Ranking Officer Likelihood?

[rblgenius]

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I was wondering how many HPSP medical students actually stay in the military for the purpose of being a doctor AND trying to become a ranking officer in a unit.

Does becoming a ranking officer of a unit, etc. ever happen for medical doctors or do they only become promoted through a separate system etc?

If I were to stay in the military for 20-30 years via the medical route, is it possible to become a general?

 

[orbitsurgMD]

I was wondering how many HPSP medical students actually stay in the military for the purpose of being a doctor AND trying to become a ranking officer in a unit.

Does becoming a ranking officer of a unit, etc. ever happen for medical doctors or do they only become promoted through a separate system etc?

If I were to stay in the military for 20-30 years via the medical route, is it possible to become a general?

You will not be both an unrestricted line officer and a staff officer, if that is what you mean. All officers are "ranking" officers, but a line unit will have a line officer commander (Navy terms, here.) A medical unit, like a hospital or clinic, will have a staff officer commander, usually a member of the Medical Corps, Nurse Corps, Medical Service Corps or Dental Corps. A line officer may be appointed to a staff command, but that is rare. Other staff corps are Judge Advocate, Chaplain and Supply, each with their own staff officers, and there have historically been restricted line officers--IIRC, engineers were among them--but that may have ended. A combat military unit will be commanded by an unrestricted line officer, not a staff officer or a restricted line officer.

 

[NavyFP]

If your goal is to be an admiral or general, yes, it is possible. Is it possible to be a good doctor and make Flag rank......less so because you would have to devote too much time to being an administrator and not a clinician.

If you are going to medical school with the idea of becoming an administrator, you might want to reconsider medical school.

 

[Zulu451]

Agree with FP. At O5 you will have to decide which route you want to go: admin or clinical. If you want the admin route, you will essentially give up all clinical duties to take the courses to put you in position for the jobs that will get you through O6 and onto O7+.

The Army is giving Medical Corps, with the right training the opportunities to be Company CO's, Battalion CO's. Typically, Charlie Med companies, and Brigade Support Battalions. To get these, again you will have to completely relinquish your clinical duties and it would be easier to do these without wasting time in medical school.

 

[laughandatear]

in my experience, AF HPSP, AD residency, assignment as AF staff MD, borrowed by Army for Iraq "179 day tour" (add the combat skills training, etc = 9 months), now out of military based on spouse wishes:

if you are a good doc, play well with others, demonstrate good leadership skills, go along to get along etc, your promotion to O5 is a given. at that level, assuming you want to stay in, you will already have some time as a flight CC, and be "marked" for squadron command or a similar level of authority (SGH, SGP if flight doc). this will, in all likelihood, pad your sheet for O6. you will be very unlikely (as long as you don't DUI, sleep with patients, etc) forced out even if you "only" make O5. they will continue you to retirement, likely, even if you fail to make O6, your ability to make a career in the military as a decent doctor with decent interpersonal and decent leadership skills is nearly guaranteed.

now, if you're really looking to go O6 for sure and maybe even general, you're going to need to be good and lucky. for many, O6 happens. general is a whole different calc. if you are a great leader, and have the fortune to lead some great units, then maybe. but general in the MC is very competitive and many good/great ones don't get there.

BLUF, advancement is totally available if you want it. you will be less clinical, more administrative, but that's not totally unlike civilian medicine. do you want to see the patients, or manage those that do? you can do both in or out of uniform...

 

[laughandatear]

to the OP:

i failed to recognize your pre-med status. my response may not have addressed your question as directly as it could have.

if you become a medical officer (at least in the AF which i recently left), you will enter a chain of command within a "medical group." in most AF wing structures, the med group commander reports directly to the wing commander who is in charge of all operations on the base. so you are all subordinate to the larger mission of flying, but within the medical group there is still a great deal of hierarchy. you will have plenty of leadership opportunities within a medical group (leading the primary care flight, the medical operations squadron, or even the whole medical group for example).

as a member of the MC (medical corps), you will never command "line units." these are the guys that fly, drop bombs, kill people, etc. by convention, we medics always support, never command, such warfighting units.

if you were to be selected as a medical corps general, you would make medical policy for the Force as a whole, but still never direct operations of war. that's left to the line guys.

i'll leave you with a humorous bit from my time in service that might help you understand the dynamics of military leadership. other readers may also enjoy (they've probably heard similar). at my base, there was a general and 4 subordinate full-colonels (commanders of the operations, maintenance, support, and medical groups)

our medical group commander (colonel) was a physician. sometimes i would see him in the hospital with other doctors, other times i would see him at wing-wide functions with other colonels. i always wondered whether i should address him as "Doctor Smith" or "Colonel Smith."

a slightly senior doctor in our med group told me that it was easy (we both really liked our commander):

"when you see him here in the hospital with all us other doctors, refer to him with his senior rank as Colonel Smith! when you seem him at wing meetings with all the other colonels, refer to him by his professional status as Doctor Smith!"

i loved it. and still do.

go military medicine. at least for awhile. you have the rest of your life to let your wife, kids, finances dictate what you have to do. follow your heart while you're young and serve this great Nation. i'm proud i did.

 

[laughandatear]

double post