Scared of Basic

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jfitzpat said:
If you are in the helath professions, then compassion should be one of your core values. You seem to think that compassion and the military are mutually exclusive. I disagree.
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Compassion: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

This situation deserves no compassion.
 
My little boy was 2 years, 11 months old when I went on an ADT last summer. It was hard (more on me, than on him), but it allowed my son and my husband to beome even closer and gave my husband a new appreciation for all that I do.

We talked at least several times weekly using a webcam, which my son loved. He wasn't quite old enough to do the phone really well, but he loved the webcam and looked forward to seeing "Mommy on the 'puter" in the evenings. I don't think this time of separation had a negative impact on us as a family although I was amazed at how much a three-year-old can develop in a month. You only see it when you're not there everday.

I am prior service and have done my share of deployments, but never as a mother. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to it now, but we'll get through it. Thousands of servicemembers and their families do. I will, and you will too. Military service entails sacrifice. If the only sacrifice we have to make is some time away from our families, we are on the low end of the sacrifice scale. My $.02.
 
To the OP,

Do your best to get in shape. As for leaving your family, well, welcome to the common bond that binds you to the rest of the military. Familial separation is and will be par for the course, but you'll get through it and you and your family will be stronger for it. Explain to your little guy that mommy is a soldier now and she has to go learn about being a good soldier with other doctors. Help him be proud of you and what you are doing. When I was growing up, we always used to laugh and shake our heads at the sissy civilian kids at school who were upset that their dad would be out of town for a couple of days. Kids are resilient and he's not going to love you less. If you do it right, he will respect the hell out of you for it.

Give him one of these and one of these.

Good luck.
 
DrMetal said:
Good clarification. Little boys get attached to their moms all the time (I witness it in my own son). But they have to learn to detach, and they're surprisingly good at doing this as they get older (kids are good at adapting!). He's gotta go to pre-school, K-12, after-school activities, etc. So the little guy will get by, really. It's hard at first, but they learn quick. Now, even if the OP went the civ route, she'd still be separated from her family for periods of time (2-3 days, during intern year and res), no? So again, both mother and son have to learn to detach a little bit. I know 5 weeks sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not. Perhaps they can use the opportunity to allow son to get more attached to papa or a grandparent.

Oh and . . . what F-ing recruiter told her she didn't have to do officer training or any other ADT during med school ? And would this have been a deal-breaker for her???

Again, the officer school and ADT during med school is just the tip of the iceburg. She should be prepping to deploy sometime, that's the more serious deal. . . . And if she really doesn't want to do this any more (for whatever reason, medical or otherwise), I think she can still bail and pay back her MSI year.

good luck . . .
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Yeah, I don't know. I went back and read the "clarification" and it sounds pretty lame to me. If you are worried about your child being able to deal with your absence for a few weeks of OBLC, now is the time to start helping him prepare for it. If you are worried about not being able to keep up with the physical part (a JOKE AT OBLC) now is the time to start preparing yourself for it. They have gyms and stuff nowadays and everything. If you think you are going to cry when thinking about your child while at OBLC and that some of the people might laugh or say you are weak, welcome to the Army. (Although, the vast majority of people in the medical field who are at OBLC are not neadrathals and are likely to understand that you miss your kid.)
 
dwb8p said:
This thread has turned into pansy central.

The military is not in the business of compassion. It's not the Peace Corps. We're trained to kill others and support our fellow brethren who do.

ValeUC, drive on.
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I went into this, commissioned, with the intention of serving my country, but as a physician. I want to help people, treat their injuries and illnesses. I am not combat material and never claimed to be and was told by those who initially recruited me that I didn't need to be.

For those who have posted with words of encouragement, and stories about having to leave your own children, thank you!
 
Valvool said:
I went into this, commissioned, with the intention of serving my country, but as a physician. I want to help people, treat their injuries and illnesses. I am not combat material and never claimed to be and was told by those who initially recruited me that I didn't need to be.
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Fortunately for the rest of the American public these injuries that you want to treat don't occur stateside. Who knew that soldiers needed medical care in a combat environment.

