Iowa National Guard

[The floss boss]

I am a dentist and have a lot of loans. I was interested in joining the Iowa NG to get help with repayment but was wondering if there was anyone who had experience with this. I am interested in getting information regarding deployment risk, and the 1 month training in San Antonio TX. I am currently an associate in a private practice.

Things I have been told by the recruiter;
6 year commitment, Low deployment risk, 1 weekend a month commitment (exams only), 1 month officer training, and no sign on bonus.

Any info is greatly appreciated!!!!!

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[ecuajedi]

I am a dentist and have a lot of loans. I was interested in joining the Iowa NG to get help with repayment but was wondering if there was anyone who had experience with this. I am interested in getting information regarding deployment risk, and the 1 month training in San Antonio TX. I am currently an associate in a private practice.

Things I have been told by the recruiter;
6 year commitment, Low deployment risk, 1 weekend a month commitment (exams only), 1 month officer training, and no sign on bonus.

Any info is greatly appreciated!!!!!

I am currently in the national guard. Most of what was said sounds accurate. Usually an officer commitment is 8 years, six are on drill status and 2 on the inactive ready reserve (irr). You can also choose to do all 8 on drill status. Benefit to being on drill status is that any potential deployment would be maximum 90 days boots on ground. That does not include any potential train up for the mission or any after action review. Most people that have done say the total commitment for a deployment ends up being around 120 days. The one month training in San Antonio is officers basic geared towards medical officers. You'll be there with other docs, dentists, PAs, nurses, etc... Its changed a lot since I did it but it's a couple weeks of field training with weekends devoted to classroom work. You will need to pass a Physical fitness test before going and while there. Look up the standards they differ depending on age/sex but it's a combination of sit-ups, push-ups, and a two mile run. For me age 33 male it's 45 sit-ups 32 push ups and 17:00 minutes to run 2 miles.
Deployment currently is low but who knows with new president what that may bring. It's a crapshoot. Most people in have deployed and they will usually look to those that haven't deployed as the first ones to deploy.
There is no sign on bonus and you don't get any loan repayment until after you complete a year in. It is crucial that your paperwork is done correctly to get it. If not, you won't get it. It's 40000 a year. 30000 goes to your loans and 10000 goes to the IRS. You can only do it 6 times for a max of 180000 to loans and 60000 to the IRS. You will also need to make sure that there is a bonus slot for you in whichever state you drill in. If the state already has the maximum number of dentists then you may not get the bonus even though the other dentists do. Every state has a set number of splits depending on size and types of units in the state. Every state is different so call the AMEDD recruiter in that state and make sure.
Aside from the weekend a month there is also the 2 weeks of annual training. This is usually done in my state during the summer. We usually do humanitarian type missions serving some of the high risks areas in the state doing dental treatment.
Hope this info helps you make an informed decision.