Army GMO with Infantry

[sonofva]

Hello All. Has anyone done a GMO with a regular infantry unit that would be willing to PM with me? thanks

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[Homunculus]

deployed to iraq for a year as a battalion surgeon. unless it is some OPSEC thing you may get more input with a public post.

--your friendly neighborhood ingrown toenail removing caveman

 

[sonofva]

Fair enough! I'm just trying to plan for what sort of GMO To go on next year and I sort of have a picture of day to day of flight surgery. I was just wondering what it's like when not deployed with just regular infantry? Do you go out on a lot of ftx? Is it super boring? What should one expect? Thanks

 

[ProudMD]

Are you talking about doing a GMO with the Army? To my understanding, didn't the Army get rid of GMOs, and that people usually go straight through residency after medical school?

 

[sonofva]

I can assure you that the army did not do away with GMO. Haha. I and several of my colleagues will be out there next year!

 

[ProudMD]

I can assure you that the army did not do away with GMO. Haha. I and several of my colleagues will be out there next year!

I see. But did you want to do a GMO?

I heard that the overwhelming majority of Army medical students have the option to go straight through.

 

[sonofva]

In my Ty class there were maybe 15 people trying to get matched and prob 9-10 heading out to GMO next year. I'm not really mad about it (maybe just because I'm to stupid to know otherwise), others are very upset

 

[sonofva]

There's always spots available in IM/FM/PSYCH/Path if that's your thing or don't mind compromising

 

[ProudMD]

In my Ty class there were maybe 15 people trying to get matched and prob 9-10 heading out to GMO next year. I'm not really mad about it (maybe just because I'm to stupid to know otherwise), others are very upset

Thanks for sharing. Are all 15 people part of the Army branch? And are you talking about HPSP in this case?

 

[colbgw02]

I see. But did you want to do a GMO?

I heard that the overwhelming majority of Army medical students have the option to go straight through.

"Option" is an interesting word choice.

The only things the Army does differently is that it is more likely to offer a continuous contract out of medical school and some specialties may 'reserve' residency spots for student applicants*. The underlying formula is still the same though. You apply to a specialty and, if not selected, get matched to an internship - usually a transitional internship for the Army. You apply again as an intern and, if not selected, you go off to GMO land.

The Army tends to have fewer GMOs because of 1) see asterisk and 2) it's a bigger system, so its applicant pool is relatively close in size to the number of available positions. That, of course, is of little solace to a competitive ENT applicant that just happens to be applying when everyone is AOA and a 270 step score. Or, more briefly, there's more variance in military GME.

In any case, Army GMO tours have been being phased out for at least 20 years, which is to say they're still going strong. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something, and it's probably a scholarship.

 

[colbgw02]

Thanks for sharing. Are all 15 people part of the Army branch? And are you talking about HPSP in this case?

HPSP isn't really relevant here. All of the people in his TY class are completing active duty internships. Most will have gotten there by way of HPSP or USUHS, but that doesn't really matter.

 

[ProudMD]

"Option" is an interesting word choice.

The only things the Army does differently is that it is more likely to offer a continuous contract out of medical school and some specialties may 'reserve' residency spots for student applicants*. The underlying formula is still the same though. You apply to a specialty and, if not selected, get matched to an internship - usually a transitional internship for the Army. You apply again as an intern and, if not selected, you go off to GMO land.

The Army tends to have fewer GMOs because of 1) see asterisk and 2) it's a bigger system, so its applicant pool is relatively close in size to the number of available positions. That, of course, is of little solace to a competitive ENT applicant that just happens to be applying when everyone is AOA and a 270 step score. Or, more briefly, there's more variance in military GME.

In any case, Army GMO tours have been being phased out for at least 20 years, which is to say they're still going strong. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something, and it's probably a scholarship.

I see. So if you do get matched to a specialty, then you'll be able to go straight through, correct? I am aware of the fact that failure to match into a specialty means a GMO tour.

 

[ProudMD]

HPSP isn't really relevant here. All of the people in his TY class are completing active duty internships. Most will have gotten there by way of HPSP or USUHS, but that doesn't really matter.

