1. A GMO is a General Medical Officer, the actual job description varies widely. In the Navy, a GMO is a person who has obtained a medical degree and may or may not be done with residency, this person can pursue a specialty field of interest such as Dive medicine or flight surgery and they function in a capacity as a fully qualified doctor, albeit, yet to be board certified. Essentially it's the name given to a doctor who is practicing in a specific post in the military.
2. It depends on what service you are in and the policies that the military adopts in the coming years. Recently, the military has been moving toward a unified medical corps between all branches. However, assuming that the policy is the same today, the majority of medical officers are posted in military hospitals and clinics. An important thing to understand with the military is, you request where you want to be posted, and the military usually does its best to accomodate you. If you are in a ground based force, you have a much greater chance of being in the warzones on the ground. Where you are posted largely depends on your specialty as well.
3. As a HS junior, there is some stuff you can do, but for the most part, don't worry yourself until you get into college. Just ensure that you look at the pre-requisites required for medical school entrance. And keep your grades up. You can start looking at volunteering in hospitals, which is something you are highly encouraged to do for med school entrance. If you're feeling really pro-active you can take an EMT course at a local community college.
Also, if you're curious about further information, check out if you want to do an HPSP program or if you want to attend USUHS. Also, it sounds like you are really set on the military path, which is excellent. But don't forget to consider the commitment involved with military medicine and the opportunities available to you in the civilian world. Yes the military will pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to go to medical school as well as give you a stipend or salary while in medical school and give you reasonable residency hours and a real wage during residency. They will require commitments, which after all is said and done can be as long as 15 years in the military. That is a lot of time to commit, not much shorter than the time you've been alive most likely.
Just something to keep in mind 🙂
Hope that helps!
