Whoa, tap the brakes a bit Mike.
I enjoy being a military pathologist and the benefits mentioned above are certainly real, but like all things in life, there is another side to the coin.
The Army and Navy have recently begun deploying pathologists with internships as general medical officers (read clinician PCP) to Iraq and Afghanistan. Pathologists without internships are being deployed as administrative medical officers overseeing multiple units as well. Most of the pathologists I know are none to pleased that they won't be seeing glass for a year in all cases, and in some cases are going to be serving as PCPs having not done a physical exam in 5 plus years.
The peripatetic life of a military pathologist is something else that must be borne. It would take more fingers than I possess to count the residents I knew whose spouses' careers have been derailed by the constant moving. One former resident thought that his wife's career was safe because his wife could work anywhere in the country via computer. Guess where the Navy sent him? Yup, Okinawa, the one place where she couldn't continue with the company. Suffice it to say, the military cares little about one's geographic constraints.
Furthermore, military GME applicants have no guarantees about even being able to train in one's residency of choice. The branches of the military have need of a specific number of pathologists, and when that number is met, well the rest can do internship and serve as general medical officers or train in chronically undermanned specialties like FP and IM.
I'm not trying to scare away the future excellent pathologists of the military. I think our training programs are excellent, and I enjoy serving (most of the time). But those considering serving in the military must understand that when your desires conflict with those of the military, the military will win--in all circumstances. For some, the desire to serve will allow those other desires to be placed in abeyance, for others this is not the case. Know thyself.
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