What pathway to take?

[armygirl424]

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I am majoring in Pre-Med in my undergraduate studies. I am currently in ROTC and dream to become a trauma surgeon for the Army; however, am not sure what is the right pathway to achieve this dream. Should I join the Army immediately after college or now? If I were to join now, would the Army train me in medicine or for combat? Would the Army directly pay for medical school?After Medical school does the Army send me to a facility to complete my residency and fellowship?
I would love to be involved in combat from the medical stand point. Ultimately, I want to be in, or around the battlefield. Again, I am not sure how this works. Could it be possible to serve my residency on a tour overseas? If I am deployed as a Trauma/ Emergency Surgeon what are my duties? What would consist of a normal day?
Thank You! Any information is helpful!

 

[Cawolf]

Sorry I can't be of help, but I suggest looking at the Military sub-forum.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/military-medicine.72/

 

[moop]

I am majoring in Pre-Med in my undergraduate studies. I am currently in ROTC and dream to become a trauma surgeon for the Army; however, am not sure what is the right pathway to achieve this dream. Should I join the Army immediately after college or now? If I were to join now, would the Army train me in medicine or for combat? Would the Army directly pay for medical school?After Medical school does the Army send me to a facility to complete my residency and fellowship?
I would love to be involved in combat from the medical stand point. Ultimately, I want to be in, or around the battlefield. Again, I am not sure how this works. Could it be possible to serve my residency on a tour overseas? If I am deployed as a Trauma/ Emergency Surgeon what are my duties? What would consist of a normal day?
Thank You! Any information is helpful!

What does your premed major entail...? A random hodgepodge of prereqs..?

 

[nOchemallday]

I am majoring in Pre-Med in my undergraduate studies. I am currently in ROTC and dream to become a trauma surgeon for the Army; however, am not sure what is the right pathway to achieve this dream. Should I join the Army immediately after college or now? If I were to join now, would the Army train me in medicine or for combat? Would the Army directly pay for medical school?After Medical school does the Army send me to a facility to complete my residency and fellowship?
I would love to be involved in combat from the medical stand point. Ultimately, I want to be in, or around the battlefield. Again, I am not sure how this works. Could it be possible to serve my residency on a tour overseas? If I am deployed as a Trauma/ Emergency Surgeon what are my duties? What would consist of a normal day?
Thank You! Any information is helpful!

As @Cawolf has mentioned, the military section may be able to provide more thorough information for you. I have a quick question though about what you mean by "I am currently in ROTC" means. If you are currently in ROTC, you know you have a repayment service (likely 4 yrs) to the branch for whom you are completing your officer training. In my uneducated opinion, I doubt the military will let you postpone your repayment until after medschool/residency. The only exception I can think of is if you manage to secure an HPSP scholarship or go to USUHS for med school (both described below). Based on your statements like "If I were to join now, etc." it sounds like you're not yet part of a formal ROTC program.
Assuming you are NOT currently in an ROTC program, you have the following options:
1. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, apply for HPSP scholarship - 4 yrs med school free, 4 yrs repayment - required to do the military match* for residency
2. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to USUHS - 4 yrs med school free, 4 yrs repayment (I think)- required to do the military match* for residency
3. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, apply to a miltary approved residency and get FAP - unsure of cost savings and repayment amount
4. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, get into military approved residency, apply for STRAP during PGY 3 - 1 to 3 year stipends (3 to 5 yr residencies respectively), repay at 2 yrs service per 1 yr STRAP
5. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, complete residency, apply for HPLR so long as your specialty is found necessary. Repayment (or forgiveness, unclear) of $40k per year spent as a reservist up to $250k total. (They basically have the same thing for the national guard as well).

*Military match - The military match claims 98% of applicants match into an internship, which is true. However only ~75% of applicants actually secure a categorical residency position. The military cannot force you to do a categorical residency you do not wish to do; however, the remainder of "un-matched" applicants are often trained for jobs such as flight surgeon.

On a side note, if you manage to get training as either a physician or flight surgeon, it is unlikely you will be doin anything in combat. The government will have spent almost a quarter million dollars training you to fix people, they aren't going to send you in on the front lines. If you're looking for that atmosphere, just become a medic. If someone is in need of EM/trauma surgery, they are stabilized, then helicoptered to the hosptial (usually in Germany). It's not like M.A.S.H.

@moop , she might be majoring in: science, pre-professional, though I agree it's unclear.

 

[moop]

As [USER=586157]@moop , she might be majoring in: science, pre-professional, though I agree it's unclear.[/USER]

She specifically said "pre-med" so I am curious. I know these ridiculous hodge podges still exist

 

[medic86]

As @Cawolf has mentioned, the military section may be able to provide more thorough information for you. I have a quick question though about what you mean by "I am currently in ROTC" means. If you are currently in ROTC, you know you have a repayment service (likely 4 yrs) to the branch for whom you are completing your officer training. In my uneducated opinion, I doubt the military will let you postpone your repayment until after medschool/residency. The only exception I can think of is if you manage to secure an HPSP scholarship or go to USUHS for med school (both described below). Based on your statements like "If I were to join now, etc." it sounds like you're not yet part of a formal ROTC program.