And seriously, the PT schedule at OBC is a joke. If you look at the schedule for this summer's class, which I'm assuming you've already received, we're only going to have to PT, maybe, 3 times a week for an hour and a half. You jog all you want, but jogging 5 miles at 12 minute mile pace isn't going to cut. Try actually running. Get the book Run Less, Run Faster and stick to the intermediate 5k training plan.

To pass your PT you need to run 2 miles in 19:36, do 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes, and do 17 push-ups in 2 minutes. If you cant do this, you've got just under 2 months to get there.
 
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Oh and . . . what F-ing recruiter told her she didn't have to do officer training or any other ADT during med school ? And would this have been a deal-breaker for her???
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I think it was less a case of that being a deal breaker than yet another example of how poor transparency in recruiting makes for needlessly unhappy servicemen down the line. I'm 95% sure she would have joined knowing that she had to go on ADTs, but the fact that her recruiter told her there would be absolutely no problems whatsoever getting and taking 4 successive sets of school orders and training after medical school. Like anyone that was lied to about a contract, and I know we have lots of those on this forum, she feels pissed off. Pretty much the same situation that is constant coming up with GMO tours. Also I view this as the worst kind of recruiter lie: when you ask a direct question and get an answer that's just flat out wrong (and I can't imagine how he didn't KNOW it was wrong when he told her). That isn't the same as not doing your research or not asking the right questions, and in the civilian world that kind of lie can be a legal basis for initiating a lawsuit. I agree there's nothing to do here but move on (just like everyone serving the GMO tours that they weren't told about), but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be at least a little peeved about her situation (just like everyone serving the GMO tours they weren't told about).
 
mslall said:
Fortunately for the rest of the American public these injuries that you want to treat don't occur stateside. Who knew that soldiers needed medical care in a combat environment.
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I toured Brook Army before signing on and met with several female physicians who had deployed to Iraq. While in Iraq, none of them had worked in a 'combat environment'. They worked in hospitals that were some distance away from the fighting.
 
Valvool said:
I toured Brook Army before signing on and met with several female physicians who had deployed to Iraq. While in Iraq, none of them had worked in a 'combat environment'. They worked in hospitals that were some distance away from the fighting.
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So what happens when one of these "hospitals," which I'm assuming your talking about a Combat Support Hospital, takes a mortar round? I'll bet it turns into a 'combat environment' pretty quickly. I think there was a thread on here not too long about about an air force physician being killed while jogging at one these hospitals that are 'some distance away from the fighting.'
 
mslall said:
So what happens when one of these "hospitals," which I'm assuming your talking about a Combat Support Hospital, takes a mortar round? I'll bet it turns into a 'combat environment' pretty quickly. I think there was a thread on here not too long about about an air force physician being killed while jogging at one these hospitals that are 'some distance away from the fighting.'
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Lost cause, man. The OP would have had to be in a coma for the last 7 years, not heard any news reports, never talked to a real person involved in the mission, and done zero research into what being a military medical provider means. The linear battlefield argument is actually the last nail in the coffin for me. I simply don't believe the story anymore.

I wonder, did the recruiter speak of what "outfit" you would be part of while "the Chatanooga Choo Choo" played in the background?
 
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But Perrotfish is a legitimate poster. I don't know...It drives me bonkers trying to figure out who is a troll on these boards sometimes! I have to agree with some of the latest posters, though. FYI...we aren't combat-trained at officer's training. If you think this is even close to combat training, I wish you could talk to my buddy who is in Iraq right now. He would probably get a little irritated with you, though, for calling what we go through "combat training."
 
dwb8p said:
We're trained to kill others and support our fellow brethren who do.
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Out of curiosity, are you in the military? Or medical school, for that matter? You might have a slightly off view of how much "kill" training is involved in the making of a military physician.

