I'm wondering what the appx. timeline will be as I transition into the Army. Specifically, the timeline for the following:
1. Month you receive information about available bases for your first orders and when you can send back your ranked preferences. (Assuming not doing AEGD or any residency).
2. Month you hear where you will first be stationed.
3. Graduate (second week of May).
4. BOLC (I've read 2nd half of June through July)
5. Typical date you begin at your first station.
Thank you!
From my experience this past spring:
1. You'll get a list of available bases and openings around late January or early February. They'll ask for a "wish list" of your top 10 locations to be turned in by the end of February. There were plenty of decent choices but even more undesirable choices on the list. You should be able to come up with 10 you like, although I have no idea how the detailed then choses who gets what. I got something pretty high up on my list by others got nothing they wanted. In the end, the Army needs to send people everywhere and your personal preferences aren't the top priority. I'd recommend making your list wisely. Don't stack it with all the bases that everyone else wants, but also don't put something on there unless you really want it. If you put Alaska as #10 and no one else has it on their list, you'll probably end up going to Alaska.
2. We got an email letting us know what base we got around the very end of March. These weren't the official orders, just a heads up, which was nice to be able to start planning my life. It took forever to get the actual orders (I think mine came the second week of May), which really makes life difficult. You can't schedule your move or flights to BOLC until you have these papers in hand. And by mid-May, you're deep into busy army moving season.
3. Your last day of school is the last day you get stipend pay. So if your graduation date is later you get a little extra $$ compared to the early schools.
4. BOLC was 10 Jun to 23 July this year. You then get about 10 days off before your report to duty date. Beware though, these aren't free days, they'll charge them as leave you haven't even earned yet if you taken them all...and they don't tell you this until you're at BOLC. You can do whatever you want during this time, go on vacation, move, etc, or just report to your duty station early and check in so you don't burn leave days. You can also take 10 days of house hunting leave once you get there, as long as the commander approves it. It's free time off to find a place to live, but you have to stay close to base, like 100 miles or so.
5. Report date was 1 Aug, but then expect to in process for a couple of weeks (a lot of free time, they let you do your own things as an officer), and the in process Dentac for another week or so. It might not be until September until you actually have patients on the books. So try to get as much experience as you can towards the end of dental school. If you finish early and don't see patients from April on, it might be close to six months before you see a tooth again.
