Psych Military Recruiter Truth or Fiction

[TexasPhysician]

I spoke with a military recruiter at a job fair. He said his answers were psychiatry specific (my field). His offer seemed too good to be true, so it probably is. Truth or fiction -

1. You set your own schedule whether inpatient or outpatient.

2. You have a say in what military base you reside at.

3. Psychiatric physicians stay at a major base to provide their services

4. Retirement is 1/2 base pay, although he couldn't quote what base pay was after 20 years.

5. You get administrative days and work Mon-Fri

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[Gastrapathy]

I spoke with a military recruiter at a job fair. He said his answers were psychiatry specific (my field). His offer seemed too good to be true, so it probably is. Truth or fiction -

1. You set your own schedule whether inpatient or outpatient.

2. You have a say in what military base you reside at.

3. Psychiatric physicians stay at a major base to provide their services

4. Retirement is 1/2 base pay, although he couldn't quote what base pay was after 20 years.

5. You get administrative days and work Mon-Fri

Oh dear.

#4 is accurate presuming you stay 20 years. 1,3, and 5 are outright lies. 2 can sometimes be partially true but it's never the final say.

 

[tiredmildoc]

Oh dear.

#4 is accurate presuming you stay 20 years. 1,3, and 5 are outright lies. 2 can sometimes be partially true but it's never the final say.

agree - they will lie to your face.

#4 is probably a lie also - they are looking at canning the traditional retirement and replace it with a 401K.

run

 

[DD214_DOC]

I spoke with a military recruiter at a job fair. He said his answers were psychiatry specific (my field). His offer seemed too good to be true, so it probably is. Truth or fiction -

1. You set your own schedule whether inpatient or outpatient.

2. You have a say in what military base you reside at.

3. Psychiatric physicians stay at a major base to provide their services

4. Retirement is 1/2 base pay, although he couldn't quote what base pay was after 20 years.

5. You get administrative days and work Mon-Fri

From observing the attending military types at a large MTF

1. Sort of. you have responsibilities that are time sensitive, but I routinely see them leaving whenever they want to take lunch, work out, or fly on their Cessna to a neighboring island when it's a slow day.

2. I don't think this is ever true

3. No. Many have been deployed to a FOB if they are PROFIS with 6-mo deployments. Division shrinks deploy with the division and typically spend most of their time in or around HQ.

4. Who knows what will happen?

5. If you aren't deployed, you do work M-F assuming you don't have to take call.

This is just what I have heard/observed. No idea how much it applies outside of a training MTF.

 

[SuperSoccer19]

I spoke with a military recruiter at a job fair. He said his answers were psychiatry specific (my field). His offer seemed too good to be true, so it probably is. Truth or fiction -

1. You set your own schedule whether inpatient or outpatient.

2. You have a say in what military base you reside at.

3. Psychiatric physicians stay at a major base to provide their services

4. Retirement is 1/2 base pay, although he couldn't quote what base pay was after 20 years.

5. You get administrative days and work Mon-Fri

1. Nope, but I do get to take bathroom breaks throughout the day. It would have been nice for me to schedule a deployment at my own convienence.

2. You often can submit a wish list, but there's no garantee you will get what you want. I've seen people happy and screwed.

3. No. You can deploy or be attached to a unit (Marines, Seabees, etc.). Most of our billets are attached to major hospitals, but there are exceptions.

4. There's now talk of making this a 401K plan, but who knows. Think this might be somewhat accurate and if you stayed in that long you would probably be an O5.

5. M-F when not on call and only as an attending. Depends what was meant by admin time. Technically I think its suppose to be factored into your week, but I often use after hours, weekends, or no-shows for all the dumb trainings, nonsense, and fights with AHLTA.

This is based on the Navy. Unless the Army or Air Force is up to something shady, I don't think this is accurate at all. I do (usually) enjoy being a psychiatrist in the military, so if you do want to chat about it drop me a line.

 

[Mirror Form]

I spoke with a military recruiter at a job fair. He said his answers were psychiatry specific (my field). His offer seemed too good to be true, so it probably is. Truth or fiction -

1. You set your own schedule whether inpatient or outpatient.

You may or may not have any say in your patient schedule. Regardless, you're never going to have the final word on your patient schedule until you're an 0-6.

2. You have a say in what military base you reside at.

LOL, sure you have a say. For example, we have two great options for you. You can choose between Fort Polk and Fort Leonard Wood!

3. Psychiatric physicians stay at a major base to provide their services

Once again, "major bases" can places like Fort Polk and Fort Leonard Wood. Anywhere that has any sort of a community hospital will have psychiatry. Furthermore you can be deployed or possibly tasked as a brigade surgeon for up to two years, at which point you could go anywhere that a brigade can go.

4. Retirement is 1/2 base pay, although he couldn't quote what base pay was after 20 years.

Well that's true currently. In the future who knows.

5. You get administrative days and work Mon-Fri

Administrative days have pretty much been taken away. Now we're just supposed to somehow get our massive amount of admin done without any alloted time for it. That means staying late at work a lot. I don't mind working late if it's for practicing medicine. But it's annoying to work late doing mind numbing admin.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

All bull**** except #4, and that one certainly isn't worth banking 20+ years of your life on.

 

[jabreal00]

I spoke with a military recruiter at a job fair. He said his answers were psychiatry specific (my field). His offer seemed too good to be true, so it probably is. Truth or fiction -

1. You set your own schedule whether inpatient or outpatient.

2. You have a say in what military base you reside at.

3. Psychiatric physicians stay at a major base to provide their services

4. Retirement is 1/2 base pay, although he couldn't quote what base pay was after 20 years.

5. You get administrative days and work Mon-Fri

1. Not really. There is some latitude if you are chief of the clinic. You can choose when you are on call or when you do inpatient to a certain extent. If you are coming in as a new 03 or 04 most definitely not.

2. To a certain extent, only when they are trying to entice you to sign the doted line. You can make your signing contingent on getting a particular location. Once you are in you have zero say.

3. No. Psychiatry are at small middle of no where bases and they deploy.

4. Yes. For now.

5. Again. This is only reserved for the chief of the clinic. Because they have all sorts of useless meetings they have to go to. Everyone else gets no admin time.

The pay plus "benefits" probably is comparable to or higher than the civilian world. However, one is selling their soul to the devil. You'll have no control. You can get sent to a horrible place with truly incompetent supervisors. Due to the rank structure many mid-levels can and will be your clinic chief. Civilian life is so much better. My training in the military was good. My time as staff is miserable. I am counting down the days until I am free.

 

[i want out]

4. Retirement is 1/2 base pay, although he couldn't quote what base pay was after 20 years.

BASE pay, doesn't include any of the incentive pays.

Correct me if I am wrong (I have been out a few years) but 20 years gets 40% of base and each year after gets you closer to 50%

Psychiatry is a desperately needed specialty, so they will promise anything they think you want to hear to get you to sign up, but once they own you, you will deploy frequently and probably return to a full clinic that can't allow much post deployment leave.

Good luck

 

[denali]

20 years = 50%, then 2.5% each year following, maxed at 75%, hence no one really sticking around longer than 30 years.

 

[AbcJuly]

Exactly how desperate is the Army for psychiatrists?

If there is a great need will they be cooler with a medical waiver? Just wondering.