Bonus pay as a resident

[bobbyseal]

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Besides base pay, BAH, and BAS what other bonus pay do you receive as a resident. I wanted to go through dfas and see some hard data on what I might be able to make as a military resident. Thanks.

 

[Homunculus]

Originally posted by bobbyseal
Besides base pay, BAH, and BAS what other bonus pay do you receive as a resident. I wanted to go through dfas and see some hard data on what I might be able to make as a military resident. Thanks.

you aslo get Variable Special Pay (VSP). as an intern you get an additional $100 a month. after that it increases to $416 until you are in over 6 years (thanks navy dive doc for the correction).

Incentive Special Pay, Board Certified Pay, and Multiyear Special Pay come later.

here's the 2004 pay table

http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/pay/2004paytable.pdf

 

[Navy Dive Doc]

The VSP is actually dependent on time in service, not rank. It is $100/month for interns, then $5000/year for less than 6 years of service ($416.66/month), then $1000/month for 6-8 years of service, then $11,500/year for a few years and it drifts down to around $8000/year. The reason it decreases is to encourage one to be board certified, which offsets the decrease in VSP as the board cert pay increases.

Other than VSP, no other bonuses during residency, which can be quite a sting if you get used to the ASP ($15,000/year) and other special pays (at one point I was getting Dive-$240/month, Submarine $355/month and Hazardous Duty for hyperbaric chamber work $150/month). Still, the pay is better as a military resident than as a civilian. Hope this helps.

DD

 

[bobbyseal]

Dive Doc,

What's ASP? Is this a special pay for GMO's?

 

[Navy Dive Doc]

ASP is "Additional Special Pay". It is the $15,000 yearly bonus to all medical officers who are not in internship or their first residency. That includes GMOs but also all residency trained Physicians.
ISP is "Incentive Special Pay", which is the yearly bonus that varies depending on specialty ($13k-42K). You get these concurrently, though ASP is usually July 1st while ISP is October 1st (Or later, like this past year when the budget wasn't done).
VSP is the monthly pay outlined above.
Board certified pay is self explanatory
There was also the CSRB, or critical skills retention bonus, last year. This was $50,000 for a one year contract to anyone without obligated service in certain specialties (Anesthesia,Radiology, some others). The Navy is desperate to hang on to these specialists.
Finally, there is MSP or multiyear special pay. Sign a contract for 2-4 years and recieve an annual bonus of $12-14k as well as the others. This is only after you've done your obligated payback time.
These add up to a decent chunk of money, but remember, if you stay your retirement is only based on your BASE pay, not 50% of all of your pays. Hope this helps
DD

 

[r90t]

It also depends on time in service. I have a bunch of years in the navy before med school and am grossing about 100K right now as a GMO. When I go back to residency in 05, I lose my 15k bonus, but housing will go up about a grand for LA and they have COLA for within the US, which is another $250 or so.

Oh, in military residencies (navy), you are not allowed to moonlight. As staff, you still need to get permission from the CO.

 

[Jet915]

Ok, all these bonus payments are kinda confusing. Can anyone tell me in general how much gmo's and residents make in the military?

Jetson

 

[R-Me-Doc]

If you have no prior military experience and come in at the rank of captain, your total annual pay during residency (which includes base salary, bonuses and housing and other allowances) will probably start around 45K and go up to about 60K by the time you finish. The biggest variables are the length of your residency (since you have some annual increase based on time in service) and your geographic location (since housing allowance varies significantly from place to place). Obviously, this compares pretty well to most civilian residencies.

I'm not sure what GMO's get (never having been one) but I imagine it's in the 70-80K range. I'm sure there are other people on this site who can give you more detail on that.

 

[Mirror Form]

I think the calculation has been made on this board before at some point, but I still have the numbers. So here are the bottom-line numbers for the Army, assuming no prior service and based on two different location with much different living costs and allowances:

The first number is for DC, and the second is for Texas:
intern year: 57k 49k
pgy2: 61k 53k
pgy3: 65k 57.5k
pgy4: 69k 60.7k

avg over 4 yrs:
DC: 63k/yr
Texas: 55k/yr


These numbers don't take into account stuff like tax breaks and whatnot though.