What's a TY class?

 

[colbgw02]

I see. So if you do get matched to a specialty, then you'll be able to go straight through, correct? I am aware of the fact that failure to match into a specialty means a GMO tour.

Typically, yes. As of a few years ago, Army general surgery still required their interns to reapply to make it to PGY-2, but I have not kept up with it to know whether or not that has changed.

TY = transitional year. It's a potpourri of rotations, basically like being an MS5, but it fulfills licensing requirements and board certification obligations for specialties like radiology, anesthesiology, dermatology, radiation oncology, and ophthalmology. It's also where applicants usually go in the Army when they don't match to their desired specialty out of medical school.

 

[ProudMD]

So for the Army, how difficult is it to directly match into, say, EM, general surgery, or anesthesiology and go straight through?

I am very interested in EM, but to my understanding, it is particularly competitive in the military.

 

[bricktamland]

I was a GMO for 3 years with the Marine Infantry, including a deployment to Iraq. I suspect being a GMO with the Marine Infantry is not too dissimilar to being with the Army Infantry (say what you will about Marines vs. Army, I don't want to open that can of worms).

I think you'd get the most out of the Infantry experience if you're the kind of person that is interested in playing soldier (to a reasonable degree). By that, I don't mean actually being a combatant and shooting at people, but rather participating in some of the training exercises, getting out there in the field with the line officers--really feeling like you're part of the battalion and not just hiding in your aid station. Get to know your people--especially take care of your Medics/Corpsmen. If you're that guy, you'll have a good time.

As a physician, the actual medicine you practice is exceedingly mundane, save for a few rare surprises. Probably 90% of my job was administrative (coordinating shot stand-downs, doing physicals, etc). Pretty boring stuff. It's really not an intellectually rewarding job at all. Prepare for severe skill and knowledge atrophy.

 

[ProudMD]

I was a GMO for 3 years with the Marine Infantry, including a deployment to Iraq. I suspect being a GMO with the Marine Infantry is not too dissimilar to being with the Army Infantry (say what you will about Marines vs. Army, I don't want to open that can of worms).

I think you'd get the most out of the Infantry experience if you're the kind of person that is interested in playing soldier (to a reasonable degree). By that, I don't mean actually being a combatant and shooting at people, but rather participating in some of the training exercises, getting out there in the field with the line officers--really feeling like you're part of the battalion and not just hiding in your aid station. Get to know your people--especially take care of your Medics/Corpsmen. If you're that guy, you'll have a good time.

As a physician, the actual medicine you practice is exceedingly mundane, save for a few rare surprises. Probably 90% of my job was administrative (coordinating shot stand-downs, doing physicals, etc). Pretty boring stuff. It's really not an intellectually rewarding job at all. Prepare for severe skill and knowledge atrophy.

Since you did a GMO with the marines, I am assuming that you are a naval officer?

 

[sonofva]

Typically, yes. As of a few years ago, Army general surgery still required their interns to reapply to make it to PGY-2, but I have not kept up with it to know whether or not that has changed.

TY = transitional year. It's a potpourri of rotations, basically like being an MS5, but it fulfills licensing requirements and board certification obligations for specialties like radiology, anesthesiology, dermatology, radiation oncology, and ophthalmology. It's also where applicants usually go in the Army when they don't match to their desired specialty out of medical school.

We are a potpourri.

 

[sonofva]

@bricktamland I am "that guy" you describe. Thanks for the input. I am actively trying to develop a plan to develop skill/knowledge base atrophy as that is a real worry of mine...

 

[ProudMD]

Since you guy brought up the possibility of skill atrophy, how common is it for military physicians to moonlight? I've heard that this is actually quite commonplace, but are there official policies prohibiting moonlighting?

 

[colbgw02]

Since you guy brought up the possibility of skill atrophy, how common is it for military physicians to moonlight? I've heard that this is actually quite commonplace, but are there official policies prohibiting moonlighting?

