- Joined
- May 16, 2008
- Messages
- 6
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Hello,
I'm a soon-to-be high school graduate who has a major decision to make in the next couple of weeks. I've been awarded the Army ROTC (Pre-Med)scholarship, but recently I've been doing a lot of thinking.
I've taken the entire Memorial Day weekend so far to read through hundreds of posts on this forum. From what I've gathered, military medicine is highly stressful with very little benefits. With that being said, I still want to join the military medical corps, because I really, really want to a) help the troops and b) be an officer, but I'm having trouble deciding between sticking with my Army ROTC scholarship or declining that for Navy ROTC (as a nonscholarship cadet), and then going for the scholarship after the first year or so. At first, I was all set on going Army, but factoring in things like base locations (I've never been away from a coast. Ever) and being around Marines, my mind has been drifting over to the Navy side more often these days.
My father is a now retired Marine, I've lived around Marines all my life, and my mentors in high school were my two Marine Corps JROTC instructors. The only reason I'm not gunning for Marine officership is because I also want to be an anesthesiologist. I figure the next best thing would be to treat and provide support for them.
Not to say that treating soldiers would be a bad thing, not at all, but I've grown up with Marines and love the community.
One more thing. I was born and raised on Okinawa, Japan for about 13 of my 18 years...so I'm going to miss it terribly when I get to Minnesota. What are the chances of being stationed at Torii Station at some point if I become an Army doctor? I'm assuming it isn't that hard as a Navy doc with all the Marines here, so my question for the Navy side is what are my chances of getting stationed in Hawaii? I guess this question can apply for Army as well since the one time I had to go to Tripler for surgery, I fell in love with the hospital.
If anyone can explain to me the differences between Army and Navy in terms of medical training, lifestyle, deployment, quality of bases/housing, that would be great. Would it be worth taking out loans for a year or two my Freshman and Sophomore year of college if I choose to go the Navy ROTC route? The university I'm going to attend is pretty expensive and I'm unfamiliar with Navy programs that help with loan payments.
And is Navy medicine seriously that bad? When I looked through the archives, the only negative posts I've seen were on Navy and the Air Force. Very little to no complaints that I've seen on the Army. Why is that?
Thanks in advance. I'm planning on spending a good portion of my life in the military. I just want to make sure whatever branch I choose would be the right fit for me, ya know? I don't want to go Army and discover I would've been happier in the Navy, or vice versa.
I'm a soon-to-be high school graduate who has a major decision to make in the next couple of weeks. I've been awarded the Army ROTC (Pre-Med)scholarship, but recently I've been doing a lot of thinking.
I've taken the entire Memorial Day weekend so far to read through hundreds of posts on this forum. From what I've gathered, military medicine is highly stressful with very little benefits. With that being said, I still want to join the military medical corps, because I really, really want to a) help the troops and b) be an officer, but I'm having trouble deciding between sticking with my Army ROTC scholarship or declining that for Navy ROTC (as a nonscholarship cadet), and then going for the scholarship after the first year or so. At first, I was all set on going Army, but factoring in things like base locations (I've never been away from a coast. Ever) and being around Marines, my mind has been drifting over to the Navy side more often these days.
My father is a now retired Marine, I've lived around Marines all my life, and my mentors in high school were my two Marine Corps JROTC instructors. The only reason I'm not gunning for Marine officership is because I also want to be an anesthesiologist. I figure the next best thing would be to treat and provide support for them.
Not to say that treating soldiers would be a bad thing, not at all, but I've grown up with Marines and love the community.
One more thing. I was born and raised on Okinawa, Japan for about 13 of my 18 years...so I'm going to miss it terribly when I get to Minnesota. What are the chances of being stationed at Torii Station at some point if I become an Army doctor? I'm assuming it isn't that hard as a Navy doc with all the Marines here, so my question for the Navy side is what are my chances of getting stationed in Hawaii? I guess this question can apply for Army as well since the one time I had to go to Tripler for surgery, I fell in love with the hospital.
If anyone can explain to me the differences between Army and Navy in terms of medical training, lifestyle, deployment, quality of bases/housing, that would be great. Would it be worth taking out loans for a year or two my Freshman and Sophomore year of college if I choose to go the Navy ROTC route? The university I'm going to attend is pretty expensive and I'm unfamiliar with Navy programs that help with loan payments.
And is Navy medicine seriously that bad? When I looked through the archives, the only negative posts I've seen were on Navy and the Air Force. Very little to no complaints that I've seen on the Army. Why is that?
Thanks in advance. I'm planning on spending a good portion of my life in the military. I just want to make sure whatever branch I choose would be the right fit for me, ya know? I don't want to go Army and discover I would've been happier in the Navy, or vice versa.