GMO and out advice - not straightforward

[throwaway1111]

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Hello all,

Firstly thank you for taking the time to be active and reply, the information on this form has been extremely helpful.


I will have been in GMO land for 4 years by the spring of ‘27 following incomplete training in a competitive field (no red flags). I’m prior service with many related injuries currently on a permanent profile, I have very high board scores and good letters. I’d like to make sure my current plan makes sense.

I’d like to aim for anesthesia. I’d be in my late 30s with zero debt by the time I would begin - ideally July ‘27 My understanding is that my adso will be complete when my 4 years of GMO time are done. My plan was to drop a med board late fall/winter of ‘25. Ideally, I can get my medical retirement and ride off to into the CIV DIV sunset. Alternative would be to let hrc know that I’d be resigning following completion of adso, this would be sent ~6 months prior to the date.

I’d appreciate any feedback and advice y’all have.

- a barely literate crayon eater

 

[SirGecko]

Drop a med board? Very confused by that train of thought. That’s not how med boards are supposed to work. Either you need to be med boarded or you don’t. It’s not something you wait around till it is convenient for you and then make a decision.

As for the rest, if you are competitive for the residency you should be fine. Just make sure you look into the logistics of the match and separation early.

 

[throwaway1111]

Drop a med board? Very confused by that train of thought. That’s not how med boards are supposed to work. Either you need to be med boarded or you don’t. It’s not something you wait around till it is convenient for you and then make a decision.

As for the rest, if you are competitive for the residency you should be fine. Just make sure you look into the logistics of the match and separation early.

Thank you for your reply.

For clarification: It is not uncommon for SMs from unconventional units to carry on through the mid/latter stages of their careers with med boardable injuries, hit 20, and then have their pcm’s begin the process. I was writing using that verbage. The current rough estimate I’ve received from colleagues who have reviewed my chart is 50-60% DoD, 90-100% VA. I would receive CRSP - this is as a recent O4 promote soon to be at 15 years. My question regarding the med board was to gain perspective on whether it was worth it to risk the variable timeline given my desired start date of July 2027.

 

[DrMetal]

My plan was to drop a med board late fall/winter of ‘25.

And if the med board process is expeditious, and you end up separating sooner than July '27, would you care? If the med board process is slow and inefficient (much more likely), and you separated later than July '27, would you care? (you certainly would if have a residency spot)

Alternative would be to let hrc know that I’d be resigning following completion of adso, this would be sent ~6 months prior to the date.

This is the better option. You have more control. Take your 100% VA rating afterwards

Drop a med board? Very confused by that train of thought. That’s not how med boards are supposed to work. Either you need to be med boarded or you don’t. It’s not something you wait around till it is convenient for you and then make a decision.

Meh. Its 2025. Everybody does WTF they want. In an ideal world, the medboard process should take no longer than 60 days. People could easily be out of uniform (and out of a DoD paycheck) that fast. It would discourage such shenanigans as this post. But we insist on prolonging it to a 2-3 year process.

 

[militaryPHYS]

If you have medboard conditions that prevent your ability to serve on active duty you should be on LIMDU and getting your medboard started now. If not, serve your time and be compensated with VA disability when you separate/retire. That’s how the system is supposed to work. Now, we all know it is used/manipulated however people and providers want to make it work.

As a military physician once the patient gets to me in the office I just treat the patient where they are at and support them 100%. The medboard process is there to support our servicemen and women who can’t serve anymore. It wasn’t designed to be manipulated to fit someone’s personal career timeline. You aren’t my patient. If you want to post on a public forum about how you’re considering manipulating the system then you will receive my honest feedback as a moderator on this forum and not as a military physician.

 

[Smooglabish]

Something I'll add here is that even with a MEB submitted you may be found fit or referred to the EMPLOY program. Just because you're in the MEB process doesn't mean you're destined for separation.

 

[pawprint]

I don’t understand why you would pursue a med board if you have a timeline for getting out. If you are looking for VA disability, take it up with the VA once you are in line for that during the separation process. Trying to go the med board route to get medically retired is a waste of everyone’s time when you are already set for getting out.

As a flight surgeon, if you had come to me with this I would have said no, certainly not. I’m not further clogging up our med board process with people who don’t need it. If you were able to get to your normal separation time, take it. I’ve got enough broken Marines that actually need the med board process and don’t need to be waiting behind you.

So if you are hoping to use this process that way, understand there are plenty of docs like me with that mindset that are going to make your plan much harder to play out than you think it will be.