I'm not aware of any commands where moonlighting is categorically prohibited. Every now and then there's a story about how someone or some group were taking advantage of their moonlighting privileges, usually to the detriment of the mission, and it generally ruins it for everyone local for a time. I will say that, at the very least, they don't make it easy to get approved or maintain that approval. Also understand that you cannot moonlight while in GME, and - because this is a thread about GMOs - the opportunities to moonlight with only an internship will be very limited at best and nonexistent at worst.

 

[244913]

I can assure you that the army did not do away with GMO. Haha. I and several of my colleagues will be out there next year!

Army Infantry Battalions do not have GMO's. They have a PA in garrison and pick up a PROFIS doc when they head downrange.

The only Infantry units that have an organic MD are the BSB (BDE Support BN) and the brigade HQ itself. It is rare nowadays for a BDE Surgeon to be a GMO as usually they are assigning sub-specialists like the Caveman to fill this benighted role. Also, you really don't want to be on the brigade staff as a junior captain with a slick right sleeve. You'll be interacting with Majors on a daily basis and your boss will be a full Colonel. You just won't have any gravitas and will really have to work overtime to make your input heard and have your opinions respected. Finally, as BDE surgeon you are responsible for clinically supervising all of the brigade's PA's and there are always at least one or two assassins in this cohort who will keep you up at night as they try to intubate "combative" patients in the their aid stations before sick call without any sedation.

I would avoid the support battalion at all costs. It is chock full of malingerers, borderline females and ****heads. It is not going to have the same "feel" as a real infantry unit or even a real line unit for that matter. It is the bastard, red-headed, inbred stepchild of every Infantry brigade and the cast of characters therein has to be seen to be believed.

Get a flight billet. I repeat, get a flight billet.

- ex 61N

 

[244913]

repeat

 

[jabreal00]

Army Infantry Battalions do not have GMO's. They have a PA in garrison and pick up a PROFIS doc when they head downrange.

The only Infantry units that have an organic MD are the BSB (BDE Support BN) and the brigade HQ itself. It is rare nowadays for a BDE Surgeon to be a GMO as usually they are assigning sub-specialists like the Caveman to fill this benighted role. Also, you really don't want to be on the brigade staff as a junior captain with a slick right sleeve. You'll be interacting with Majors on a daily basis and your boss will be a full Colonel. You just won't have any gravitas and will really have to work overtime to make your input heard and have your opinions respected. Finally, as BDE surgeon you are responsible for clinically supervising all of the brigade's PA's and there are always at least one or two assassins in this cohort who will keep you up at night as they try to intubate "combative" patients in the their aid stations before sick call without any sedation.

I would avoid the support battalion at all costs. It is chock full of malingerers, borderline females and ****heads. It is not going to have the same "feel" as a real infantry unit or even a real line unit for that matter. It is the bastard, red-headed, inbred stepchild of every Infantry brigade and the cast of characters therein has to be seen to be believed.

Get a flight billet. I repeat, get a flight billet.

- ex 61N

This is spot on. I am currently deployed with a BSB as a battalion surgeon. To say the BDE Surgeon has clinical oversight over the PAs is more of a wish or suggestion. The patient population is accurate as described.

 

[sonofva]

Thanks for the replies all! I guess my question is that if the infantry doesn't have battalion surgeons, what other types of jobs will be available for GMOs besides flight surgeon?

 

[244913]

Thanks for the replies all! I guess my question is that if the infantry doesn't have battalion surgeons, what other types of jobs will be available for GMOs besides flight surgeon?

The options are not great, and that is an understatement. Possibly a clinic monkey at some godforsaken ****hole like Dugway proving grounds (is that still open?) or a TMC (troop medical clinic) at a basic training site -hope you like jock itch and ankle sprains. At these places you will be ground into the dust by obese, entitled, fibromyalgia-addled nurse majors as you feverishly click away at APEQS tasks.

The truly Wagnerian option, of course, is being assigned to a WTU as the medical officer. There are tons of these spots available, and as you can well imagine, Army Physicians are not flocking towards them en masse. You will wish you had never raised your right hand.

In light of these abominable assignments, being a BSB surgeon might actually seem like a tenable option.

I knew some poor souls condemned to these fates because they couldn't pass a flight physical. I lift a glass in their memory.

Again, get a flight billet.

