as well or not until my pay back years?

Any information about differences in dynamics for army doctors who also have an army spouse would be greatly appreciated.

I only have experiences of line officers and medical officers being married. They have both deployed separately. They are both stationed at the same base currently, but that was because she had an opening for her specialty and he was in a pretty large MOS that is at most military facilities, otherwise they could have been changed to a different duty station apart from one another.

So basically you may be apart a lot.

 

[jabreal00]

Hello! Does anyone have any experience with dual military couples where one is a doctor? I will be starting med school next fall and plan to do the army HPSP as my husband is an active duty army officer with no plan of getting out anytime soon. I have heard that dual military couples are only deployed if they deploy together, but I have a hard time believing that. I have also heard they try to assign you to the same base. Does anyone know if this means they would try to find him a job wherever I do my residency as well or not until my pay back years?

Any information about differences in dynamics for army doctors who also have an army spouse would be greatly appreciated.

Both being in the Army will be somewhat helpful. Remember, for line officers their job assignments especially in command positions are very important to to their advancement in rank. There likely will be spots where both of you can be colocated or homestead (stay for multiple tours). However this will adversely affect his career as a line officer. Army line officers have often have 12 month PCS assignments to places like Kuwait, Sinai or some other places in Africa or the middle east. My wife and I were both military physicians. We were geographically separated one time in our payback (she was in for 7 years). I have a physician buddy who's wife was a line officer. They were geographically separated on two occasions.

Honestly, if you are planning on serving your obligation and getting out afterwards during a 6-10 year period (including residency) expect to be geographically separated at least 1-2 times.

 

[j4pac]

Something to consider in the situation: children.

If you don't have any now...think about the possibility. The duel military couples I knew who either didn't have children or had fantastic support did well. Those who had children without the support struggled.

 

[fernweh2438]

Thanks, everyone, for the information.

I am interested in primary care, so hopefully that makes duty stations more flexible. We also don't have kids but likely will during my pack back years, if possible.

 

[Pod Blackberry]

My fiancé and I are considering Navy. He is in dental school and I’m headed to podiatry school. We would want to deploy together but are open to go anywhere. What are the chances of a 2 military Dr couple staying together? Dentist and Podiatrist.

 

[HighPriest]

It's always going to be difficult to know for sure. There is no certainty. However, consultants generally do try to put couples at the same duty station. I had a co-resident who was married to someone in DENTAC, and they have now been to three duty stations together. I have known couples that had to separate. it can be hard to predict. The major limiting factor in your case would be that there are dentists at far more MTFs than there are podiatrists. So he has a lot more places he can go than you do. That being said, what I usually saw was that this saved the dentist or family medicine guy from having to go to BFE, because the specialist spouse could only go to a larger MEDCEN. But, as I mentioned, no way to know for sure.

Deploying together is a totally different issue. That will be very difficult to swing.