 

[Jet915]

Would it be safe to say that those numbers are the same for the other military branches excluding location?

Jetson

 

[bobbyseal]

Yes,

All the pay scales are DOD, not service based.

 

[Teufelhunden]

The VSP is actually dependent on time in service, not rank. It is $100/month for interns, then $5000/year for less than 6 years of service ($416.66/month), then $1000/month for 6-8 years of service.

For the purposes of calculating VSP, does prior service count, or is that service as a medical officer? I have six years of prior service (USMC). What VSP bracket does that put me in. Thanks a bunch, you're an invaluble source of info for us aspiring Navy docs.

 

[Navy Dive Doc]

VSP is based on time in service, regardless of community. A good deal for you early on, as it peaks at $1000/month for over 6 years. However, it starts to decline after a certain time (10 years I think), as the Navy feels you should be board certified at that point and the board certified pay offsets the declining VSP. Tougher for priors who can't be BC by then, but you're getting more money than me earlier on so no complaining on the backend, please 🙂

This also applies for things like Submarine pay, which is $355/month early but $595/month over 6 years, so those DMOs with prior service at Sub squadrons were loving it.

 

[Navy Dive Doc]

Hey Hound, have you gotten over the FP bug yet or are you still headed that way? I'd recommend that ANYONE considering FP needs to do a GMO tour to be sure. I've met very few GMO/DMO/FS types who returned for FP.

 

[r90t]

NDD,
I think it is based as number of years as a physician and not for number of years in service. A bunch of us checked this out last year and am getting the normal amount ($400+)even though I am at the 12 year point. I wish it were based on number of years in service, as I would get a tone of back pay!

When do you check into Portsmouth? Say Hi to Brendon for me. He is a very serious MSC in rads.

 

[r90t]

http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/fmr/07a/07A05.pdf

This is in the military pay manual which describes "credible service" for your additional $$$.

 

[Teufelhunden]

Hey Hound, have you gotten over the FP bug yet or are you still headed that way? I'd recommend that ANYONE considering FP needs to do a GMO tour to be sure. I've met very few GMO/DMO/FS types who returned for FP.

Don't laugh, but now I'm leaning towards OBGYN (with FP and ER tied for second). I just did a 6-week OBGYN rotation at Portsmouth, and loved it. It appears that for the past few years, all the OB interns have went "straight through" their training (the ones that didn't acutally requested GMO tours).

So, still being essentially undecided....and THINKING that I'd probably really enjoy an operational GMO tour (DMO >> FS)...I can't decide between doing a Trad or FP internship and going the DMO route...or applying for the OB internship and probably going straight through.

The clock really seems to be ticking. I can't believe I have to make this decision this early (I feel like I just GOT here!)

Anyway, my wife is sick of hearing me rant about my indecisiveness, so I figured I'd start whining about his on SDN (I know a lot of people are in the same boat). The whole "delay of training" thing is not really an issue for me anymore. Being that I'm probably staying Navy 'till retirement...the break in training doesn't really affect me so much (as my pay won't take nearly as huge of a cut compared to getting out and doing a civ residency).

Speaking of which....you are looking at a pretty big pay cut here...losing GMO pay and all those specialty pays. I guess there's no way around it, huh? (I've always my imagined my compensation steadily increasing over my career). I guess making LCDR will eventually offset that. You should pick that up while still a resident, right? BTW...someone told me that the average time from LT to LCDR is 6 years. Is that accurate?

Thanks again, DiveDoc...I owe you a couple beers if we ever cross paths.

 

[r90t]

T.
We had only 2 of 6 ob residents match straight through last year (2002-2003) at NMCSD. 1 USU and one HPSP. Don't know what the numbers are this year, but don't bet 100% on going straight through.

