Military Medicine

[AspiringMilitaryDoctor]

Hey all,

My name is Minh and I am a second-year community college student in California. I am wondering if I should get involved in military medicine. Even though I am only in my second year of college, I know that I want to serve in the US military as a physician. I have been lurking on different military medicine-specific forums and despite the cons that come with military medicine, I still want to serve and give back. I am thinking about USUHS being my first choice for medical school. I am going to graduate in 2026, and what are the things I need to know about military medicine before I get myself involved? Is there anyone who went through either HPSP or USUHS who can give me an in-depth insight into what military medicine is actually like?

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[DOswag]

There's a lot more that is expected of you than just "Being a doctor in the military". You're expected to be an officer in the military which comes with a lot of extra stuff too, sometimes that stuff is somewhat even expected (or it feels like it anyways) over your doctoring duties. I would recommend taking an extremely hesitant approach to going down that road, especially USUHS. Don't get me wrong, you will get a perfectly fine education in medicine at USUHS. But your payback will be longer there than if you go the HPSP route. Continue to spend time in the military medicine forum and take the words of caution there very seriously.

Signed

-Recently separated from milmed and on to greener grass with the civ side Psychiatrist

 

[AspiringMilitaryDoctor]

There's a lot more that is expected of you than just "Being a doctor in the military". You're expected to be an officer in the military which comes with a lot of extra stuff too, sometimes that stuff is somewhat even expected (or it feels like it anyways) over your doctoring duties. I would recommend taking an extremely hesitant approach to going down that road, especially USUHS. Don't get me wrong, you will get a perfectly fine education in medicine at USUHS. But your payback will be longer there than if you go the HPSP route. Continue to spend time in the military medicine forum and take the words of caution there very seriously.

Signed

-Recently separated from milmed and on to greener grass with the civ side Psychiatrist

Thank you for the heads-up. I have 0 idea of what the actual military medicine is like or how the military healthcare system works but I really appreciate your advice for someone who is possibly leaning towards military medicine.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

This is definitely the place to ask. We have a military medicine forum.