Baghdad ER

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Bostonguy19

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I just saw this special the other day and I was left with an overwhelming feeling of respect and awe for the service these men and women put forth for our country. I am an M1 who is looking to go into EM and I was wondering if you guys knew if there were opportunities for EM physicians to go over and serve in military hospitals as contractors and not necessarily sign up for 3-5 years? Anyways, just thought I would float the question out there and if you haven't seen this documentary, I would highly recommend it. Thanks in advance.

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Whatever you do.....don't enlist.

Respectfully yours,
Senior Airman D.K. Murphy, USAF (now seperated)
 
I was referring to going into the military as a doc.

Granted, I owe my current job to my enlisting, but the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. Ask most of the docs in the military medicine forum. The military treats their docs and their enlisted medical personnel like ****, the Air Force (who runs Balad last time I checked) in particular.

Although, I will admit when I was attached to an Army unit I was treated much better by the officers and enlisted personnel than I ever was in the AF. I think it was a combination that the Army is a little less concerned with image (where as the Air Force doesn't really care if they are successful, so long as they look good doing it) and also the fact that I was considered an NCO by the Army.
 
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Why bother telling him not to enlist? He is an MS1. Unless he quits school, and joins.

Enlisting was probably the best thing I ever did. The Army College fund helped me finish up pre-reqs and I lost 35 lbs after basic training (and kept it off). In short, it wasn't too bad.

4400 (former US ARMY NCO)
2LT, US ARMY RESERVES

Can you not join as a student once you've already started medical school or do you have to wait until after you have graduated?
 
I was about to say, after medical school we can't enlist. We can be commissioned though...
 
It is great that you want to serve our troops. However, I think it's just military docs over there. I didn't meet any physician contractors while I served in Iraq.

If you don't want to be active-duty military, consider the Army Reserve. Join during your EM residency and they'll pay you during residency through the STRAP program (aptly named BTW). I joined in 1997 while in my FM program.

I've seen and done some amazing stuff in the Army Reserve and I enjoy being in it. However, spend some time in the military forum before you jump into anything. The military is not for everyone and it is not anything like what you see on TV.
 
I'm likely going guard myself. Not quite the reserve, but I have a strong family history with the guard.
 
If truly intereted in military medicine, talk to someone who was there in personal. The military med forum is infected with a lot of bitter old docs with an ax to grind about the gov't bureaucracy, hated saluting nurses, or couldn't make sergeant.

I worked with one of the surgeons from the show, and he is all that is portrayed. He volunteered to go back to Afghan while serving out his commitment.

I like the soldiers I have served with, but Lee Burnett is right to advize that military life is definately not for everyone. Be sure to know what you are getting into. I do, but I was enlisted before I went into medicine and eating dirt is fun to me.
 
The military med forum is infected with a lot of bitter old docs with an ax to grind about the gov't bureaucracy, hated saluting nurses, or couldn't make sergeant.

Yeah, it would be hard for a doc to make sergeant. :laugh: (BTW, if that was a stab at me because I was enlisted, keep in mind I wasn't in the AF long enough to test for Staff Sergeant).

If you have a majority of docs who are miserable, then perhaps there is a very valid reason for that.
 
The Guard also offer STRAP. I think the current monthly stipend is about $1300 and will go up again in July. Good luck . If you want to do it, just do it, and don't listen to the naysayers.

4400
2LT US Army Reserves

It's not the naysayers. It is the logistics of how much of the money they say is for my loans actually gets paid to the government in taxes. I feel a certain duty to go help, mostly because of the family history. I mean, my dad is the recruiter for the state, so it's not like I don't get the sell every time I talk to him.
 
It's not the naysayers. It is the logistics of how much of the money they say is for my loans actually gets paid to the government in taxes. I feel a certain duty to go help, mostly because of the family history. I mean, my dad is the recruiter for the state, so it's not like I don't get the sell every time I talk to him.


Looks like you made up your mind. Fine, keep whining about your loans and sense of familial obligation to serve.
 
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AFSCs in the Air Force ;) I believe they are called rates in the Navy.
 
That's the only Army officer MOS in the infantry branch. Many more MOS's in other branches.

One of my buddies in med school that was Army reserve (E-5) told me that the 11-A was the only officer MOS!

Emergency physician is 62-A - the only other 62 is the "field surgeon" - 62-B. The 62's are "Medical Corps Officers" - the 60's and 61's are "Medical Department Branches" - so Physiatrists (61-P) and Child Psychiatrists (60-U) - and even the Clinical Pharmacologist (61-E) are branches, and we're just "medical corps", with the GMO's. Oh well.

Thanks for the motivation to look this stuff up!
 
Thanks for all the interesting info. I guess I have some time to figure it out and who knows what the situation will be in six years or so. Anyways, I appreciate all the replies.
 
I think this guy should have been declined from enlisting. He had to have had some sort of psychological issue. No one in their right mind would turn down a job that would allow them to do more for their country only to do less. He would seriously have been better off serving as an EP. 18-D's do not do surgery, or any other form of non Echelon -I care. As an EP he would have been entirely more valuable. It does not take anything close to a physician to do the 18-D job, but it does take someone with dedication and motivation.

As for the medicine in the service DK and Ninja, the medical side of all 3 services that actively utilize medical services professionals, is the most laxed portion of the military. It is entirely up to the individual medic, nurse, technician, and physician as to what they get from the military. And FYI, undoubtedly the BEST treated medical people are the Air Force medical teams. They have the best facilities, are furthest from danger, and routinely have hot meals and television. But I can see where NCO status in the Chair Force would not be ideal, as even the brass there don't get much special treatment until the LTC rank. Air Force is too much UNLIKE a real military experience that if you really want to feel like you are making a difference as a physician, I would recommend Navy 1st, Army close 2nd.
 
I like dirt and green canvas -- I must be a low-class psychopath and barely able to read.
 
I like dirt and green canvas -- I must be a low-class psychopath and barely able to read.

You left out how that canvas smells. Something about diesel oil makes me get all hot and bothered. Or something like that.
 
I hate the smell of diesel, but I don't mind canvas -- I can't explain.
A friend of mine in armor said he has a hard time getting up on a cold morning without coffee and standing in the exhaust blast of an M1 trying to get warm. To the armor guys I was just a "crunchy".
 
Yeah, I still reminisce about how I would have been working on M109A6 when I tried to enlist in high school. I guess it all worked out for the better, as I was disqualified for hardware in my knee, and then ended up getting to graduate college and go to medical school (which I would have done anyway).

Something about those big guns. My dad wouldn't let me sign up under the Colt Team MOS, because he thought I would be more likely to get dead.
 
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