Army Army Reserve Medical Corps

[theWUbear]

Hi all,

I'm an M2 at a civilian US MD school (with a lot of student debt) hopefully going into Emergency Medicine. I recently saw a flier for the Army Reserve Corps. It stated: "Military obligation is 38 days per year after training", for $30,000 salary, with possible qualification for loan repayment, which I understand would increase the number of years of my commitment.

My grandfather fought with the Allies in WWII, and generations before that my ancestors have a military history. I would be interested in being in the Army reserve during/after residency, for a few years as a young attending, if I understood all possible outcomes clearly and was able to make a decision based on having all the facts at hand. This means having the numbers on what % of EM physicians (or physicians in general) are deployed out of the country (something that is not a non-starter for me, but something I'd like to have an honest knowledge of the likelihood of). I'd like to know any other opinions people have of the program and anyone's opinions on whether what I believe I know about this program is correct or if I am misunderstanding anything. Thank you

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[Red Lobster Actual]

Hey dude! If your plan is to join up during or after residency you might wanna slow down and wait until when things aren't as crazy for you (you know...MS2 and Step 1) to start reading through this forum carefully and gather all the info you need prior to signing the dotted line. I'm sure the veterans can chime in and give you a quick summary but taking Uncle Sam's money is serious business and you would be doing yourself a huge disservice by not conducting your own research. I guarantee the answers are here in this forum you just gotta look for it!

Besides, once you become an EM attending you might not even need the military to pay off your loans...have you checked out White Coat Investor's website yet?

My grandfather fought with the Allies in WWII, and generations before that my ancestors have a military history.

This is not meant to trivialize the sacrifices your ancestors have made but the first thing that crossed my mind when I read that sentence...

 

[theWUbear]

haha - love the reference!

I suppose the money (loan repayment + stipend) is not my #1 reason for entering- as you said, when I become an attending finances will not be an issue. Just wanted to test the waters here; one specific question I have is whether or not recruiters do give fact sheets/statistics that show the numbers on deployment rate and other stats about people in the program

 

[DeadCactus]

When a thread about joining the military leads off with concerns about the probability of deployment, the vast majority of the people who have served check out of the conversation. The rest will pop in just to tell you to stay away...

 

[Red Lobster Actual]

Just want to piggy back on what Dr. DeadCactus said...

OP, basically if you are concerned about the specifics about deploying in the Reserves just assume the worst and that you will deploy and deploy often. And also assume it will happen at the most inopportune times, eg weddings, your children's birth, right before you make partner in a practice, etc. If you are ok with that...well...maybe keep on researching about joining up.

 

[theWUbear]

I came here to ask about hard statistics and it seems there are no statistics here, only platitudes. I will search elsewhere

 

[notdeadyet]

I came here to ask about hard statistics and it seems there are no statistics here, only platitudes. I will search elsewhere

Glad I didn't bother replying.


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[psychbender]

I came here to ask about hard statistics and it seems there are no statistics here, only platitudes. I will search elsewhere

There are no statistics, period. Your search is fruitless.

Even if there were statistics available right now covering the past few years, they would have absolutely no bearing on the time during your Reserve payback period. How the military deploys doctors had changed substantially over the past decade and a half, and will continue to change while you are in training. When I joined, a deployment almost immediately after training was expected. Right before I finished residency, my Consultant told my class that it was highly likely that all of us with three or four year commitments would not deploy, unless we really wanted to. Of course, if we invade another country, then ask bets are off, yet again.

 

[alpinism]

Just want to piggy back on what Dr. DeadCactus said...

OP, basically if you are concerned about the specifics about deploying in the Reserves just assume the worst and that you will deploy and deploy often. And also assume it will happen at the most inopportune times, eg weddings, your children's birth, right before you make partner in a practice, etc. If you are ok with that...well...maybe keep on researching about joining up.

Completely agree.

No one knows for certain what the deployment tempo will be like in 5-10yrs. The military is a black box. Uncertainty is part of the job.

Any statistics from vietnam, desert storm, iraqi freedom etc... would be useless.