from reserves to HPSP questions..

[brooklynMD]

So,
to get into the HPSP for the army you need to be a US citizen. In order to bump up status from green card holder to US citizen you can join army reserves and be given citizenship (correct me if i am wrong).

If this is the scenario. please help me figure out how it plays out:

Join reserves to get citizenship, did the combat training and 10 week training in specialty, came back to home city and work one weekend a month every month till graduation a year later.
If i get into medical school by spring, and i apply to HPSP, what are my chances of getting in? What happens to the reserves contract I have currently? As for residencies, i want to do a surgical residency. What happens in that case since it is for 5 years, not 4 years, and the HPSP requires you to serve 4 years only.

Please explain someone,
thanks!

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[USArmyHPSP]

It sounds like you have or are planning to enter the MAVNI program. If that is the case, you probably signed or will sign a contract that states something like after serving X amount of time in the Selected Reserves, you will be granted and expedited citizenship. If this is indeed the case, you are probably locked into the Selected Reserves until you serve out your time and will not be allowed into the HPSP until your current commitment is served out or your unit grants you an early discharge.

The service obligation for the residency and HPSP are currently served concurently. Simply put, if you owe four years for HPSP, and owe five years for residency, they you will serve five years of payback. Again, that is simply put, there are a whole bunch of variables that can add more time in uniform like internship and Fellowship.

Judging by your other posts and this one, you absolutely need to sit down with 1) someone in your chain of command (if you are MAVNI) and find out what your options are from their perspective as far as getting released from your current contract. 2) Sit with a recruiter and tell them everything you have going on. This means he needs to know your citizenship status, and your financial status. If you sit with a recruiter and he tells you that "all is well" feel free to PM me. The recruiter may not have enough experience/knowledge to point you in the right direction. I am not a recruiter and I have no vested interest in anyone getting into the HPSP.

 

[brooklynMD]

It sounds like you have or are planning to enter the MAVNI program. If that is the case, you probably signed or will sign a contract that states something like after serving X amount of time in the Selected Reserves, you will be granted and expedited citizenship. If this is indeed the case, you are probably locked into the Selected Reserves until you serve out your time and will not be allowed into the HPSP until your current commitment is served out or your unit grants you an early discharge.

The service obligation for the residency and HPSP are currently served concurently. Simply put, if you owe four years for HPSP, and owe five years for residency, they you will serve five years of payback. Again, that is simply put, there are a whole bunch of variables that can add more time in uniform like internship and Fellowship.

Judging by your other posts and this one, you absolutely need to sit down with 1) someone in your chain of command (if you are MAVNI) and find out what your options are from their perspective as far as getting released from your current contract. 2) Sit with a recruiter and tell them everything you have going on. This means he needs to know your citizenship status, and your financial status. If you sit with a recruiter and he tells you that "all is well" feel free to PM me. The recruiter may not have enough experience/knowledge to point you in the right direction. I am not a recruiter and I have no vested interest in anyone getting into the HPSP.

Hey, thanks for the reply- Scenario i wrote above is what a recruiter at the goarmy office told me, two actually. And they said mavni is only for persons who are not greencard holders and or citizens, so this is a different thing.
They both said that if i join reserves which i can, I'll get citizenship and serve as they told me and i wrote above, further recruiters said that once i get into medical school i apply for the hpsp and once accepted my contract with the reserves is terminated. And the hpsp contract starts which means that med school gets paid for and i serve lets say 4 years of xyz residency followed by 4 years of payback which technically totals 8 years of service at an army hospital anywhere in the US or abroad. One of them further stated that unless i have finished my residency I wont be placed at an army base abroad because I'm still in training and they don't place anyone out of the country who is still in PG medical training.
Which yeah, sounds a bit strange which is why i want as much information as possible and more from anyone who has been in the situation.

 

[USArmyHPSP]

I wish I had a nickel for every single time I’ve heard the phrase “but my recruiter said…” Your plan seems to have too many unpredictable variations that can bite you in the end. Do yourself a favor. Get a copy of that Reserve Contract, take it to an attorney and have him point out exactly where it says that once you are selected for HPSP, you maintain citizenship, and are now released from said contract.


Your entire future is based on the assumption of being selected for the HPSP. What happens if you aren’t selected? You are still bound to the terms of the Reserve Contract. What happens if your unit gets deployed? Will you have to leave school to go with the unit? More than likely. Can you handle the workload of medical school while spending every other weekend drilling instead of studying? How hard is it to spend two weeks away from school/third and fourth year rotations so that you can fulfill the Reserve Contract?


And BTW, the recruiter is right, while in a training status, you are not be “stationed” or “deployed”overseas.