- ex 61N

 

[Cooperd0g]

Maybe transfer to the Navy and get a Marine Corps battalion surgeon spot!

 

[in motion]

Army Infantry Battalions do not have GMO's. They have a PA in garrison and pick up a PROFIS doc when they head downrange.

The only Infantry units that have an organic MD are the BSB (BDE Support BN) and the brigade HQ itself. It is rare nowadays for a BDE Surgeon to be a GMO as usually they are assigning sub-specialists like the Caveman to fill this benighted role. Also, you really don't want to be on the brigade staff as a junior captain with a slick right sleeve. You'll be interacting with Majors on a daily basis and your boss will be a full Colonel. You just won't have any gravitas and will really have to work overtime to make your input heard and have your opinions respected. Finally, as BDE surgeon you are responsible for clinically supervising all of the brigade's PA's and there are always at least one or two assassins in this cohort who will keep you up at night as they try to intubate "combative" patients in the their aid stations before sick call without any sedation.

I would avoid the support battalion at all costs. It is chock full of malingerers, borderline females and ****heads. It is not going to have the same "feel" as a real infantry unit or even a real line unit for that matter. It is the bastard, red-headed, inbred stepchild of every Infantry brigade and the cast of characters therein has to be seen to be believed.

Get a flight billet. I repeat, get a flight billet.

- ex 61N

It appear that you are very strongly advocating for someone going out for an Army GMO to get a flight surgery position. I am deciding between flight and non-flight position at Ft. Hood. I understand the patient population and the oversight for PAs, but is that only with non-flight positions? Do flight surgery positions not have to deal with that.

When you say support battalion is that the same as non-flight surgery?

 

[turkish]

There is so much disinformation in this thread. I just finished a two year brigade surgeon tour with the infantry, and I can tell you for sure that we did have organic GMOs (4 in a brigade consisting 6 battalions, only two were in the BSB, and we were slotted but not filled for another in our CAV squadron). I rated, clinically supervised, and controlled the schedules of every PA and GMO except for one lieutenant who was rated by the GMO doc in his battalion due to his BN commander's preference.

Yes, you will do a lot of field exercises. You'll probably go to JRTC or NTC once, maybe twice if you're "lucky". My brigade went to JRTC three times in just over three years. You'll see a good deal of sick call and general medicine clinic, which you will be expected to do 4-5 days each week, with a schedule out minimum 45 days in advance.

What else do you want to know?

 

[SurgDoc95]

There is so much disinformation in this thread. I just finished a two year brigade surgeon tour with the infantry, and I can tell you for sure that we did have organic GMOs (4 in a brigade consisting 6 battalions, only two were in the BSB, and we were slotted but not filled for another in our CAV squadron). I rated, clinically supervised, and controlled the schedules of every PA and GMO except for one lieutenant who was rated by the GMO doc in his battalion due to his BN commander's preference.

Yes, you will do a lot of field exercises. You'll probably go to JRTC or NTC once, maybe twice if you're "lucky". My brigade went to JRTC three times in just over three years. You'll see a good deal of sick call and general medicine clinic, which you will be expected to do 4-5 days each week, with a schedule out minimum 45 days in advance.

What else do you want to know?

Let's say you're a surgeon and get tabbed for a brigade surgeon tour. Would you have the opportunity to do procedures while on the assignment or would you essentially be letting your skills rot for 2 years?

 

[WernickeDO]

Let's say you're a surgeon and get tabbed for a brigade surgeon tour. Would you have the opportunity to do procedures while on the assignment or would you essentially be letting your skills rot for 2 years?

Only if you are moonlighting. The brigade surgeon job is an admin job. You will spend more time with powerpoints and MEDPROS than seeing patients.

 

[SurgDoc95]

Only if you are moonlighting. The brigade surgeon job is an admin job. You will spend more time with powerpoints and MEDPROS than seeing patients.

How does it make sense for the army to spend 9 years training a surgeon only to stick them in an admin role?

 

[WernickeDO]

How does it make sense for the army to spend 9 years training a surgeon only to stick them in an admin role?

Oh honey...

