Physical therapy in the National Guard

[Cougar31]

I am a second year DPT student, and I'm considering joining the National Guard after I graduate. I have talked with a recruiter and wanted to get the SDN input on what I've heard and what anyone's experience has been.

The benefits of joining the guard sound pretty appealing. According to my recruiter, physical therapy qualifies for the Health Professions Loan Repayment Program paying $25k a year for up to 3 years towards student loans (total of $75k). PTs would also direct commission as officers, skipping basic training but doing officers training instead. There's also continuing education reimbursement and all of the benefits of being in the military (insurance, air fare, etc).

Obviously deployment is a big concern for most people who join the military. While I am genuinely interested in joining the Guard to serve my country, I would also prefer not to have to leave my wife and new baby boy for at least a year and put my life on the line. Does anyone know if the chances of deploying as a PT are as high as a regular enlisted soldier? Also, if I were to deploy, would I see combat or serve in a supportive role?

I'd love to hear anyone's input, especially if you've been a PT in the guard. Thanks!

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[LOADWOAD]

You may want to research the effects from the sequester on loan repayment, etc because there is huge budget cuts in the military and the Gi Bill could be one of them. It sounds great now, but you dont want to sign the dotted line and then find out they changed their tune but your still in for 5 years or something. I may consider this someday too, let me know how it goes.

 

[paulrc]

my old bosses when I was in the military put me in contact with some people to do the program that you are thinking about doing because they wanted me to stay in the the military. I also extensively talked to about 10 physical therapists in the past 2 years who are in the military. The following answers your question and some other info that might help you make your decision -

Usually National Guard is on a 3 year rotation basically meaning you would go 9 months to 12 month deployment every 3 years. Also not many physical therapists go on deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, its mainly nurses and their counterparts - medics and corpsman who get deployed(equivalent to a LVN and other degrees of nurses), throw in a few dentists, doctors, and physical therapists and you have your medical field in a deployment region. The possibility of deploying as a physical therapist is there but unlikely. With the wars dying down, even less likely.

Most physical therapists, dentists, optometrists, and veterinarians really enjoy the military lifestyle. Medical doctors not so much. Its a basic 730 to 1630 job. There was a statistic that I read about 2-3 years ago that MD's have a 7% retention rate and that physical therapists, nurses its in the 80% or higher retention rate. Retention rate is the amount of people who continue to stay in the military after their initial commitment is up. The biggest complaint that physical therapists have told me is that after a few years in,due to higher rank, they do not really get to perform there job anymore and are doing more paperwork which is nearly true of any career field in the military, but also more pay. This is not true of physical therapists who work at major military hospitals such as Walter Reed, these physical therapists have the best equipment and resources because they are dealing with the guys coming back from combat or are seriously injured. The physical therapists from Baylor usually end up here - I've heard from to many people in the military and civilian world that the physical therapists from Baylor are some of the best physical therapists in the nation. A given in the military is that you don't get to choose the location where you want to work, it is chosen for you.

Over a 20 year period physical therapists in the military make significantly more than a civilian physical therapist who does not own their own practice due to housing and food allowance and not having to pay insurance fees for business or health. Those that go to Baylor make even more because they get paid 40,000 for each year of school with no debt. Also, I might get some backlash for this comment but the medical field in the military is one of the easiest jobs in the service, minus the few who have to deal with the combat situations. If I wasn't completely over the military and not getting my tuition paid for through the GI bill, going the route you are thinking about taking is something I would look into.

Last thing - If I was a woman, I would probably not go into these military repayment programs because you would probably be getting hit on non stop. My close friends said it was fun for them to be hit on all the time in the beginning, but it gets old after a while.

 

[DPTHopeful921]

my old bosses when I was in the military put me in contact with some people to do the program that you are thinking about doing because they wanted me to stay in the the military. I also extensively talked to about 10 physical therapists in the past 2 years who are in the military. The following answers your question and some other info that might help you make your decision -

Usually National Guard is on a 3 year rotation basically meaning you would go 9 months to 12 month deployment every 3 years. Also not many physical therapists go on deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, its mainly nurses and their counterparts - medics and corpsman who get deployed(equivalent to a LVN and other degrees of nurses), throw in a few dentists, doctors, and physical therapists and you have your medical field in a deployment region. The possibility of deploying as a physical therapist is there but unlikely. With the wars dying down, even less likely.

OK, well lets set some things straight. You will deploy as a PT, maybe not to Afghanistan with the wars coming to an end, but when we get into another conflict, you will deploy. They don't let nurses and medics do our jobs. Especially since you would be coming into the military as a new PT, you will prob be sent to a field unit and prob be in charge of a battalion or brigade, as far as PT goes. When you deploy, you aren't always going to be sitting in the FOBs and back in the green zone. You will fly to the outlying FOBs to treat soldiers that can't come to you. All the military PTs that I shadowed had right arm patches (some with multiple deployments). As National Guard its hard to say how often you will deploy, but as the conflicts last longer in time, the more likely the National Guard will be deployed, and more often for that matter.

 

[WSUPT]

Not sure how often National Guard PTs deploy, but active duty does deploy. I'm typing this message from the hellhole that is Afghanistan.

 

[Megsmans]

I am a second year DPT student, and I'm considering joining the National Guard after I graduate. I have talked with a recruiter and wanted to get the SDN input on what I've heard and what anyone's experience has been.

