Question and confusion regarding STRAP (long)

[Geraltofrivia]

I'm a fourth year, hoping to match psychiatry come March. I called the local recruiter about the scholarship but unfortunately, as friendly as she was, she didn't have all the information I would've liked. However, here is what I could understand

1. During residency, we will get an additional $2,000 per month stipend.
a. I was not sure how this will affect taxes or if it's pre/post tax
b. Each year we recieve this additional stipend, we owe two years to the military. So four years (psychiatry) = 8 years in reserves

2. The army will reimburse $40,000 up to a total of $240,000. Each year they reimburse is an additional one year to the reserves.

3. Reserves means its 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year. This doesn't sound TOO bad, but when I think about the 8-12 years of my life it's a lot of time away from a prospective wife and child. I'm not sure how I feel about this and was hoping to get some insight from other folks in this program.
a. Caveat is you can do special classes or attend conferences which award points. These points make it less time to spend at weekend drills or the two weeks. Does anybody know more about how this works? How many total of these can you do a year (how many weekends can you subtract?)
b. Do these drills start during residency? If yes, is it so that it's actually only 4 years post-graduation or if it does start during training, those years don't count?
c. What do these drills actually entail? What do you do? How does pay work for this or is it free basically since they paid during residency?
d. She mentioned something about working at a VA or something and how that would count towards the time. How does this work?

4. How does it work for health insurance? I was told that we would be given the option of paying $400/month for TriCare so long as we stay in the reserves. How does this work exactly? Is TriCare really as good as people say it is? I've heard mixed things but overall only super positive stuff.

5. I'm not sure what I want to do in terms of my career yet, meaning whether I'd like to do private practice or academics (I'm leaning very heavily towards academics right now). In addition, I'd like to learn psychoanalysis and potentially go to a psychoanalytic institute or something to get a greater understanding of how to perform this therapy. Would this interfere with the Army or would they not want me to do this?

6. One of the biggest things I'm considering is the power of compounding interest. Doing this would theoretically allow me to start saving almost from day 1 of residency, if I extrapolate this over a 25-30 year career I might have a significantly higher fund of money to retire and give to my one child (I only want one child) and parents. Does anybody have any experience or insight in this?


These are all questions (except 6) which I had for the recruiter I spoke with. She unfortunately wasn't too familiar with most of them. Any insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you all who read and provide support.

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[deleted480308]

YOur payback time starts after residency. It’s about 2000-2100 per month pretax. Tricare reserve selct for a family is about $220/month. Don’t forget they can also send you to a warzone, it’s not just 2 days a month

 

[DMBandFan86]

- make sure you are talking to an AMEDD recruiter and not just a local recruiter.

1. Yes for STRAP.

2. this is an additional program called HPLR and is not apart of STRAP.

3. When you say things like this I think you need to really figure out if the military is for you or not. Only join the military if you want to serve. Don't ever join for the monetary reasons. Now to talk about drilling requirements depends if you go National Guard or Army Reserve (assuming we are talking about Army). Drilling requirement will start as soon as you get a commission. If you go AR then you will be placed into a unit in Georgia called the APMC. You will go down there for about 4 days every 1-4 years for orientation. Otherwise you will be protected (while taking STRAP) by the APMC and will not drill with a local unit. You will have to turn in a DD1380 form every month to get your monthly drill pay and credit for attending residency lectures. If you go NG then you will be placed into a local NG unit. Plan on drilling every month and having your 2 weeks a year (however some units may let you do flex drilling). In the NG you will be more involved with soldiers and medical care.

What do drills actually entail you ask? Well if you really want to know you can try to call a nearby unit (or ask your recruiter) and try to arrange a time when you could come by during a drill to see whats going on. Or you can try it out at home by doing these things: wake up early Sat and Sun. Stand outside for 30 minutes in formation. Walk back inside and sit down on the floor and stare into empty space for 4 hours. Then around 1130 go to some buffet restaurant and eat chow for and hour. Go form up outside again for 10 minutes before sitting down on the floor and starring into space for 4 hours. Form up one more time and then go home. Repeat on Sunday, however you do a twice annual PT test that happens every month.

You do have to option to set up drill at a military treatment facility, VA, etc. Once you join they will give you to process and requirements to get that set up. It probably won't happen when you are a resident.

