Considering National Guard, should I tell them?

[mmikey]

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Hello!

So I am more than likely choosing the National Guard to help finance my medical education and to join because I want to. Should I somehow work this into my secondaries or interviews? I feel that it would be beneficial to mention how I get to serve civilian and military, but likewise could hurt me if the adcom member is a peace loving anti-military type. I'd appreciate anyone's two pennies.

 

[aspiringOSTEO]

1

 

[liufang898186]

Wow! I’ve never heard of this before and I think they’re awesome!

 

[tndoc12]

Go for it man! Im planning on joining the guard as well.

 

[DrHerc]

Joining the National Guard, Army or Air, shouldn't hurt at all....if it does then I'm hosed. In fact, many of the docs/flight surgeons we have in the guard are DOs (partly due to the higher cost of med school). If you decide to Go Guard, consider AIR!!

Blue sky & tail winds!

 

[Tarenthyl]

Keep in mind that in the long run, serving in the guard/army/whatever will not save you money. It will in the short term, though. Also, there is the psosibility that they will control what specialty you go into. That is the biggest reason I am steering clear. I didn't want to bust my ass for years to be told the army/guard needs ob/gyns, so I need to suck it up and be a ob/gyn....Plus, the residency choices are limited. For instance, if you want to do EM/IM the army/guard does not have this dual residency. There are other examples, but that is the one that comes to the top of my head.

So, in conclusion. Don't do it for the money. Only do it if you are truly interested in military life.

 

[tele turnin]

Keep in mind that in the long run, serving in the guard/army/whatever will not save you money. It will in the short term, though. Also, there is the psosibility that they will control what specialty you go into. That is the biggest reason I am steering clear. I didn't want to bust my ass for years to be told the army/guard needs ob/gyns, so I need to suck it up and be a ob/gyn....Plus, the residency choices are limited. For instance, if you want to do EM/IM the army/guard does not have this dual residency. There are other examples, but that is the one that comes to the top of my head.

So, in conclusion. Don't do it for the money. Only do it if you are truly interested in military life.

while what you say is mostly true for army, air force, and navy hpsp folks it is not true for the guard. in the guard you are a civilian soldier and complete the civilian residency of your choice. in no way does it hamper or decide what speciality you will pursue and practice. the biggest pitfall is being deployed and leaving your group for a while if even possible or leaving your own practice unattended. the guard has a much higher retention rate than the active duty branches if the military and most docs love it.

 

[aspiringOSTEO]

1

 

[mmikey]

Thank you for the insight everybody! I will definitely bring up my desire to serve in my secondary application and interview. The program of which I speak is the ASR: http://www.nationalguard.com/careers/medical-professional-officer/amedd-student-recruiter-asr It's a fantastic program from everything I have read. I've already completed my guard application, just need to take the ASVAB and get an acceptance to a DO school 🙂

 

[aspiringOSTEO]

1

 

[mmikey]

Ahh sounds terrible, I'll have to talk to my recruiter! Gah, I didn't want to do HPSP but I might have to look at it now!

Hey, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the ASR program is on hold right now and there is really no word on if or when it will ever be coming back. It was basically to good to be true, which is why it lasted only a few years. I think the people who first started in it should be finishing up residencies soon so it will probably depend on if they decide to re-enlist or not. You can still do the Guard with all the things that were mentioned previously, just not under the ASR. Even without the ASR program, the Guard still seems like a pretty sweet deal.

 

[Daedra22]

Ahh sounds terrible, I'll have to talk to my recruiter! Gah, I didn't want to do HPSP but I might have to look at it now!

The national guard and/or the air guard--in some states--still has medical student programs. They're just not as nifty as the 50k/year or whatever awesomeness the ASR had. If you're not interested in active, there are usually still benefits to going with the guard. Be sure to check out the military medicine forum on SDN, they have a lot of good information.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

A lot of doctors I know have been or are connected to the military. That said, I can't see how it would hurt your chances of admission. Even if one of the admissions members hadn't been in the military then likely one of his colleagues has been.