You are merely scratching the surface of military medicine logic. See @HighPriest 's analogy about being a tool in a toolbox and it will all make sense.

To be fair, it's not typically surgeons or other subspecialists filling these jobs, but I can promise you it does happen.

 

[Homunculus]

There is so much disinformation in this thread. I just finished a two year brigade surgeon tour with the infantry, and I can tell you for sure that we did have organic GMOs (4 in a brigade consisting 6 battalions, only two were in the BSB, and we were slotted but not filled for another in our CAV squadron).

this brings up something-- I've noticed this trend toward filling these "field surgeon" GMO slots lately. we were supposed to have on our current deployment but it wasn't filled. if they start tasking these out like they do the BDE Surgeon slots it's going to make things even worse. our consultant recently updated us that the HCDP meeting each year is getting overhauled, so now it will be called the "AMEDD Distribution Planning (ADP) process." the name change reflects the fact that the process is "now looking at requirements for both MEDCOM and non-MEDCOM organizations." this is a huge red flag, because now the combatant commands are at the healthcare assignments table. did you see a push for these field surgeon slots to be filled moreso than in the past?

How does it make sense for the army to spend 9 years training a surgeon only to stick them in an admin role?

it doesn't. but they won't take a PA or Nurse.

To be fair, it's not typically surgeons or other subspecialists filling these jobs, but I can promise you it does happen.

the BDE/WTU surgeons I've worked for/gone to NTC with/have personally known: 2 ER, 1 radiologist, 6 peds subspecialists, 1 IM, 5 gen peds. granted my slice of the pie is small and it might not be a large percentage of the whole but every year a set number of subspecialists will fill these positions.

if forced to choose I'd recommend a WTU slot based on my personal observations.

--your friendly neighborhood everyone's a GMO in the army's eyes caveman[/QUOTE]

 

[turkish]

Only if you are moonlighting. The brigade surgeon job is an admin job. You will spend more time with powerpoints and MEDPROS than seeing patients.

Also not true as written. Yes, you will have many admin responsibilities. You will also spend around two weeks out of every twelve in the field, which will add another layer of planning and coordination to your baseline responsibilities. But much of this can be delegated out to the many lieutenants and captains around you who are hungry for opportunities to excel, and if you pay attention to the long range training calendar, attend the meetings yourself, and ask a lot of questions about things that fall even peripherally in your lane (field san, evac, food trans, etc) you can easily plan a couple half days of clinic a week at the local MTF. This will depend heavily on the relationship you form with your XO (senior major), S3 (mid-grade major) and commander (colonel). When you first arrive, it will be helpful to ask for five minutes of each of these people's times, and explain to them what your skill set is, what your career aspirations are both within the army and beyond, and how you can implement that towards the readiness of the brigade. If "seeing patients" comes off as all you care about, you will not be allowed to do so. If, however, you explain to them that you will deliver 110% toward the brigade's efforts, but you need a small amount of time each week to preserve your skill set, they will completely and totally understand this and support it, and likely admire you for it. They deal with other types who also have perishable skill sets that need regular maintenance, pilots for example. The staff officer's life revolves around the brigade, and while you are there, yours should as well. However, they know that your medical career will extend be your tenure at the brigade, and will support your career goals as long as you understand your role and responsibilities for what you have been assigned to them to do – continuously improve the medical readiness of your unit, be the subject matter expert on all issues regarding health and wellness, and be the voice of reason in the room when it comes to making your commander's priorities makes sense in terms of what is feasible for your medical providers and assets. You do not need to moonlight, in fact taking a second job for income will likely be highly frowned upon...doc must not be busy enough (not engaged enough) if he has time to make money on the side. This sucks, I know, however if you offer to do your clinic and procedures at the MTF, this will also be seen as you helping soldiers and keeping your skill set intact, which will sound good to anyone, no matter how little they know about "doctor stuff".