She'll only owe repayment if she contracts, which is usually done junior year. Some people participate freshman and sophomore years to decide if they want to sign their life away. 😛

About the exceptions: that's pretty much correct. There may be others, but they're all usually done on a case-by-case basis.

A little tangent: I was going to do the Green to Gold option when I was still Active Duty, but there were some crazy stipulations as far a classes I could take: no overloads, no summer classes, and I had to complete a degree within 60 semester hours. It would have made it impossible for me to complete the pre-med prerequisites, and then I'd have to be a random officer for the next 4 years (unless, I performed poorly enough to not get picked up for active duty... but that's another discussion).

Assuming you are NOT currently in an ROTC program, you have the following options:
1. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, apply for HPSP scholarship - 4 yrs med school free, 4 yrs repayment - required to do the military match* for residency
2. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to USUHS - 4 yrs med school free, 4 yrs repayment (I think)- required to do the military match* for residency
3. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, apply to a miltary approved residency and get FAP - unsure of cost savings and repayment amount
4. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, get into military approved residency, apply for STRAP during PGY 3 - 1 to 3 year stipends (3 to 5 yr residencies respectively), repay at 2 yrs service per 1 yr STRAP
5. Do well in undergrad, get accepted to medical school, complete residency, apply for HPLR so long as your specialty is found necessary. Repayment (or forgiveness, unclear) of $40k per year spent as a reservist up to $250k total. (They basically have the same thing for the national guard as well).

*Military match - The military match claims 98% of applicants match into an internship, which is true. However only ~75% of applicants actually secure a categorical residency position. The military cannot force you to do a categorical residency you do not wish to do; however, the remainder of "un-matched" applicants are often trained for jobs such as flight surgeon.

On a side note, if you manage to get training as either a physician or flight surgeon, it is unlikely you will be doin anything in combat. The government will have spent almost a quarter million dollars training you to fix people, they aren't going to send you in on the front lines. If you're looking for that atmosphere, just become a medic. If someone is in need of EM/trauma surgery, they are stabilized, then helicoptered to the hosptial (usually in Germany). It's not like M.A.S.H.
@moop , she might be majoring in: science, pre-professional, though I agree it's unclear.

"Flight surgeon" is really just an official title for a general practitioner assigned to an aviation unit that is responsible for the health of personnel assigned to that unit. Flight physicals, etc. etc.

As far as MASHs are concerned: there still are units that function in this role. The equivalent is the CSH (combat support hospital), which is just MASH renamed. These CSHs tend to have FST (forward surgical team) units attached/assigned to them, and they're deployed more "foward" (hence, the name). Technically, she can do this, and she doesn't even have to be a trauma surgeon (read: general surgeons, surgical oncologists, whatever).

Of course, the one big glaring issue is the fact that the Army tells you what to do, and not the other way around. So, good luck getting assigned to an FST when the Army doesn't need you there.

 

[Doctor_Nope]

As far as MASHs are concerned: there still are units that function in this role. The equivalent is the CSH (combat support hospital), which is just MASH renamed. These CSHs tend to have FST (forward surgical team) units attached/assigned to them, and they're deployed more "foward" (hence, the name). Technically, she can do this, and she doesn't even have to be a trauma surgeon (read: general surgeons, surgical oncologists, whatever).

Of course, the one big glaring issue is the fact that the Army tells you what to do, and not the other way around. So, good luck getting assigned to an FST when the Army doesn't need you there.

+1 on what @medic86 said about the needs of the military.

I applaud you for wanting to become an Army surgeon, but I would recommend adjusting your mindset from practicing "combat" medicine to practicing "military" medicine. The reality is that military experience is a complete crap shoot and where and how you serve will depend a large amount on what the current global situation is and how the military chooses to use you. I've seen many young men with dreams of kicking down doors in the middle of the night who end up guarding a base in the middle of nowhere or sitting behind a desk all day. With the winding down of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, there are even less opportunities for combat medicine. Of course this could change but, again, who knows what will happen.

Being a doctor in the military means supporting the men and women who choose to put themselves in harms way. This often means serving them back home in a hospital in the the States. Truthfully, this is often where they need medical support the most. You asked what a "normal" day consists of in combat medicine. If you are assigned to a major hub hospital like the one in Kandahar in the peak of the war, this may mean back-to-back surgeries day in and day out as a large chunk of the casualties funnel through. If you're at an FST in the middle of nowhere, this may mean days of staving off boredom by re-inventorying supplies, holding yet another training class, or playing Xbox until the occasional casualty occurs. Bottom line, there is no normal day and even being close to combat may not be more exciting for a surgeon (if you happen to end up there).

Military service can be a great opportunity and there are experiences that you will be able to enjoy there that you could no where else. But you have to have the right expectation or you will be disappointed. Go in to serve. If you go in to get close to combat, then there is a good chance you will end up hating the experience when you end up in a base hospital. But that base hospital may be in Germany and if you're open to the experience, you will have a blast.

At this point, I would mostly focus on your studies and making sure you're as competitive for med school as you can. When you're ready to apply, and you still have the desire to serve the military, I would go with the USUHS option with the HPSP option as a backup.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck on your endeavors!