Direct Commission after graduation

[barca13]

Hello y'all,

I am currently in the process of applying for a commission after dental school. I wanted to ask the general med/dent community if there is anyone who can message me since I have some questions!

Otherwise, my main concerns are clearing up what the actual contract entails and more specifically:

How the accession bonus and loan repayment work.
- Can I have both concurrently?
- Do I still only owe 4 years of active duty or does the loan repayment add years? (if so, are they concurrent years).
- Is the accession bonus paid all at once or in installments?

I also have other questions, but hopefully some of y'all from the community will reach out!

Thanks

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[TheEarDoc]

Hello y'all,

I am currently in the process of applying for a commission after dental school. I wanted to ask the general med/dent community if there is anyone who can message me since I have some questions!

Otherwise, my main concerns are clearing up what the actual contract entails and more specifically:

How the accession bonus and loan repayment work.
- Can I have both concurrently?
- Do I still only owe 4 years of active duty or does the loan repayment add years? (if so, are they concurrent years).
- Is the accession bonus paid all at once or in installments?

I also have other questions, but hopefully some of y'all from the community will reach out!

Thanks

Are you applying for direct commission as full time military or reserves/guard?

If reserves/guard then you would usually sign for 8 years in the initial contract (6 years actively drilling, 2 years in IRR (not drilling)).

You would choose the order of your incentives. So you could do say your student loan repayment in the first 3 years of your contract, then the last 3 years you would get your ascension bonus which is broken up over 3 different years. My advice would be take the student loan repayment first because compounding interest is insane and you will make less money your first few years out of school and thus lower taxes and the student loan repayment is taxed first (considered income) and then after taxes are removed the remainder goes to the lender directly.

Your bonuses are also taxable income.

 

[barca13]

Are you applying for direct commission as full time military or reserves/guard?

If reserves/guard then you would usually sign for 8 years in the initial contract (6 years actively drilling, 2 years in IRR (not drilling)).

You would choose the order of your incentives. So you could do say your student loan repayment in the first 3 years of your contract, then the last 3 years you would get your ascension bonus which is broken up over 3 different years. My advice would be take the student loan repayment first because compounding interest is insane and you will make less money your first few years out of school and thus lower taxes and the student loan repayment is taxed first (considered income) and then after taxes are removed the remainder goes to the lender directly.

Your bonuses are also taxable income.

Applied for active duty! For that, would it be worked into the 4 "active" years instead or would I have to do a 6 active years?

Thanks again!

 

[TheEarDoc]

Applied for active duty! For that, would it be worked into the 4 "active" years instead or would I have to do a 6 active years?

Thanks again!

I am sure others will chime in, but I believes officers sign for 4 years active duty and 2 years inactive ready reserves as the shortest contract you can sign.