The benefits of joining the guard sound pretty appealing. According to my recruiter, physical therapy qualifies for the Health Professions Loan Repayment Program paying $25k a year for up to 3 years towards student loans (total of $75k). PTs would also direct commission as officers, skipping basic training but doing officers training instead. There's also continuing education reimbursement and all of the benefits of being in the military (insurance, air fare, etc).

Obviously deployment is a big concern for most people who join the military. While I am genuinely interested in joining the Guard to serve my country, I would also prefer not to have to leave my wife and new baby boy for at least a year and put my life on the line. Does anyone know if the chances of deploying as a PT are as high as a regular enlisted soldier? Also, if I were to deploy, would I see combat or serve in a supportive role?

I'd love to hear anyone's input, especially if you've been a PT in the guard. Thanks!

Hey there! What did you end up deciding to do? Did you get any more info? I'm considering the same thing, so any advice would be helpful.

 

[LTPT]

I am a second year DPT student, and I'm considering joining the National Guard after I graduate. I have talked with a recruiter and wanted to get the SDN input on what I've heard and what anyone's experience has been.

The benefits of joining the guard sound pretty appealing. According to my recruiter, physical therapy qualifies for the Health Professions Loan Repayment Program paying $25k a year for up to 3 years towards student loans (total of $75k). PTs would also direct commission as officers, skipping basic training but doing officers training instead. There's also continuing education reimbursement and all of the benefits of being in the military (insurance, air fare, etc).

Obviously deployment is a big concern for most people who join the military. While I am genuinely interested in joining the Guard to serve my country, I would also prefer not to have to leave my wife and new baby boy for at least a year and put my life on the line. Does anyone know if the chances of deploying as a PT are as high as a regular enlisted soldier? Also, if I were to deploy, would I see combat or serve in a supportive role?

I'd love to hear anyone's input, especially if you've been a PT in the guard. Thanks!

I realize this is an ancient thread. I thought that I have a little to add though. I was very, very close to joining the National Guard after PT school. You can only be a PT if you are active duty, which automatically means not the guard. If you are joining the guard, you are joining on their terms. This can mean enlisting or going through OCS, but neither occupation will be PT related. Also, you WILL deploy which can disrupt your full-time job.

I am active duty with the US Public Health Service, which is a uniformed service, and qualifies for all military benefits. I do not have loans as I already paid them off through the IHS Loan Repayment Program. It's worth looking into.

 

[scrawnyguy]

I realize this is an ancient thread. I thought that I have a little to add though. I was very, very close to joining the National Guard after PT school. You can only be a PT if you are active duty, which automatically means not the guard. If you are joining the guard, you are joining on their terms. This can mean enlisting or going through OCS, but neither occupation will be PT related. Also, you WILL deploy which can disrupt your full-time job.

I am active duty with the US Public Health Service, which is a uniformed service, and qualifies for all military benefits. I do not have loans as I already paid them off through the IHS Loan Repayment Program. It's worth looking into.

That's not entirely true. There are actually a small handful of PTs in the Reserves and an even smaller number of PTs in the National Guard. I used looked into the Army Career Tracker site and it's actually less than one per state for the Guard. The positions do technically exist, but it's probably almost impossible to land one of those positions. Besides the fact that there are very few slots, people who are fortunate enough to land those positions generally stay in them for a long time. When those positions do open up they tend to get snatched up by a folks who are either 1) already trained as PTs but serving in the Guard/Reserves as something more general like a Med Service officer then they transition over to a PT slot or 2) active duty PTs who are transitioning to the Guard/Reserves. I actually went to BOLC with a guy who secured a PT position in a Reserve unit without any military experience at all. I'm not sure how he did it, but if anyone is super interested I can probably link you up.

I also wouldn't say that "you WILL deploy". If you join the military that's a definite possibility and you shouldn't join if you aren't ready to do so at some point. I actually deployed 3 times in my previous military job and I imagine I will do so at least once as a military PT before I retire for good in a decade or so, but I know plenty of folks who never left the states. I actually did a stint as a recruiter and I never tell someone that there's no way they would deploy, but on the flip side I would also never guarantee someone that they would.

 

[Megsmans]

That's not entirely true. There are actually a small handful of PTs in the Reserves and an even smaller number of PTs in the National Guard. I used looked into the Army Career Tracker site and it's actually less than one per state for the Guard. The positions do technically exist, but it's probably almost impossible to land one of those positions. Besides the fact that there are very few slots, people who are fortunate enough to land those positions generally stay in them for a long time. When those positions do open up they tend to get snatched up by a folks who are either 1) already trained as PTs but serving in the Guard/Reserves as something more general like a Med Service officer then they transition over to a PT slot or 2) active duty PTs who are transitioning to the Guard/Reserves. I actually went to BOLC with a guy who secured a PT position in a Reserve unit without any military experience at all. I'm not sure how he did it, but if anyone is super interested I can probably link you up.

I also wouldn't say that "you WILL deploy". If you join the military that's a definite possibility and you shouldn't join if you aren't ready to do so at some point. I actually deployed 3 times in my previous military job and I imagine I will do so at least once as a military PT before I retire for good in a decade or so, but I know plenty of folks who never left the states. I actually did a stint as a recruiter and I never tell someone that there's no way they would deploy, but on the flip side I would also never guarantee someone that they would.

Hey there, I'd love to be connected with your friend if you don't mind!

 

[Azimuthal]

There are 10 slots for PT's in the entire National Guard. If each slot can be temporarily set to 200% filled, that leaves 20 billets . I went the admin route in AMEDD for Guard. IDC. Ten years until retirement .