4. Tricare is pretty great. Cost my family 20 dollars to have our first baby delivered. The dental insurance sucks balls.

5. You can do whatever you want with your personal life. Just remember the Army has its own agenda. Once you loose your STRAP protection your schedule is at the mercy of the Army. Being a psychiatrist I assume you will be called up in higher frequency then some other specialties.

6. I don't think STRAP is going to help you do this as your not really making enough money to make a big difference. I also assume you are joining now to help pay back student loans and finance a house, family, etc. So yes putting money down early does help. But psychiatrist can also make a lot of money so you can make that up quickly if you don't have the funds to put away now.

The one benefit you will miss out on if you are going to buy a house is the VA mortgage option. You have to have 6 reserve years to qualify, but in the future that might be a good benefit for you as well.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[notdeadyet]

I won't reiterate the good advice you're getting from the other posters. But wanted to point out/clarify a couple of things.

2. The army will reimburse $40,000 up to a total of $240,000. Each year they reimburse is an additional one year to the reserves.

This is for federal medical school student loans. You can take it any point post-residency, but when you do, you are not paying off time for your obligation.

3. Reserves means its 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year. This doesn't sound TOO bad, but when I think about the 8-12 years of my life it's a lot of time away from a prospective wife and child. I'm not sure how I feel about this and was hoping to get some insight from other folks in this program.

If the idea of 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year "doesn't sound TOO bad" then signing up for a hitch in the Reserve isn't for you. If you are in the Guard, it depends on your state but there is a good chance you will be kept busy. Same with the Reserve, unless you are APMC eligible.

Disclosure: I'm a psychiatrist in the ARNG and I'm running around at each drill. There are ALWAYS soldiers who either need to be evaluated for mental health flags or re-evaluated to have them removed. There are psychological autopsies for suicides. There are safety evaluations. And there are always soldiers with drugs and alcohol issues. And this work bleeds into the off hours of the month as well from time to time. It can be managed with good boundaries (something you'll need to learn if you go into academic medicine anyway), but not totally eliminated.

So even if the Reserve is quieter in residency, it's likely to be less so after you graduate. The Guard largely deploys to combat zones, so when there are less combat deployments, we are less busy. The Reserve more often deploys to stateside units to back-fill deploying forces. The issue I have with this is that the country has gotten VERY used to activating reserve corps soldiers and now that this has happened, I predict the threshold will remain much lower for doing so. On the whole, I'm currently seeing Reservists being called up to go to Fort Hood and what not more often than I'm seeing ARNG docs called up for OEF/OIF. Keep that in mind and do with it what you will.

I was told that we would be given the option of paying $400/month for TriCare so long as we stay in the reserves. How does this work exactly? Is TriCare really as good as people say it is? I've heard mixed things but overall only super positive stuff.

It's been the flip for me. TriCare reimburses at an okay rate but they are a nightmare to deal with. In short, if you're near a military base, you're likely to have a decent chance of finding providers who take it. If you're not, you may have difficulty. In my area, there were a handful of docs who accepted it, which wasn't worth it to me.

5. I'm not sure what I want to do in terms of my career yet, meaning whether I'd like to do private practice or academics (I'm leaning very heavily towards academics right now). In addition, I'd like to learn psychoanalysis and potentially go to a psychoanalytic institute or something to get a greater understanding of how to perform this therapy. Would this interfere with the Army or would they not want me to do this?

Two points-
* The Army will not really give a $hit about your psychoanalytic institute training. They won't stop you from doing it but they won't support it either. Keep in mind that some programs require weekend work, which would likely not be sustainable with military service.
* Academics is a career that meshes well with military service (mine does) and each place I've looked at working in academics has offered 2-3 weeks paid military leave. Private practice would be tough with military service. Your partners will likely not be thrilled with having to cover all your patients when you go away 2 weeks each year and especially when you get activated for 4 months to deploy somewhere. The Reserve life also pretty much rules out a solo private practice. A deployment could put you way into the red.

 

[Geraltofrivia]

- make sure you are talking to an AMEDD recruiter and not just a local recruiter.

1. Yes for STRAP.

2. this is an additional program called HPLR and is not apart of STRAP.

