Army What a ride!!

[absolutdokta]

Picked up this little piece of paper today. Can’t believe I finally reached this point. There was plenty I loved (mostly the awesome people I worked with) and plenty I hated. Overall it was a good choice for me. I had a great residency experience and good FORSCOM assignment that I was able to extend to finish out my last year of ADSO.

I say it was a good experience mostly because I’m not in a “technically” demanding specialty (family med) that required me to keep a wide and varied caseload to maintain skills that would otherwise suffer compared to my civilian counterparts. Over the years I’ve certainly known surgical specialists that have not found that to be the case. That said, I still did suffer a decent amount of skill atrophy seeing primarily MSK issues over the last four years. I did spend some time at my local MTF with the residency as an attending and it did help.

As for providing for my family it was also worth it. I have five kids and my wife was diagnosed with cancer (found early, treated, in complete remission) during my last year of residency. The reduced burden of worrying about healthcare for my large family was a blessing.

I am happy and proud to have served. Also happy to be going on in life. Moving back home to take up practice with a family member who runs a busy private practice in a small city


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[eagledriver]

Congrats brother, thanks for your service, and good luck!

 

[Chonal Atresia]

Well done and much deserved!

I am now 7 years gone and don’t miss the military BS at all. You won’t either.

Put your nose to the ground, work hard and you will be professionally and financially rewarded (something never realized on active duty).

 

[Gastrapathy]

Congrats and a most sincere thank you. Best of luck

 

[HighPriest]

You’ve done a great service. Things get better from here.

 

[armytrainingsir]

Congrats, and good luck in your next chapter in life.

Contrary to some of the above sentiments, my guess is there will be some things you miss about the military, so don't be surprised.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Best wishes and enjoy your freedom!

 

[GratefulDoc1]

Thank you for your service! Best wishes on this next phase of your life!

 

[Re3iRtH]

Well done and much deserved!

I am now 7 years gone and don’t miss the military BS at all. You won’t either.

Put your nose to the ground, work hard and you will be professionally and financially rewarded (something never realized on active duty).

Be careful with blanket statements. The military sent me to Hawaii for residency, with no med school debt, and a nice $100K+ salary. I bought a few condos and 10 years later, I am financially free with a multi-million $ real estate portfolio. I don't know many civilian colleagues in their mid 30s in my position.

There is a lot of BS in the military, there are also a lot of unique opportunities and plenty of financial rewards along the way. The alternative is to go civilian, make more, but give 50% to the gov't (that prints money anyway).

 

[TheGoose]

Good luck thank you