 

[WernickeDO]

Also not true as written. Yes, you will have many admin responsibilities. You will also spend around two weeks out of every twelve in the field, which will add another layer of planning and coordination to your baseline responsibilities. But much of this can be delegated out to the many lieutenants and captains around you who are hungry for opportunities to excel, and if you pay attention to the long range training calendar, attend the meetings yourself, and ask a lot of questions about things that fall even peripherally in your lane (field san, evac, food trans, etc) you can easily plan a couple half days of clinic a week at the local MTF. This will depend heavily on the relationship you form with your XO (senior major), S3 (mid-grade major) and commander (colonel). When you first arrive, it will be helpful to ask for five minutes of each of these people's times, and explain to them what your skill set is, what your career aspirations are both within the army and beyond, and how you can implement that towards the readiness of the brigade. If "seeing patients" comes off as all you care about, you will not be allowed to do so. If, however, you explain to them that you will deliver 110% toward the brigade's efforts, but you need a small amount of time each week to preserve your skill set, they will completely and totally understand this and support it, and likely admire you for it. They deal with other types who also have perishable skill sets that need regular maintenance, pilots for example. The staff officer's life revolves around the brigade, and while you are there, yours should as well. However, they know that your medical career will extend be your tenure at the brigade, and will support your career goals as long as you understand your role and responsibilities for what you have been assigned to them to do – continuously improve the medical readiness of your unit, be the subject matter expert on all issues regarding health and wellness, and be the voice of reason in the room when it comes to making your commander's priorities makes sense in terms of what is feasible for your medical providers and assets. You do not need to moonlight, in fact taking a second job for income will likely be highly frowned upon...doc must not be busy enough (not engaged enough) if he has time to make money on the side. This sucks, I know, however if you offer to do your clinic and procedures at the MTF, this will also be seen as you helping soldiers and keeping your skill set intact, which will sound good to anyone, no matter how little they know about "doctor stuff".

Sounds like an admin job to me. Also sounds like different places will have different support staff as well. As of yet I have met 1 LT MEDO who was available to help the brigade surgeon with admin duties and usually they created more work than they accomplished. There are no hungry LTs or CPTs around here. The three brigade surgeons I have worked closely with had time for a couple days of clinic for their own soldiers. Whether or not they had the time or desire for moonlighting I can't say. They weren't specialists in procedure driven fields so maybe it's apples to oranges.

 

[d2305]

One spends quite a bit of time trying to get soldiers/marines back to work from minor injuries. First thing to learn is how to fill out a light duty chit/profile. Then, how to narrate a medical board.

 

[turkish]

Sounds like an admin job to me.

Sounds like an oversimplification to me, having done it successfully at both the battalion and brigade levels as a fellowship trained subspecialist in a procedure-heavy field. If one goes into with that mindset, it is their own fault if they suffer skillset loss. If you don't have enough junior officers with whol to share the pain, and thus lighten your load, start leaning on NCOs. Make friends, develop relationships, show an interest in your fellow staff officers and their jobs...these things will pay dividends when you need a heads up on a due-out or have missed an assignment or meeting. These are all people who will be keenly interested to get to know you, and will work hard to take care of you if you do the same.

 

[WernickeDO]

Sounds like an oversimplification to me, having done it successfully at both the battalion and brigade levels as a fellowship trained subspecialist in a procedure-heavy field. If one goes into with that mindset, it is their own fault if they suffer skillset loss. If you don't have enough junior officers with whol to share the pain, and thus lighten your load, start leaning on NCOs. Make friends, develop relationships, show an interest in your fellow staff officers and their jobs...these things will pay dividends when you need a heads up on a due-out or have missed an assignment or meeting. These are all people who will be keenly interested to get to know you, and will work hard to take care of you if you do the same.

Fair enough. You are certainly in a better place to comment than me, having actually practiced what you preach. I am just an observer in this.

 

[pgg]

if you pay attention to the long range training calendar, attend the meetings yourself, and ask a lot of questions about things that fall even peripherally in your lane (field san, evac, food trans, etc) you can easily plan a couple half days of clinic a week at the local MTF.

Thanks for weighing in with your actual experience in the job. Always good to hear first hand reports.

I've just got to say though, as a non-Army observer, it seems like you've gone well past the "chin up, make the best of this awful situation" and forged boldly into "drunk the Kool-Aid and found it delicious" territory.