3. When you say things like this I think you need to really figure out if the military is for you or not. Only join the military if you want to serve. Don't ever join for the monetary reasons. Now to talk about drilling requirements depends if you go National Guard or Army Reserve (assuming we are talking about Army). Drilling requirement will start as soon as you get a commission. If you go AR then you will be placed into a unit in Georgia called the APMC. You will go down there for about 4 days every 1-4 years for orientation. Otherwise you will be protected (while taking STRAP) by the APMC and will not drill with a local unit. You will have to turn in a DD1380 form every month to get your monthly drill pay and credit for attending residency lectures. If you go NG then you will be placed into a local NG unit. Plan on drilling every month and having your 2 weeks a year (however some units may let you do flex drilling). In the NG you will be more involved with soldiers and medical care.

What do drills actually entail you ask? Well if you really want to know you can try to call a nearby unit (or ask your recruiter) and try to arrange a time when you could come by during a drill to see whats going on. Or you can try it out at home by doing these things: wake up early Sat and Sun. Stand outside for 30 minutes in formation. Walk back inside and sit down on the floor and stare into empty space for 4 hours. Then around 1130 go to some buffet restaurant and eat chow for and hour. Go form up outside again for 10 minutes before sitting down on the floor and starring into space for 4 hours. Form up one more time and then go home. Repeat on Sunday, however you do a twice annual PT test that happens every month.

You do have to option to set up drill at a military treatment facility, VA, etc. Once you join they will give you to process and requirements to get that set up. It probably won't happen when you are a resident.

4. Tricare is pretty great. Cost my family 20 dollars to have our first baby delivered. The dental insurance sucks balls.

5. You can do whatever you want with your personal life. Just remember the Army has its own agenda. Once you loose your STRAP protection your schedule is at the mercy of the Army. Being a psychiatrist I assume you will be called up in higher frequency then some other specialties.

6. I don't think STRAP is going to help you do this as your not really making enough money to make a big difference. I also assume you are joining now to help pay back student loans and finance a house, family, etc. So yes putting money down early does help. But psychiatrist can also make a lot of money so you can make that up quickly if you don't have the funds to put away now.

The one benefit you will miss out on if you are going to buy a house is the VA mortgage option. You have to have 6 reserve years to qualify, but in the future that might be a good benefit for you as well.

Hope that helps a little.

Why did you join? How long have you been in? What is the VA mortgage option?

I genuinely appreciate your post. Thank you so much for your feedback

 

[Geraltofrivia]

I won't reiterate the good advice you're getting from the other posters. But wanted to point out/clarify a couple of things.

This is for federal medical school student loans. You can take it any point post-residency, but when you do, you are not paying off time for your obligation.

If the idea of 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year "doesn't sound TOO bad" then signing up for a hitch in the Reserve isn't for you. If you are in the Guard, it depends on your state but there is a good chance you will be kept busy. Same with the Reserve, unless you are APMC eligible.

Disclosure: I'm a psychiatrist in the ARNG and I'm running around at each drill. There are ALWAYS soldiers who either need to be evaluated for mental health flags or re-evaluated to have them removed. There are psychological autopsies for suicides. There are safety evaluations. And there are always soldiers with drugs and alcohol issues. And this work bleeds into the off hours of the month as well from time to time. It can be managed with good boundaries (something you'll need to learn if you go into academic medicine anyway), but not totally eliminated.

So even if the Reserve is quieter in residency, it's likely to be less so after you graduate. The Guard largely deploys to combat zones, so when there are less combat deployments, we are less busy. The Reserve more often deploys to stateside units to back-fill deploying forces. The issue I have with this is that the country has gotten VERY used to activating reserve corps soldiers and now that this has happened, I predict the threshold will remain much lower for doing so. On the whole, I'm currently seeing Reservists being called up to go to Fort Hood and what not more often than I'm seeing ARNG docs called up for OEF/OIF. Keep that in mind and do with it what you will.

It's been the flip for me. TriCare reimburses at an okay rate but they are a nightmare to deal with. In short, if you're near a military base, you're likely to have a decent chance of finding providers who take it. If you're not, you may have difficulty. In my area, there were a handful of docs who accepted it, which wasn't worth it to me.

Two points-
* The Army will not really give a $hit about your psychoanalytic institute training. They won't stop you from doing it but they won't support it either. Keep in mind that some programs require weekend work, which would likely not be sustainable with military service.
* Academics is a career that meshes well with military service (mine does) and each place I've looked at working in academics has offered 2-3 weeks paid military leave. Private practice would be tough with military service. Your partners will likely not be thrilled with having to cover all your patients when you go away 2 weeks each year and especially when you get activated for 4 months to deploy somewhere. The Reserve life also pretty much rules out a solo private practice. A deployment could put you way into the red.