If you find a lot of killing happening at your hands in milmed, it's probably accidental. You're doing something wrong....
 
glamqueen said:
But Perrotfish is a legitimate poster. I don't know...It drives me bonkers trying to figure out who is a troll on these boards sometimes! I have to agree with some of the latest posters, though. FYI...we aren't combat-trained at officer's training. If you think this is even close to combat training, I wish you could talk to my buddy who is in Iraq right now. He would probably get a little irritated with you, though, for calling what we go through "combat training."
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Its not "combat training," in the sense that infantry or special ops or cav guys get. But we do learn the basics of being in the field, land nav, sanitation, moving in convoys, moving litters, etc. I'm in no way trying to compare OBC to BOLC II/III, TBS (for the marines), or hell, even boot camp, but there are things that the green god deems necessary for us to know when we deploy. I think a CSH taking mortar fire qualifies as a combat environment, again i'm not trying to compare this to driving in a humvee up and down IED lined roads. I was just trying to allude to the point that being shot at, even as a physician, is a possibility.
 
Totally agree. According to the Geneva Convention, we aren't allowed to engage in combat unless it is defensively, and even that is a little hairy. We are given a weapon, but we aren't given combat courses in using it. Keep in mind, I haven't been to COT yet, but I am friends with a military lawyer who could probably recite the Geneva code backwards, and he outlined what to expect with this for me.
 
I think the "We're trained...." was referring to the non-medical personnel (infantry, spec ops, cav, pilots, etc.) while the "support our....." referred to the medical corps and others.
 
Valvool said:
my main worries are about public humiliation and not being able to mask emotion...I have heard it can be fairly abusive.
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It sounds like you are going to love your surgery rotations. 😀

No kind of public humiliation compares to hours and hours of pimping during a good vascular case. 😱
 
Valvool said:
Yes, money was a factor--and I already commissioned so I have made the committment and understand that I have to follow through. I am not worried about passing the tests, actually, my main worries are about public humiliation and not being able to mask emotion...I have heard it can be fairly abusive.
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Officer Basic Course (OBC) was fairly benign. For the Army it's in San Antonio which is a decent city. I remember it was death by powerpoint lecture. I had my own hotel room. Class was out at 4-4:30. I had the evening to myself. We had weekends off. The only kind of tough part was the one week we spent out in the field, doing military stuff.
 
I'm hoping you weren't on the meds when you commissioned. It may not happen, but the Army would definitely have the option of discharging you for fraudulent enlistment. The pre-MEPS history you filled out asked specifically about Dx and meds for depression and anxiety. I've read several stories of lying and getting away with it, but I've also heard from people with less than honorable discharge that is gonna stick with them for life. You'll be explaining to prospective employers that you lied on your Army app for the rest of your life. I'm currently in the middle of waiting a year after getting off meds so that I can commission truthfully and without fear of repercussion.
 
To the OP:
It has been a while since I did HPSP but it may be worthwhile to explore some potential ways to ease the family stressors.
1) it may be possible to do one of your required annual trainings at your med school rather than as an away rotation--worth asking people currently in HPSP--I seem to recall that you could propose a research project or if your school's requirements precluded an away month there was a work-around
2) The active duty tours I did were all at locations where a family could co-locate for the 6 weeks (I did not have a family then but others did). You may have to pay out of pocket for your family to stay in a hotel or in some military family housing situation but it might ease your stress to be able to see them every day. In training situations where everyone is in a dorm environment (not applicable to clinical rotation-possibly applicable to a flight surgeon med student course, or the basic officer course) you would most likely be expected to stay in the dorm setting with everyone else but your family could stay nearby and when everyone else goes out to have fun you could hang out with your family.
3) As to the fear of the training, rest assured you just have to be in basically decent condition and don't have to be an elite athlete. I found the officer training fun because it structured a work-out into my day better than I do on my own. You can eliminate a lot of your anxiety by starting to simulate whatever testing requirements you will face and work towards some goals.
Best of luck.
 
dwb8p said:
Compassion: a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

This situation deserves no compassion.
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That's a little short sighted. We are taught to have sympathy for and treat the whole patient. That includes the ones who are on haloperidol, not just the ones with combat wounds or cancer.

But I agree with the sentiment of man up and don't use the military for the money.
 
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