Military life after residency?

[Kelsbelles]

Hi everyone!

My husband is about a year out from finishing up his medical residency. We will be going active duty immediately after, but neither of us has a lot of information on the process that will be occurring. I like to be prepared (maybe a bit too much!), so I'm hoping someone might be able to enlighten me on what we can expect in the upcoming months.

Thank you very much for your help!

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[Perrotfish]

Hi everyone!

My husband is about a year out from finishing up his medical residency. We will be going active duty immediately after, but neither of us has a lot of information on the process that will be occurring. I like to be prepared (maybe a bit too much!), so I'm hoping someone might be able to enlighten me on what we can expect in the upcoming months.

Thank you very much for your help!

What service and what specialty?

 

[Kelsbelles]

What service and what specialty?

Air force and pediatrics

 

[Perrotfish]

Air force and pediatrics

Starting around June he will contact his detailer/specialty leader (whatever he AF calls the guy who decides on your orders) to discuss and rank possible duty stations. If anyone in your family has any medical problems that will limit where you can go, for example if you are followed by a medical subspecialist, you will want to have that documented through the Exceptional Family Member program before you have that conversation. Of course if the active duty service member has developed a medical problem he was supposed to notify his chain of command immediately. If you have any non-medical considerations, for example if you have a career that only works with certain locations, you will want the detailer/specialty leader to know that, but be aware that he may or may not be able to accommodate your needs. Be as flexible as possible

Around December, hopefully, you will get orders to wherever you are going. Generally new physicians are given their pick of bad options. Would you like to be in an isolated duty station in Alaska, the Mojave Desert, or rural Japan?

In July you'll head out. He'll have a month to move and a couple of weeks of command orientation and 'househunting leave' to find somewhere to live. After that he will be responsible for a clinic, possibly a call schedule, and a number of collateral duties.

That's the overview. Any specific questions?​

 

[John1513]

Prepare for a gap in pay. At the end of residency, the hospital paychecks end. Airforce paycheck won’t start until he actually goes active duty - which means after his Officer training. So there will be mucho stress if you don’t plan ahead and save $$$ ahead. When do you leave your current house apartment? When will Military household goods come to pack you up? Your Detailer often is very busy, so ask if you can have a point of contact, or a Sponsor from your husbands specific ascension program.

 

[John1513]

Oh yes, BAH or basic housing allowance. Save up to 800 - 1000 dollars for your first move onto base housing ( if you are doing on-base housing). You may think that “I thought the gov is supposed to cover that now... “ but that process will be smoother your 2nd PCS. Often families like yours and mine move onto base in the middle of a month or so, so prepare to have a pro-rated cost out of pocket until BAH kicks in a month or so later.

 

[HighPriest]

Once he's actually working, and I think this is true outside of the military but perhaps not to the same extent, be prepared for a culture shock with regards to how much work he is doing. He's going from residency, where there's constantly more work to be done and never enough time, to a military practice where he's probably going to see far fewer patients and have far more time on your hands. Find a hobby. Hobbies are these weird things that people have when they aren't in medical school or residency. It basically means that you do something that you find fun and interesting, but you don't get paid and no one will sue you if you do it wrong. I know, right? Weird. But they're really useful because it'll keep him distracted from the anxiety he'll have because he's not constantly working.

 

[Kelsbelles]

Thank you all so much for your help! I feel a lot better having some answers. We will work on getting prepared. And we definitely have a few hobbies to keep us busy!

 

[Kingfisher]

Being a physician spouse is a bit different than the regular service spouse. The line folks generally have more spouse support groups to help out. Some spots may have that for you as well on the medicine side if you look. Seek for opportunities to get involved with church, work, or volunteering. Be prepared to move around.

 

[John1513]

DLA - dislocation allowance. You can ask to have this amount up front. Standard reply would be “get that at your command when you check in.” You can tell them, no thank you, I’d like it now please. Should come out of PERS money allocated for moving your family

 

[Frogdoc10]

I am currently engaged to a 3rd year EM resident in the air force. I’m a 2nd year Derm resident. A few questions for you guys on what to expect going forward. Will he have any say so in where he “matches” to next year? Do they take spouses (or in my case fiancés) is to account? I need to be able to work wherever he ends up. Any chance he’d be deployed within the first 6 months of starting/can he take vacation then (for my wedding planning purposes)? Do they start right away, like July 1? Thanks in advance!

 

[Gastrapathy]

He will have very limited input into his first duty station.

Your needs are not factored in.

He could deploy right away but usually won’t for a few months at least.

He’ll probably get a month or so to move and take vacation between his residency and next job. This is when you should get married, 2 weeks after graduation is pretty safe.

Good luck

 

[Perrotfish]

I am currently engaged to a 3rd year EM resident in the air force. I’m a 2nd year Derm resident. A few questions for you guys on what to expect going forward. Will he have any say so in where he “matches” to next year? Do they take spouses (or in my case fiancés) is to account? I need to be able to work wherever he ends up. Any chance he’d be deployed within the first 6 months of starting/can he take vacation then (for my wedding planning purposes)? Do they start right away, like July 1? Thanks in advance!

Your fiancé will submit a list of preference to the detailer, and will explain his needs. The detailers try to work with people but:
-The top priorites are to meet the needs of the military and to keep family members with special medical needs near their care
- The second priority is to co-locate spouses who are both in the military
- The third priority is to support the needs of the more senior physicians who have put in their time in crappy commands
- That makes taking care of your family the fourth priority, and its a priority they're not obligated to meet.

The key here is to be flexible. Flexible means accepting that you might be dealing with a long commute, or part time work, or a practice that's not at all what like what you want. "I need to stay in the US" is a common request from physicians with professional spouses (there are a lot of them) and they can probably accommodate it if you understand that 'in the US' might mean Alaska or Nevada. 'I need to stay in the Los Angeles area' is an extremely unreasonable request, and will likely get your spouse shipped out of the country.

The detailer may or may not be willing to take a fiancé into account, BTW. Some just won't take anything other than a spouse into consideration. It might make sense to get married before your spouse chooses orders and then do the big party/ceremony later. I understand this is rough if you are getting married in the Catholic Church, or equivalent, because they don't take kindly to courthouse weddings prior to the catholic wedding.

Your spouse will finish residency 01JUL and can take up to a month of leave before starting at the new command.

 

[Sunna12]

I am currently engaged to a 3rd year EM resident in the air force. I’m a 2nd year Derm resident. A few questions for you guys on what to expect going forward. Will he have any say so in where he “matches” to next year? Do they take spouses (or in my case fiancés) is to account? I need to be able to work wherever he ends up. Any chance he’d be deployed within the first 6 months of starting/can he take vacation then (for my wedding planning purposes)? Do they start right away, like July 1? Thanks in advance!

Unless things have changed since I served, fiance status is a null status in the military eyes. Similarly, civilian wife needs are usually not considered. I'm not sure if they try to accommodate civilian physician-mil physician requests, but you will likely need to be married first for any consideration. The AF has a "family hardship" request when it comes to base assignments, but I can't recall if you'd qualify for this with your situation- definitely something to look into.