I feel like I will have to figure out real quick what kind of career I want if I end up doing this scholarship. Why did you join? How long have you been in for? What keeps you going? How does your family handle it? What kind of practice do you run?

edit: I forgot to show my appreciation for your answers. Thank you so much for your time

 

[deleted480308]

I won't reiterate the good advice you're getting from the other posters. But wanted to point out/clarify a couple of things.

This is for federal medical school student loans. You can take it any point post-residency, but when you do, you are not paying off time for your obligation.

If the idea of 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year "doesn't sound TOO bad" then signing up for a hitch in the Reserve isn't for you. If you are in the Guard, it depends on your state but there is a good chance you will be kept busy. Same with the Reserve, unless you are APMC eligible.

Disclosure: I'm a psychiatrist in the ARNG and I'm running around at each drill. There are ALWAYS soldiers who either need to be evaluated for mental health flags or re-evaluated to have them removed. There are psychological autopsies for suicides. There are safety evaluations. And there are always soldiers with drugs and alcohol issues. And this work bleeds into the off hours of the month as well from time to time. It can be managed with good boundaries (something you'll need to learn if you go into academic medicine anyway), but not totally eliminated.

So even if the Reserve is quieter in residency, it's likely to be less so after you graduate. The Guard largely deploys to combat zones, so when there are less combat deployments, we are less busy. The Reserve more often deploys to stateside units to back-fill deploying forces. The issue I have with this is that the country has gotten VERY used to activating reserve corps soldiers and now that this has happened, I predict the threshold will remain much lower for doing so. On the whole, I'm currently seeing Reservists being called up to go to Fort Hood and what not more often than I'm seeing ARNG docs called up for OEF/OIF. Keep that in mind and do with it what you will.

It's been the flip for me. TriCare reimburses at an okay rate but they are a nightmare to deal with. In short, if you're near a military base, you're likely to have a decent chance of finding providers who take it. If you're not, you may have difficulty. In my area, there were a handful of docs who accepted it, which wasn't worth it to me.

Two points-
* The Army will not really give a $hit about your psychoanalytic institute training. They won't stop you from doing it but they won't support it either. Keep in mind that some programs require weekend work, which would likely not be sustainable with military service.
* Academics is a career that meshes well with military service (mine does) and each place I've looked at working in academics has offered 2-3 weeks paid military leave. Private practice would be tough with military service. Your partners will likely not be thrilled with having to cover all your patients when you go away 2 weeks each year and especially when you get activated for 4 months to deploy somewhere. The Reserve life also pretty much rules out a solo private practice. A deployment could put you way into the red.

As an addendum to your deployment comments, last thing I saw was the chiefs asking for something like a 20% increase in reserve component activations

 

[DMBandFan86]

Why did you join? How long have you been in? What is the VA mortgage option?

I genuinely appreciate your post. Thank you so much for your feedback

I enlisted as a medic before I went to medical school. I wanted to serve in the military and also wanted the training. Have about 10 years now. The flexibility of the reserves with continued education was ideal for me.

A mortgage through the VA. Better interest rate typically and no or little down payment required. Like I said you need 6 good years in to qualify so I was just mentioning it

 

[notdeadyet]

Why did you join? How long have you been in for? What keeps you going? How does your family handle it? What kind of practice do you run?

I joined for the public service aspect, ARGN > Army Reserve because of the opportunity to help at the local and state level as well as the country at a whole.

As a psychiatrist, I get to do actual clinical work at drill and to soldiers who need it, so I find it very satisfying. If I were staring at walls (like some folks experience), I doubt I would.

My family handles it fine. I have not deployed and when I do, it's for 90-120 days. My wife does not like the fact that roughly 25% of my weekends are not my own. Murphy's law means that weddings, concerts, and other great things tend to happen on drill weekends. She also doesn't like my going away for 2 weeks every June/July since I can't really take off time around it due to work. Secretly, I'm down with that, as I prefer vacationing in lower seasons.

I am in academics, mostly based out of a VA. Military leave is provided and taking it is inconvenient but not a big problem.