A couple half days of clinic per week is the bar for a subspecialist practice that maintains and develops knowledge and skill?

Really?

That's appalling.

Though I've never been a brigade surgeon, I do have some parallel experience. I spent about a year as a DSS, which was about 80-90% non-clinical. Perhaps 1/2 - 1 day of clinical work per week. The command "supported" my clinical work to stay current, but that verbal "support" didn't actually translate into less admin work that I had to get done. No surprise, of course - they expected me to do the DSS job. Sure, I could've done another day of clinical work ... if I'd spent every Saturday in my office catching up. That's not sustainable, and it's not really even feasible since most admin work needs to be done when other people are around, i.e. M-F 8-5.

If not for my moonlighting on weekends and leave, it would've been an absolute unmitigated disaster for my practice. Even so, it was exhausting. And I only did it for a little less than a year. And I still had some rust when I returned to full-time practice.

If these 2-year brigade surgeon tours are anything like being a DSS, I just have a difficult time believing that it's possible to keep current and continue to grow. No matter how positive your attitude or how hard you work.

 

[244913]

A lot of good advice here. When I was AD they didn't have GMOs at the BN level outside of flight except for the BsB

I enjoyed my time as a GMO-FS and had a lot of incredible experiences both stateside and during two tours in Afghanistan.

You get out of the job what you put in- I built a lot of great relationships with the men in my unit both Officers and enlisted. This special camaraderie made the job worth doing.

I personally don't think that highly trained sub specialists should be doing admin work as BDE surgeons. But BN surgeon jobs whether flight or infantry are a good place for an internship trained guy IMHO

- ex 61N

Also not true as written. Yes, you will have many admin responsibilities. You will also spend around two weeks out of every twelve in the field, which will add another layer of planning and coordination to your baseline responsibilities. But much of this can be delegated out to the many lieutenants and captains around you who are hungry for opportunities to excel, and if you pay attention to the long range training calendar, attend the meetings yourself, and ask a lot of questions about things that fall even peripherally in your lane (field san, evac, food trans, etc) you can easily plan a couple half days of clinic a week at the local MTF. This will depend heavily on the relationship you form with your XO (senior major), S3 (mid-grade major) and commander (colonel). When you first arrive, it will be helpful to ask for five minutes of each of these people's times, and explain to them what your skill set is, what your career aspirations are both within the army and beyond, and how you can implement that towards the readiness of the brigade. If "seeing patients" comes off as all you care about, you will not be allowed to do so. If, however, you explain to them that you will deliver 110% toward the brigade's efforts, but you need a small amount of time each week to preserve your skill set, they will completely and totally understand this and support it, and likely admire you for it. They deal with other types who also have perishable skill sets that need regular maintenance, pilots for example. The staff officer's life revolves around the brigade, and while you are there, yours should as well. However, they know that your medical career will extend be your tenure at the brigade, and will support your career goals as long as you understand your role and responsibilities for what you have been assigned to them to do – continuously improve the medical readiness of your unit, be the subject matter expert on all issues regarding health and wellness, and be the voice of reason in the room when it comes to making your commander's priorities makes sense in terms of what is feasible for your medical providers and assets. You do not need to moonlight, in fact taking a second job for income will likely be highly frowned upon...doc must not be busy enough (not engaged enough) if he has time to make money on the side. This sucks, I know, however if you offer to do your clinic and procedures at the MTF, this will also be seen as you helping soldiers and keeping your skill set intact, which will sound good to anyone, no matter how little they know about "doctor stuff".

 

[deleted707454]

I'm just now starting school on HPSP, but am hoping to fulfill ADSO as a flight surgeon, and separating to do a civilian residency. How feasible is this to do in the Army? Like, can you just request a flight billet, and *boom* have it?

 

[sonofva]

Oh honey...

You are merely scratching the surface of military medicine logic. See @HighPriest 's analogy about being a tool in a toolbox and it will all make sense.

To be fair, it's not typically surgeons or other subspecialists filling these jobs, but I can promise you it does happen.

This logic is not isolated to mc officers. Pilots will often go years without any stick time, and these are people who are responsible for at least 4 lives every tims they go wheels up.

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