Reserve Anesthesiologist Deployment Question

[camps]

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I’m currently a practicing civilian Anesthesiologist considering joining the Reserves. What is the realistic likelihood of being able to deploy to a location abroad where my wife and children could accompany me? Is this branch dependent? I spoke with an Army Reserve Anesthesiologist in passing at a conference who was planning a deployment to Europe where his family would accompany him, and he implied this was possible, particularly if one volunteered for deployments where families could join. I’m aware that not all deployments can accommodate families and that as a reservist, the family members joining are your financial responsibility.

I appreciate any insight.

 

[DrMetal]

I’m currently a practicing civilian Anesthesiologist considering joining the Reserves. What is the realistic likelihood of being able to deploy to a location abroad where my wife and children could accompany me? Is this branch dependent? I spoke with an Army Reserve Anesthesiologist in passing at a conference who was planning a deployment to Europe where his family would accompany him, and he implied this was possible, particularly if one volunteered for deployments where families could join. I’m aware that not all deployments can accommodate families and that as a reservist, the family members joining are your financial responsibility.

I appreciate any insight.

Deployments are typically 6 to 9 months long. Unaccompanied. You don't take your family.

If you take an ADT (or prolonged active duty period, for 12 to 24 months . . .during which time you're on full-time active duty, you'll have to leave your civilian practice) . . . then you take your family along.

 

[Onefellswoop87]

If you take two-week orders to backfill and lend support to military hospital, then your family can join you (on your dime)
But with such unclear terminology (ADT vs deployment vs mobilization), it’s near impossible to give solid guidance on how long you’d be at any location, where you’d be, and who can join or visit

 

[usma05]

It really depends. For current Army Reserves mobilizations (BOGs), the length is 90 days. This includes the spin up and recovery process that occurs at CRC in El Paso. I won't go into specifics on a public forum for locations, but the list for mobs this year included one locale conducive for your family to be there and a couple that are not. The list was sent out to select anesthesiologists that were "due" for a deployment asking for volunteers. The hours at this center are way better than my civilian job, so I expect time to travel while there barring WW3 finally breaking out. My better half works so she'll like come for a little bit but not all. Additional things to keep in mind is it'll be out of pocket for your family to come, they will have to meet you there as they won't be part of the process in El Paso, I'm not certain of the boarding once there yet, youll have to work out pay and leave with your employer, and as volatile as the world is this could always change (but im told the dates are set in stone for BOGers).

This is current info as of Oct 2025.

 

[camps]

Thank you all for the replies and insight. Despite trying to educate myself on the different terminology that represents the ways one actually spends his military time while in the reserves, I’ll admit it’s confusing. My primary goal is to serve, and my secondary goal is to minimize the impact on my family (who would actually welcome joining abroad for example.) I recognize it may be unrealistic to go into this looking for assurances that there is a high probability I could do the “work” of a reservist with family tagging along. I’ll keep trying to find reserve anesthesiologists and learn their stories. As you have alluded to, those experiences I’ve heard of so far seem quite circumstantial.

Thank you.

 

[DrMetal]

Thank you all for the replies and insight. Despite trying to educate myself on the different terminology that represents the ways one actually spends his military time while in the reserves, I’ll admit it’s confusing. My primary goal is to serve, and my secondary goal is to minimize the impact on my family (who would actually welcome joining abroad for example.) I recognize it may be unrealistic to go into this looking for assurances that there is a high probability I could do the “work” of a reservist with family tagging along. I’ll keep trying to find reserve anesthesiologists and learn their stories. As you have alluded to, those experiences I’ve heard of so far seem quite circumstantial.

Thank you.

If you're in the military (reserves, or active duty), expect there to be a time when you will be away from family. Hell for some us, it's the norm. If you can't stomach that, don't join.

 

[armytrainingsir]

Even without deployments, as a reservist, you’re going to be away from your family for 34+ days each year. Maybe you’ll be a home on Friday and Saturday night, maybe not.

2 days each month for 10 months =20
14 days ADT =14

That’s 34 days right there the army gets and not your family. And that’s not accounting for the weeks away the first year or two for ‘basic’ training which has to be completed before you’re eligible to deploy. And as the new kid, you’re not getting the first dibs on Germany for Oktoberfest, lol.

If your goal is to spend months in Europe, you should moonlight those 34 days instead and take a 30-60 day sabbatical and go to Europe the following year.

 

[comp1]

I don't think there's any way to get paid to take your family to Germany. However, if you're looking for temporary and much more flexible paid time away from your work site (albeit in the US), you might consider working for the VA and enrolling in DEMPS. I'm sure they have a big need for anesthesia.

 

[pgg]

I’m currently a practicing civilian Anesthesiologist considering joining the Reserves. What is the realistic likelihood of being able to deploy to a location abroad where my wife and children could accompany me?

Approximately zero.

I did have one deployment (when I was on active duty) with a surgical team that accompanied a battalion of Marines. We sat in Sicily while they waited for something to happen in Africa that would need a rapid deployment of Marines. We mostly had nothing to do. I was there 10 months. It was supposed to be 7, but COVID broke out and we got locked down and extended.

Before the COVID shenanigans, my wife flew to Sicily and stayed on base with me for about 10 days. It was pretty awesome. But that is the closest thing to family accompanying me or anyone I knew on a "deployment" the entire time I was on active duty, which covered the entirety of the GWOT.

Is this branch dependent? I spoke with an Army Reserve Anesthesiologist in passing at a conference who was planning a deployment to Europe where his family would accompany him, and he implied this was possible, particularly if one volunteered for deployments where families could join. I’m aware that not all deployments can accommodate families and that as a reservist, the family members joining are your financial responsibility.

That almost certainly wasn't a deployment, but rather an accompanied permanent-change-of-station (PCS) move. The military runs some overseas bases, and to staff them they will assign people there for 2-3 year periods. It is normal for families to accompany the servicemember on those assignments.

However

Reservists generally don't get multi-year PCS orders overseas. There are mechanisms where they can spend extended periods on active duty and do that, but I think it's rare.

On the active duty side, the desirable overseas duty stations are, well, desirable. And that means lots of people want to do them. Which means new joins don't get to do them, because those spots typically go to people who've negotiated a nice duty station to follow some **** duty station.


If overseas family travel is something you want to do, honestly, your best approach as an anesthesiologist is to earn a ****load of money working hard as a civilian anesthesiologist, then take a 3 or 6 month sabbatical, get everyone a passport, and take them overseas to exactly the place you want to go.