Hey guys I was wondering if there were any reservists here that would like to detail their experiences with being in the Army Reserves and attending medical school. I just graduated college from Rutgers University, and while I do plan on going to medical school, I also want to serve my country. I figured I can take about 1 or 2 years off and join the Army Reserves as an officer before applying to medical school. I think that the Army has a lot to offer when dealing with life experiences. I figure that this also would help on my med school application because they would see somebody who has real world leadership experience and is a mature responsible adult. Also I am not talking about the HPSP, while that is something I would like to consider in the future, right now I am talking about being a reservist before/during med school. So if there's any veterans out there or reservists that would like to share their experiences, I'm all ears!
Army Reserves while in Med School
- Thread starter JDing
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I know this article is from 2002, but I'm sure things are probably about the same, so here you go:
http://app1.unmc.edu/PublicAffairs/TodaySite/sitefiles/today_full.cfm?match=515
I think the trick is to make sure you're signed up in a fashion that would keep you from deploying until after you're through school. It would surely suck to get called up in the middle of it!
Here's a more recent thread from SDN about it: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=563605
http://app1.unmc.edu/PublicAffairs/TodaySite/sitefiles/today_full.cfm?match=515
I think the trick is to make sure you're signed up in a fashion that would keep you from deploying until after you're through school. It would surely suck to get called up in the middle of it!
Here's a more recent thread from SDN about it: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=563605
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Good job dayzie with the info! To the OP, be aware that usually a new commitment (ie you have never joined before) carries a six year enlistment for officer. It may be possible to get into a non deployable status, but it wouldn't be easy. I would suggest talking to the unit commander that you would be drilling with, and being honest with your plans about medical school. They should be able to tell you what options you may have, and would be a good counter opinion to the recruiter. There is also a military forum here on sdn, you might try asking there as well.
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No offense. But you are crazy and this is a horrible idea. I have a classmate who joined the reserves prior to matriculating in Med School. What happened? She got yanked out of Med School twice for two years total. Once to go to Iraq and once to Afghanistan.
I went to Medical School after completing my active duty obligation as an Army Infantry Officer, to include a year in Afghanistan. What happened to me? While completing my four year reserve commitment in the IRR as a medical student, I got served with Involuntary Mobilization orders a few days before final exams my second year. The Army could have given two craps about being a medical student. I was all teed up to be rebranched as a frigging Civil Affairs Officer (no offense to anyone who does that for a living) and sent to Iraq for a year, when I figured out that my deployment would have extended me for one year past my total service obligation (MSO), which was illegal. After pointing this out to the Army, they rescinded my orders. However, If it would have happened one year earlier, they wouldn't have given a damn.
The point is, your status as a Medical Student isn't going to protect you.
If you accept a commission as an officer, you are on the hook for 8 years (regardless what any recruiter tells you).
I admire that you want to serve, but I think your reasons are a little skewed. It's probably not going to get as you think it is going to go where you get "one to two years of leadership" under your belt and then scamper off to medical school.
The only way I would do what you want to do is if you did the HPSP (or converted your reserve obligation into the HPSP, which will probably obligate you for more time) where you are "protected" from deployment until after you finish your deployment.
Also, I realize that we are drawing down in Iraq-istan. I wouldn't allow that to influence my either. You never know what is going to happen next. When I enrolled in ROTC in 1997, I asked about the IRR and was told "don't worry about that. That's for World War III. No one ever gets called up on that". I can't name any of my friends who were on the IRR who weren't called up under Rumsfeld's reign of terror.
Sorry, I don't mean to come across as harsh, but I felt compelled to share my own anecdotes.
I enjoyed serving on Active Duty immensely, did all the "cool" Army Schools and got all the nice badges expected of an Infantry Officer, led an infantry platoon for 19 months (the best job in the world) and then a Recon Platoon for six months in Afghanistan and then was primary staff for the remainder of the tour and was always a top block OER. I only include that to demonstrate that I am not bitter towards the Army and had a good experience (and left on my own volition to go to Med School).
However, what you want to do might be incompatible with your larger goal. Hope this helps.
