RESERVES vs ACTIVE DUTY

[berdugo75]

I would like to serve in the AF in Family Medicine, but I haven't decided on whether to go active duty or Reserves...any ideas from you guys? (Please don't say NEITHER)

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[Charlie0318]

What do you want out of it? What do you want your business/personal life to be like?

You need to give us a little more info if you want decent feedback.

Or I could just tell you one or the other arbitrarily if that would make you feel better?

 

[berdugo75]

Well...I would love to serve in the military as a physician, I still haven't decided whether or not I would like to do the 20-year service.

I just haven't heard too much about the pros and cons of Active Duty vs Reserves.

I kind of like the active duty part, because I may have the opportunity to work in some of the best hospitals in the world, serving the soldiers and veterans and their families. Deployment doesn't bother me or my family (wife and kids). I guess it would be tough on my kids if we had to move every 4-6 years.

I also like the Reserves because I can work in a VA Hospital, treating veterans, but I also have the opportunity to have a civilian job, make my civilian salary and still have the opportunity to serve, with all of the same perks that an active duty officer gets (except the living stipends and other fun things).

I've been very wishy washy about both and I would love to hear people's thoughts on Active Duty vs Reserves.

 

[J-Rad]

I kind of like the active duty part, because I may have the opportunity to work in some of the best hospitals in the world,
No. Some adequate-to-decent hospitals and some that wouldn't rival a 3rd rate community hospital in BFE. I am not aware of any .mil hospitals that would be considered amongst the best in the world. That doesn't mean that there aren't some individual programs/services within the better hospitals that are top-notch; but overall? No.

serving the soldiers
Yes. And Sailors, and Airmen, and Marines. 🙂

and veterans
Maybe. My understanding is that quite a few retirees have been farmed out, so that pool of patients may be smaller than you think.

and their families.
Truly one of the more rewarding things in milmed.

Having been posting here for seven years, unfortunatley, there are very few (none?) USAF reservists here. Personally, I'm interested in knowing more of the practice environment in the USAFR esp. as a former reservist and someone who will be @~15years toward an active duty retirement at the end of my ADSO, but about 1.5 years from a reserve retirement (which has gotten better than it used to be). You're going to have to find a reserve medical squadron somewhere and talk to some people who are in it to get good gouge. Spend some time reading the posts here in the milmed forum for part of your assessment of active duty (and try talking to some AD docs offline).

 

[DeadCactus]

I would say one of the larger AD pros is that you don't have to worry about what happens to your practice when you get deployed. Leaving your civilian job for 4 to 15 months can pose a problem for many physicians.

 

[notdeadyet]

I would say one of the larger AD pros is that you don't have to worry about what happens to your practice when you get deployed. Leaving your civilian job for 4 to 15 months can pose a problem for many physicians.

Ditto this. I'm National Guard, and while we're limited to 90 days boots-on-ground for deployments, it still means as long as I'm in that I'm functionally limited to larger practices. Four months off every 2 years would kill a solo or small practice.

 

[Miss Mab]

USAFR here

Alas, just a nurse 🙂

I really don't know much about the med side things as my job's in an OPS group unit. Only head over to hospital on rare occasion....

Good luck w/your decision!

 

[backrow]

USAFR here

Alas, just a nurse 🙂

I really don't know much about the med side things as my job's in an OPS group unit. Only head over to hospital on rare occasion....

Good luck w/your decision!

😕😕

 

[Miss Mab]

Having been posting here for seven years, unfortunatley, there are very few (none?) USAF reservists here.).

Just sayin'

 

[backrow]

Just sayin'

Ah, I got it now. Had me scratchin' my head.


(oh look, my post count just went up one with this stupid post )

 

[2old4med]

Deployment doesn't bother me or my family (wife and kids).

Don't underestimate deployments (notice this is plural), especially in regards to family. I'm not saying it will devastate a family, but I would venture to guess most families are "bothered" when their husband/wife/father/mother deploys. My experience has been that deployments are typically harder on the families and the member.

Also, while serving your country is patriotic and deployments can be a great life experience, I'd consider the pay/lifestyle differences between AD military docs and civilian docs. This is really a personal choice and depends on what you find rewarding.

 

[bongobingo]

What is the difference between Navy Reserve and Army Natl Guard?? I gathered that both can do a variation of MDSSP and get paid $2k/month while in med school. But are there any differences once you are done with your training? Like can those in Navy Reserve get training as flight surgeons or diving officers?? Or any other differences? Thank you.

 

[notdeadyet]

What is the difference between Navy Reserve and Army Natl Guard?? I gathered that both can do a variation of MDSSP and get paid $2k/month while in med school. But are there any differences once you are done with your training? Like can those in Navy Reserve get training as flight surgeons or diving officers?? Or any other differences? Thank you.

The Navy's the one with the boats...

• There are different benefit packages for loan repayment and special pay
• The National Guard has a domestic/state responsibility that the Navy Reserve does not
• The National Guard has 90 day boots-on-ground deployments, the Navy does not (not sure if they're still pulling 12 months or if tht was cut back)
• The Navy Reserve has options for doing Dive Medical Officer, the National Guard (unless you're in one of a small handful of slots in Texas) does not; both have flight surgeons

 

[backrow]

[*]The Navy Reserve has options for doing Dive Medical Officer, the National Guard (unless you're in one of a small handful of slots in Texas) does not; both have flight surgeons

The Naval Reserve does have flight surgeons; however, I have never heard of/seen a reservist at NAMI doing the course. The only ones I've ever seen are people who were prior active duty flight surgeons who are now reservists. Also, many reserve centers (NOSC's, etc) are actually covered by an active duty flight surgeon.

I think it would be rare to see a reserve physician pick up a flight surgery billet over an active duty physician unless it was an unfilled class. I can see the same thing for DMO, but can't speak with anything more than conjecture on that one.

 

[bongobingo]

The Naval Reserve does have flight surgeons; however, I have never heard of/seen a reservist at NAMI doing the course. The only ones I've ever seen are people who were prior active duty flight surgeons who are now reservists. Also, many reserve centers (NOSC's, etc) are actually covered by an active duty flight surgeon.

I think it would be rare to see a reserve physician pick up a flight surgery billet over an active duty physician unless it was an unfilled class. I can see the same thing for DMO, but can't speak with anything more than conjecture on that one.

Are most of the DMO and FS classes filled?

 

[backrow]

Are most of the DMO and FS classes filled?

For FS: The last two years were not as far as I know. This was likely due to the big dip in HPSP acceptances 5-6yrs ago which has apparently now leveled out. I believe they expect a full class this year and prior to the last couple of years almost always had full classes.

The DMO classes are even smaller so I would imagine they always fill.

 

[bongobingo]

Thank you.