 

[Spang]

T.
We had only 2 of 6 ob residents match straight through last year (2002-2003) at NMCSD. 1 USU and one HPSP. Don't know what the numbers are this year, but don't bet 100% on going straight through.

8 of 13 interns went straight through OB/GYN in this years JSGMESB.
(Navy, that is.)

Spang

 

[Navy Dive Doc]

Don't laugh, but now I'm leaning towards OBGYN (with FP and ER tied for second). I just did a 6-week OBGYN rotation at Portsmouth, and loved it. It appears that for the past few years, all the OB interns have went "straight through" their training (the ones that didn't acutally requested GMO tours).

My year, all who wanted to went straight through in OB/GYN, the one exception was someone who requested a USMC GMO tour, and the dept was actually angry that he wasn't staying. Fleet folks rarely return for OB, so your chances are good but not perfect. As a prior service type, you'd have an advantage and likely land a spot.

So, still being essentially undecided....and THINKING that I'd probably really enjoy an operational GMO tour (DMO >> FS)...I can't decide between doing a Trad or FP internship and going the DMO route...or applying for the OB internship and probably going straight through.

Do OB/GYN and be a DMO. A friend in dive school did that, it's well rounded enough that it works fine. The divers will have a field day with that info and you'll take a ration of sh**, but then you'd have your first year done. If you changed your mind, the OB internship will count as a base year for anything a transitional will, and I've known several OB to FP switches with no repeat of intern time. SO do OB if that's your interest, it'll work.

The clock really seems to be ticking. I can't believe I have to make this decision this early (I feel like I just GOT here!)

Best reason to do the DMO time, you get to look back and really be sure. Best move I ever made.

Anyway, my wife is sick of hearing me rant about my indecisiveness, so I figured I'd start whining about his on SDN (I know a lot of people are in the same boat). The whole "delay of training" thing is not really an issue for me anymore. Being that I'm probably staying Navy 'till retirement...the break in training doesn't really affect me so much (as my pay won't take nearly as huge of a cut compared to getting out and doing a civ residency).

All the more reason to do something unique for a few years

Speaking of which....you are looking at a pretty big pay cut here...losing GMO pay and all those specialty pays. I guess there's no way around it, huh? (I've always my imagined my compensation steadily increasing over my career). I guess making LCDR will eventually offset that. You should pick that up while still a resident, right? BTW...someone told me that the average time from LT to LCDR is 6 years. Is that accurate?

$18,000/ year pay cut to go back to residency, but it would have been $40k to go civilian. Usually put on O-6 at 6 years, there's also a time inservice bump at 6 years which will be nice. With both of those, I'll be over $80k/year for my last 2 years of residency, so that's pretty good.

Thanks again, DiveDoc...I owe you a couple beers if we ever cross paths.

Always happy to share a few beers. Good luck,
NDD

 

[doubletea]

Hey Hound, have you gotten over the FP bug yet or are you still headed that way? I'd recommend that ANYONE considering FP needs to do a GMO tour to be sure. I've met very few GMO/DMO/FS types who returned for FP.

Awe man, are you serious? I'm new around here, 3rd yr. med student, in my FP rotation now. I'm really enjoying it, and it has been in my top 3 choices for awhile. I'm Navy HPSP, is there something I should know about the FP program?

 

[r90t]

Awe man, are you serious? I'm new around here, 3rd yr. med student, in my FP rotation now. I'm really enjoying it, and it has been in my top 3 choices for awhile. I'm Navy HPSP, is there something I should know about the FP program?

 

[doubletea]

sorry, i didn't clarify, still doing rotations in the civilian world. 🙂 NHB? Bremerton? I got a flyer in my mail from the FP program in Pensacola. Is it really one of the best?

 

[r90t]

I did a fourth year rotation at Camp Pendleton and was surprised at how satisfied the residents were, and how involved the staff was with the trainees. Pt volume is decent, as you are the providers for 1st mar div, dependents and a whole bunch of USMC retirees.
Bremerton, just got here, smaller hospital and program, good staff. I'll have more of an opinion in a couple of weeks.
Pensacola-no experience there, no comment.