MiesVanDerMom said:
I got an email from the army telling me about their scholarships for med school. What is the sacrifice you make for this scholarship? Can anyone give me a few positive and negatives? I'm a mother of two and married, so it seems like a bad idea for me I would think. But we're broke, so... thought I'd ask to make sure...
Like we tell everybody, make sure that there's something about the military that appeals to you on a non-financial level. If you dislike everything but the money, you'll be miserable.
Also like we tell everybody, try to shadow a military physician if you can. Reading about the military on the internet will only get you so far. It's a whole other world.
That being said, here's are some issues to consider,
focusing on female- and family-related military lifestyle issues. I'm trying to avoid other issues, notably bureaucracy and command structure, that have been discussed at length on this board -- several of us have had bad commanders, and exactly how typical those experiences are, and how they should translate into future decisions about entering the military, are subjects of long and frequent argument. Just click on any thread in here to learn more about all that.
Physical toughness: doctors are not expected to be as tough as infantrymen. That being said, I personally am disinclined to enter the army based on my complete inability to keep up with the boys. I'm just not a running, hiking, field conditions kind of girl. That's just my inclination, though; there are lots of female Army doctors who might disagree with me.
Gender-based discrimination: never saw even the smallest bit during seven years in the Air Force. I haven't worked with a large number of soldiers, but the ones I worked with were uniformly more interested in the fact that I did my job well, than in the facts that I would have done
their job like c**p and that my plumbing was different from theirs. I've never worked with the Navy, but runningmom has and danjo's wife has, so they might be good people to talk to.
Family separation: this is the real toughy. When I separated, Air Force deployments were at 4 months. You might want to ask one of the Navy types about shipboard deployment lengths and Iraqi deployment lengths -- I've heard 6 months, but I could be totally out to lunch. If you're in the Army, you'll be in Iraq for a year at least once, which may be a factor influencing mothers toward other services. My 4-month deployment was actually the highlight of my career -- but I didn't have a family then. People with families told me that deployments are actually tougher on the spouse than on the military member -- we get the tough and new, and if we're lucky worthwhile and interesting, jobs that can make time go by quickly. Spouses get the single parenthood; their old jobs PLUS everything we ordinarily do around the house. Make sure your husband understands the sacrifices involved for him.
Moving Around: Expect to move every 3 years or so. Some people love it, some people hate it. I loved it, especially as I got the chance to live in Europe. Make sure your husband's employment is compatible with changing cities every so often.
Duty Hours: This is something I can't tell you about, as I was non-medical when I was in. I suspect that the hours might be more family friendly in the military (when you're not deployed) than in many specialties in the civilian sector, and quite possibly less in others. There's a list of military physicians
here; I recommend you ask the ones whose speciaties you might be interested in pursuing.
That's just a partial list of important issues.
I strongly recommend talking to, and preferably shadowing, some actual military physicians in person.
Have you considered USUHS? If you decide you're really interested in military service, and want to take the "in for a penny, in for a pound" approach, it could relieve some financial stress, depending on what specialty you want to end up pursuing.
Hope this helps
-Pemberley
