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Long time contributor but now I come for assistance: I have been told that by the end of the week an initiation for a medical discharge will take place after putting in a few years of active duty service as a pharmacy tech. This has come to a shock for myself but given the new guidelines for non-deployable status soldiers I shouldn't be this surprised. Though part of my condition is with my lower back and feet (jumping from a Blackhawk and rucking contributed to that) the diagnosis has come down to a mental behavioral health disorder. I have been told my "exit" time frame could be within the next 4-6 months.
With much discussion with the wife I have come up with 2 plans:
Plan A: Apply to pharmacy school for the 2019 cycle. I will utilize the post 9-11 GI Bill and have my PharmD completely paid for while slowly chipping away (intern job + disability rating + tax returns) on current undergrad loans which sits at 36k. I already have a B.S. with an emphasis in Biochemistry a few years back.
**Pros: Debt Free with streamline of income while in school
**Cons: Saturation (def. willing to move in any state. Im an outdoor fanatic and dont like living in the city).
Plan B: Here in southern TX, not more than a few miles from where I live, I can enroll for a DIY post bac for roughly 3 years, dedicate my 4th to the MCAT and apply for one more course at a CC to initiate the Academic Fresh Start for Texas schools. During which time I am close to the biggest burn institute hospital in the country and would like to continue my shadowing and still follow up on my own treatments as deemed necessary.
**Pros: Convenience of avoiding another move with wife and two kids, utilizing facilities at the VA depending how my current rating goes.
**Cons: Opportunity Cost (concerns the wife) and assumption of not only an accepted admissions to an MD/DO program, but accumulate student loans at a later time in life.
Background:
***2 year mission overseas (translator) for healthcare departments in the pacific (led me to healthcare)
***B.S. Biochemistry (still not all pre-reqs for medical school though) with a sGPA 3.55
***upon matriculation to Pharmacy or end of first semester in post bac I'll be 30 years old.
***Wife (Bachelors as a Social Worker) with a 4 year old (pre-k) and a 2 year old.
The plan was PA school later in life when my loans are 100% forgiven, but this hurdle came out of nowhere and since it cuts time off my commitment on the enlisted side (with now shadowing physicians and would you know it....love not just working with them but actually seeing what is being done) it has caused me to form another contingency. As for pharmacy school I once was a student years ago but unforeseen circumstances with spouse is what led me to join the military and leave school. Despite saturation, I still find tolerance in pharmacy. Yet, while working closely with physicians these past few years on outer clinics and shadowing, I feel like what I thought I would have hated years ago with MD/DO I now am absolutely intrigued with.
To avoid a longer post please ask additional questions and your thoughts. Going over this in my head so much it gives me a headache (that and stuck doing CQ and admin work for the next short-term stretch). Thanks in advance for any feedback. As a side note, my diagnosis will not hinder patient care or my schooling. That's another story for when another CQ night comes my way.
TLDR; undergoing medical discharge from military by end of year. Go back to pharmacy school with no extra debt on gi bill or push forward with med school after post bac in current location with wife and kids.
With much discussion with the wife I have come up with 2 plans:
Plan A: Apply to pharmacy school for the 2019 cycle. I will utilize the post 9-11 GI Bill and have my PharmD completely paid for while slowly chipping away (intern job + disability rating + tax returns) on current undergrad loans which sits at 36k. I already have a B.S. with an emphasis in Biochemistry a few years back.
**Pros: Debt Free with streamline of income while in school
**Cons: Saturation (def. willing to move in any state. Im an outdoor fanatic and dont like living in the city).
Plan B: Here in southern TX, not more than a few miles from where I live, I can enroll for a DIY post bac for roughly 3 years, dedicate my 4th to the MCAT and apply for one more course at a CC to initiate the Academic Fresh Start for Texas schools. During which time I am close to the biggest burn institute hospital in the country and would like to continue my shadowing and still follow up on my own treatments as deemed necessary.
**Pros: Convenience of avoiding another move with wife and two kids, utilizing facilities at the VA depending how my current rating goes.
**Cons: Opportunity Cost (concerns the wife) and assumption of not only an accepted admissions to an MD/DO program, but accumulate student loans at a later time in life.
Background:
***2 year mission overseas (translator) for healthcare departments in the pacific (led me to healthcare)
***B.S. Biochemistry (still not all pre-reqs for medical school though) with a sGPA 3.55
***upon matriculation to Pharmacy or end of first semester in post bac I'll be 30 years old.
***Wife (Bachelors as a Social Worker) with a 4 year old (pre-k) and a 2 year old.
The plan was PA school later in life when my loans are 100% forgiven, but this hurdle came out of nowhere and since it cuts time off my commitment on the enlisted side (with now shadowing physicians and would you know it....love not just working with them but actually seeing what is being done) it has caused me to form another contingency. As for pharmacy school I once was a student years ago but unforeseen circumstances with spouse is what led me to join the military and leave school. Despite saturation, I still find tolerance in pharmacy. Yet, while working closely with physicians these past few years on outer clinics and shadowing, I feel like what I thought I would have hated years ago with MD/DO I now am absolutely intrigued with.
To avoid a longer post please ask additional questions and your thoughts. Going over this in my head so much it gives me a headache (that and stuck doing CQ and admin work for the next short-term stretch). Thanks in advance for any feedback. As a side note, my diagnosis will not hinder patient care or my schooling. That's another story for when another CQ night comes my way.
TLDR; undergoing medical discharge from military by end of year. Go back to pharmacy school with no extra debt on gi bill or push forward with med school after post bac in current location with wife and kids.
