what's it like in dental school?

[The Anhedonia]

hi. what's it like being in the army,guard,navy,etc. as a dental student? i know you have training once a month or somewhat regularly, but are the obligations manageable/cumbersome during school? thanks!!

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[ArmyDDS2013]

you do....nothing

 

[trickybenny]

Your obligations for the military are nothing during school. I am on a 4yr scholarship and have done officer training during the summer after my first year, but that is it. If necessary, you can defer officer training until after you graduate. Other than that, you collect a paycheck every 2 wks and do nothing except go to school

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

Your obligations for the military are nothing during school. I am on a 4yr scholarship and have done officer training during the summer after my first year, but that is it. If necessary, you can defer officer training until after you graduate. Other than that, you collect a paycheck every 2 wks and do nothing except go to school

You are not 100% correct here trickybenny. If you are on the HPSP, yes, this applies to you. But if you are on the Navy's HSCP, not totally correct. We are on active duty, so we still have to meet certain requirements. We have to do our physical readiness tests twice per year. We are supposed to meet with our recruiter once every 2 months and send them a report a form twice per month(this requies all of 2 minutes). Then we need to do our yearly check up with the physician and dental checks.

 

[xhamburgersamx]

You are not 100% correct here trickybenny. If you are on the HPSP, yes, this applies to you. But if you are on the Navy's HSCP, not totally correct. We are on active duty, so we still have to meet certain requirements. We have to do our physical readiness tests twice per year. We are supposed to meet with our recruiter once every 2 months and send them a report a form twice per month(this requies all of 2 minutes). Then we need to do our yearly check up with the physician and dental checks.

not true for army

 

[trickybenny]

Fair enough, I should have clarified that that is specific to air force, army, and navy HPSP, where your only obligation is COT during school. HSCP is a whole different ball game. Nobody at our dental school is on the HSCP and i don't know a whole lot about it.

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

not true for army

hamburger, please read my post, trickybenny's and the OPs posts. The OP asked about life in the military while in d-school. Trickbenny responded. He is referring to life on the HPSP scholarship. If you read my post and actually comprehend the difference between HPSP and HSCP (which the Navy only offers), you will see that I agreed tht if you are on the HPSP, he was correct. But, there is another option where you can be in the military while in d-school - the HSCP via the Navy. That is why I said not necessarily correct. The HPSP scholarship holders are in the Inactive Ready Reserves. Not the HSCP holders. We are on Active Duty. Therefore, we have other things to do. So, you will see that I agreed with his post for the most part, but he only spoke about life in the military on the HPSP. I wanted to make sure that the HSCP side was also mentioned.

 

[The Anhedonia]

what about after dental school? i know with the national guard, you are commissioned for 8 years of service from the time that you sign up, so after 4 years of dental school, you would have 4 years of commission. that time could be eaten up in a residency right?

 

[krmower]

what about after dental school? i know with the national guard, you are commissioned for 8 years of service from the time that you sign up, so after 4 years of dental school, you would have 4 years of commission. that time could be eaten up in a residency right?

In the Guard/Reserve you can do a residency after dental school. However realize that during that time you are still required to do your "1 weekend/month and 2 weeks/yr". Also you may deploy. Because you are in a residency program, that does not mean the military can't take you.

So if you do consider the Reserve/Guard, realize that entering residency training means you will have to work out ahead of time with both the unit you join and the program you go into "contingency plans".