National Guard for Residency Apps

[deleted555445]

Hello all, I'm currently serving in the ARNG and have a service obligation that will take me through half of medical school. I'm still not sure about staying in past my initial obligation, but there are some financial and personal benefits, plus I truly enjoy working with Soldiers.

This is way down the road, but I'm wondering if PD's would hold being in the Guard against me, given that I will have at least some obligations outside of their program, even if I can assure them that my leadership will be as accommodating as possible. I'm not sure how accommodating they can be, but I've seen a memo from NGB basically saying to give medical students and residents the benefit of the doubt whenever possible. This affects whether or not I take additional money through MDSSP and commit to additional time. For reference, I have no idea what specialty I want to do, but want to leave open competitive academic specialties and not close myself off for a few extra $$ a month.

Would appreciate anyone else's experience in the Guard/Reserves during either med school or residency/fellowship. Thanks!

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[DMBandFan86]

if your going to take incentives then just transfer to the reserves. You won’t actively drill with a unit while taking incentives.

Otherwise you just get to work an additional weekend a month. You will just have to work your call around drill.

 

[deleted555445]

if your going to take incentives then just transfer to the reserves. You won’t actively drill with a unit while taking incentives.

Otherwise you just get to work an additional weekend a month. You will just have to work your call around drill.

Is that first part not true of the Guard? I assumed both would have the same incentives for MDSSP/STRAP. Right now I'm tied to the Guard because it qualifies me for in-state tuition, plus I like being able to conduct stateside missions, but wouldn't be opposed to switching down the line.

I'm more concerned about the perception from PD's in something like General Surgery where you're a workhorse (at least from what I hear). I'm worried they would think I would be shirking duties all the time, when obviously if I'm taking incentives the burden is minimal. I know I can communicate all of this to them, but I also know that people tend to make assumptions, and when there are multitudes of applicants for a small number of slots its probably not worth thinking too hard about whether I'll be less available than co-residents. I've definitely gotten the question about how my Guard status will affect my medical school performance, although strictly speaking I'm not sure about the legality of those questions. Just wanted to know if anyone had experience matching with an ARNG/Reserves obligation still on them.

 

[DMBandFan86]

I was enlisted before med school and did MDSSP for 3 years. Back then, payback time started during residency. Now it is after. I think the real question is do you really want to stay in the military for another decade+? If you become an attending surgeon making 500k+ per year do you really want to go drill for a lot less money for another 10+ years and taking away 2 weeks of vacation per year.

If you stay NG you can request flex drill, but is command dependent. If you are taking incentives in the Reserves you won’t have drilling obligations except for educational activities. But if you are really wanting to do missions while in med school and residency then yes the time loss can be a disadvantage. Being protected from missions and deployments during residency has a large advantage. You have rights as a soldier, but doesn’t mean the PDs wouldn’t rather take a similar candidate who doesn’t have obligations.

 

[deleted555445]

I was enlisted before med school and did MDSSP for 3 years. Back then, payback time started during residency. Now it is after. I think the real question is do you really want to stay in the military for another decade+? If you become an attending surgeon making 500k+ per year do you really want to go drill for a lot less money for another 10+ years and taking away 2 weeks of vacation per year.

If you stay NG you can request flex drill, but is command dependent. If you are taking incentives in the Reserves you won’t have drilling obligations except for educational activities. But if you are really wanting to do missions while in med school and residency then yes the time loss can be a disadvantage. Being protected from missions and deployments during residency has a large advantage. You have rights as a soldier, but doesn’t mean the PDs wouldn’t rather take a similar candidate who doesn’t have obligations.

I appreciate the advice. The bolded is really what I'm weighing. I have about if I do another 12 years I can retire with benefits. Obviously, I would need to structure whatever incentives I take so that I can get out on time, but being able to have some of those benefits for life as a safety net and transfer them to spouse is a factor. Also, as I mentioned before, I really like working with joes. I'll have to see how different med corps is from a line unit, but I'll be damned if these guys don't motivate me lol. That is interesting to know that payback starts after residency, that makes me more interested in taking MDSSP, I was worried I would be forced to tack on STRAP in order to avoid drilling during residency. This way if I take ~3 years of MDSSP (owing 6 years after a, at worst, 5 year residency) I would be able to get out just about 3 years after hitting my 20 if I wanted.

Not saying I want to do missions while in school, I definitely don't, but I like the stateside missions of the Guard for when I'm out and practicing. Especially as climate change has sped up wildfires/floods, I've been on activations like once a year, and while they disrupt the hell out of my personal life its also nice to give something to the community. I'm guessing I wouldn't be cutting firelines as a physician but still... Not to mention being in the Guard is currently saving me ~$25k a year in tuition.

I am worried about what you're saying about drilling for the Guard vs Reserves though. I was under the impression that taking incentives in either led to reduced-to-no drilling obligations, but it sounds like that's not necessarily true for the Guard? I'm a little concerned about balancing too many obligations while in school/residency.

 

[DeadCactus]

Guard doesn't have as strong a central federal leadership so the experience is highly unit and state dependent. I've seen everything from don't worry about showing up, show up when you can and just sit somewhere studying, or all the way to being assigned as a platoon leader. To a certain extent, you can push back and escalate to higher authority but it's worth researching your local Guard units. All things being even, I would go Reserve over Guard because state level politics lead to weird situations but your state may have Guard specific benefits that make the Guard a much better deal in that state. In the long run, medical specialty and the kind of unit you want to be in may push you one way or the other.

To your original question, there is probably some variability between specialties and there isn't any objective data to go off of, but you probably break even with most people not caring, some viewing it as a positive, and some viewing it as a negative. Frankly, the only people who would know enough to have concerns probably have some personal experience and view it positively. I think being aware of the downstream challenges as an attending trying to make part-time military work in certain specialties is a bigger issue; I wouldn't really worry about it affecting your residency chances.

 

[deleted555445]

Guard doesn't have as strong a central federal leadership so the experience is highly unit and state dependent. I've seen everything from don't worry about showing up, show up when you can and just sit somewhere studying, or all the way to being assigned as a platoon leader. To a certain extent, you can push back and escalate to higher authority but it's worth researching your local Guard units. All things being even, I would go Reserve over Guard because state level politics lead to weird situations but your state may have Guard specific benefits that make the Guard a much better deal in that state. In the long run, medical specialty and the kind of unit you want to be in may push you one way or the other.

To your original question, there is probably some variability between specialties and there isn't any objective data to go off of, but you probably break even with most people not caring, some viewing it as a positive, and some viewing it as a negative. Frankly, the only people who would know enough to have concerns probably have some personal experience and view it positively. I think being aware of the downstream challenges as an attending trying to make part-time military work in certain specialties is a bigger issue; I wouldn't really worry about it affecting your residency chances.

Thanks, I appreciate the insight! Yes right now being Guard is the only thing getting me in-state tuition in a state I didn't previously live in, so I'm stuck with them for now. But I would not be opposed to switching to reserves down the line, especially if I can find a more relaxed environment.