Army reserves and fellowship

[kelly1289]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi all,
I wa hoping someone could give me a little insight into this. I am currently a PGY 3 surgery resident. Joined the Reserves prior to starting residency, hoping to serve my country and get a little extra money without a lot of effort frankly. Now that we are embroiled in a war with potentially no end, I have resigned myself to spending time outside of the country at the end of my residency. I do have a couple of questions though...

1. If I want to do a fellowship, can I defer being called up immediately after my residency is over. Ideally, I would like to start paying back my obligation, but not risk being sent out.

2. Does anyone know if they are sending women surgeons to the middle east or if we are covering in the military facilities for those who are sent abroad? IS there any rhyme or reason to the system? HAs anyone ended up at such a medical facility and for how long?

3. ANd lastly, I want to know if anyone has heard of the 90 days "boots on the ground" policy. Where if you are sent to Middle East you are there only for 90 days (excluding any time for processing) and that you can only be sent once every two years. IS this true? I've heard of non-physician Reservists having extended tours and am wondering, hoping that physicians are somehow exempt. But I have learned the hard way that the Army is not always forthcoming with the truth, so I am asking if any of you have experience in this matter.

ANd I guess, one last comment as I end this , but does anyone else find it kind of disturbing that the Army considers one fully trained at the end of residency. Well trained for sure, but the thought of going from my residency directly into combat medicine freaks me out.

Thanks for reading this long post!!

Kelly

 

[secretwave101]

Been considering the Army Reserves for over a year, working with recruiters all along the way. Take these answers as dictation from a recruiter, not from 1st hand knowledge (meaning...you never know).

1. You need to request permission to do a fellowship, unlike active duty coming out of residency however, the request is usually granted. You'll probably need to justify why your fellowship will help you be a better surgeon for the Army, but that's pretty easy to do. You will add to your obligation during those fellowship years...you won't be able to start your payback during that time, as I understand.

2. You have a couple of call-up options, depending on the unit you attach yourself to. It isn't likely that you'll be deployed immediately upon entering the reserves. I'm in FP, however, so this may be different for you as a surgeon because they REALLY need you guys and only SORTA REALLY NEED us. In general, though, they give you some forewarning (sometimes up to a year), and there are times when you can volunteer for specific call-up placements.

3. The 90-days thing was instituted because docs ran screaming from the reserves after Desert Storm I. The extended call-up destroyed their practices. The new policy is truly being respected - I spoke with a doc and they kept him deployed to the 90th day exactly. However, if you signed up 5 years ago, the 90-day thing may not be in your contract, so you will probably want to check to make sure the policy applies to you. It should, but you never know.

Again, all heresay, but that's what I've been told through quite a bit of "research" (not just from recruiters, but primarily).

 

[vikingsfan]

I was wondering what peoples thoughts (from the original posters AND anyone else's experiences) with the topic below...Particullarly

1) Difficulty doing fellowship while in reserves/national guard?

2) Is the 90 day "boots on ground" and maximum every 2 years the true AND "excepted" policy for deployments of reserve\national guard medical corps (not nurse/PA/MSC) officer.

Thanks

 

[notdeadyet]

1) Difficulty doing fellowship while in reserves/national guard?

You'll find that the difficulty of doing a fellowship in the Guard is going to depend on your unit and your fellowship. That said, if you're open to different kinds of duties to serve out your obligation, they're usually willing to get creative to accommodate your schedule.

2) Is the 90 day "boots on ground" and maximum every 2 years the true AND "excepted" policy for deployments of reserve\national guard medical corps (not nurse/PA/MSC) officer.

The 90 days boots-on-ground is policy (though better to think of it as 120 days away-from-day-job, given pre-/post-deployment obligations). That can change with the sweep of a pen, but I don't think its likely. That policy made it through a pretty bad deployment tempo.

 

[DeadCactus]

Unless I'm mistaken, I think it's worth noting that you don't need permission to enter a fellowship as a Guardsman or Reservist. Getting permission is more about making sure you're not suddenly deployed in the middle of your fellowship.

One of the major benefits of the Guard/Reserve is that there is actually a relative balance of power between your professional goals and the needs of the military. You're not asking for permission to do things in your civilian and professional life: you're coordinating your obligations to minimize the interference between the two.

Main advice is probably to start the conversation with them early and be willing to be flexible...

"However, if you signed up 5 years ago, the 90-day thing may not be in your contract, so you will probably want to check to make sure the policy applies to you. It should, but you never know."

The 90-day policy is not in anyone's contract. This is a big misconception about military contracts; there is actually very little written in anyone's contract. The 90 day boots on ground thing is driven by policy that can be changed for everyone overnight. It's unlikely that will happen though. The military learned the hard way that many physicians will take the dishonorable discharge over seeing their practice destroyed.