Military Vs. Civilian

[wannabeDPT]

I am a recent graduate, waiting on my licensing. I have been a Coast Guard reservist for quite a while. I have been interested in merging my two lives. My father was Army and my brother is currently serving. I have been approached by an Army recruiter about being a physical therapist. Does anyone have experience with being a Army physical therapist? Can anyone shed any light on the types of duty stations that can be expected? What is life like? Can I expect to bring my wife to a majority of duty stations? I'll ask these questions to the recruiter, but I'd be interested to know from someone with inside knowledge as well.

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[scrawnyguy]

I imagine you'd be coming in as an O-2 and most of those slots are stateside. You could be at a large military treatment facility or a smaller clinic. At some point you could also end up as a PT for a brigade combat team. In a lot of military settings you're doing a ton of evals. A lot of the treatment is handled by the techs. Days can start pretty early since you may end up doing "sick call" or conducting other appointments while other folks on post are performing their physical fitness training before the normal duty day starts. You'd be able to take your spouse pretty much anywhere you go with the exception of deployments. Korea used to be considered a hardship tour, which means no spouses. I'm not sure if that's still the case. I believe they were also doing similar tours in Kuwait instead of standard deployments to that area.

 

[LTPT]

I am a recent graduate, waiting on my licensing. I have been a Coast Guard reservist for quite a while. I have been interested in merging my two lives. My father was Army and my brother is currently serving. I have been approached by an Army recruiter about being a physical therapist. Does anyone have experience with being a Army physical therapist? Can anyone shed any light on the types of duty stations that can be expected? What is life like? Can I expect to bring my wife to a majority of duty stations? I'll ask these questions to the recruiter, but I'd be interested to know from someone with inside knowledge as well.

Look into the United States Public Health Service. You get a billet based off the federal position that you take. Prior service will receive pay at the standard years in service pay scale, although your Rank will be based off of training and experience. For a new candidate, you would likely be O2, being paid at however many years of active service you already have. It is a uniformed service and does deploy to medical and natural disasters, as well as other functions such as inaugurations, etc. U.S. Public Health Service Home . My source on this is that I am an LT in the USPHS.

 

[Azimuthal]

Look into the United States Public Health Service. You get a billet based off the federal position that you take. Prior service will receive pay at the standard years in service pay scale, although your Rank will be based off of training and experience. For a new candidate, you would likely be O2, being paid at however many years of active service you already have. It is a uniformed service and does deploy to medical and natural disasters, as well as other functions such as inaugurations, etc. U.S. Public Health Service Home . My source on this is that I am an LT in the USPHS.

Did you access as an 0-2? It was also mentioned above that a DPT will most likely be offered 0-2, but from my own experience 0-3 should not be unreachable for a new grad. scrawneyguy, has something changed?

 

[scrawnyguy]

Did you access as an 0-2? It was also mentioned above that a DPT will most likely be offered 0-2, but from my own experience 0-3 should not be unreachable for a new grad. scrawneyguy, has something changed?

I only know of 1 new grad PT that didn't go to Baylor and he was an O-2. The other direct accessions were O-3s but they had a few years under their belts. The formula they use to determine constructive credit is a little screwy.

 

[BigJAT]

I recently wrote a blog article on my experience going through direct commissioning. I applied to the Air Force in my 3rd year of DPT school and was selected, and commissioned as an O3 (currently >2 yrs post grad now) So this is very possible, and from my understanding O2 is only if you have anything under a doctorate without experience (masters/bachelors).

The blog is at new grad physical therapy and search military-pt/

 

[scrawnyguy]

I recently wrote a blog article on my experience going through direct commissioning. I applied to the Air Force in my 3rd year of DPT school and was selected, and commissioned as an O3 (currently >2 yrs post grad now) So this is very possible, and from my understanding O2 is only if you have anything under a doctorate without experience (masters/bachelors).

The blog is at new grad physical therapy and search military-pt/

You're probably correct. The O-2 I knew was a guy who commissioned through ROTC then got an Ed Delay to attend PT school. I'm not sure how they calculate time-in-rank in his case. I haven't seen him since we graduated BOLC last year but I imagine he's already been promoted to O-3. Even us Baylor folks tend to get promoted about a year after we graduate so I imagine there aren't a ton of O-2 PTs out there.

 

[tcpt]

Did you access as an 0-2? It was also mentioned above that a DPT will most likely be offered 0-2, but from my own experience 0-3 should not be unreachable for a new grad. scrawneyguy, has something changed?

Entry grade rank depends on years of experience. A new graduate from a civilian DPT program who was in ROTC and on an educational delay will enter (at least into the Army) as an O2. A residency or fellowship trained PT with a specialist certification can enter as an O-3.