working for the army

[unemployedpath]

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I am another one without a job now. I was just contacted by the army reserve for a parttime position. Anybody has experience to share? Benefit is to be close to family. How does it compare to a full time position in rural Canada? Certainly the canada job will be very far from home and i may end with a divorce.

what are the prospects of working in the army reserve. How is the pay like?

 

[mlw03]

If you're not joking about the divorce part, that's a really serious thing. Family should come above job. You and your spouse should try to find a compromise you can both live with.

 

[2121115]

Wow at threads like this.

 

[Thrombus]

I am another one without a job now. I was just contacted by the army reserve for a parttime position. Anybody has experience to share? Benefit is to be close to family. How does it compare to a full time position in rural Canada? Certainly the canada job will be very far from home and i may end with a divorce.

what are the prospects of working in the army reserve. How is the pay like?

There is an article in CAP's publication predicting an imminent pathologist shortage by a bunch of academics. If they believe what they say, they will be happy to lock you up with a long term lucrative deal to secure the future of their department.



Money talks and !@#$%^& walks.

 

[KCShaw]

No idea about the reserve or part-time work, etc. Just that most folks I've spoken to about working as a pathologist in the military seem to have it pretty good -- at least early in their careers, and as long as you're capable of dealing with pretty much anything and everything. Not everyone is built for running a lab on their own with little support right out of fellowship as some might be asked to do, on the other hand you have free consults and are generally protected from being sued, etc. It seems to be a good gig for those who went military early on and stayed to pay off their educational dues, despite possibly being in a dud location for a few years. After that I'm not so sure, since there seems to be kinda a ceiling. Unfortunately I doubt most of this really applies to what you're asking, heh.

 

[LADoc00]

Working as a reserve officer? Or as an active duty officer at a reserve post??

There is a HUGE difference. I would assume what you discovered is a reserve officer position, there is NO WAY you could live on that. Its like 1-2K a month...so Im confused.

You better check the salary range as I doubt it will begin to cover your medical school loans let alone eating and shelter...

If times are tough and you need to go to Canada, then you need to go to Canada. If your wife divorces you because your are attempting to provide your family the only way you can, then so be it. You dont need a woman like that. Trust me there are tons of young beautiful ladies in foriegn lands who would kill to live in rural Canada with you. Try the Ukraine. If that fails, then there is always internet porn.

 

[emergentmd]

I am another one without a job now. I was just contacted by the army reserve for a parttime position. Anybody has experience to share? Benefit is to be close to family. How does it compare to a full time position in rural Canada? Certainly the canada job will be very far from home and i may end with a divorce.

what are the prospects of working in the army reserve. How is the pay like?

If this is what Pathologists have to resort to in order to make a living, they need to shut down the residency for 4 years in order to make this field viable. Who would ever think about going to 4 yr residency, then 2 years fellowship, then either have no job, go to canada, or go back for another fellowship.

This is just astounding to me. All Med students need to be aware of this job crunch with pathologists.

 

[twentyone]

I am another one without a job now. I was just contacted by the army reserve for a parttime position. Anybody has experience to share? Benefit is to be close to family. How does it compare to a full time position in rural Canada? Certainly the canada job will be very far from home and i may end with a divorce.

what are the prospects of working in the army reserve. How is the pay like?

Are you working in the capacity of a pathologist for the army reserve? It was not clear from your post. Do you have to "join up" or are you a private citizen contractor?

 

[LADoc00]

If this is what Pathologists have to resort to in order to make a living, they need to shut down the residency for 4 years in order to make this field viable. Who would ever think about going to 4 yr residency, then 2 years fellowship, then either have no job, go to canada, or go back for another fellowship.

This is just astounding to me. All Med students need to be aware of this job crunch with pathologists.

Im going to call you Dr. Obvious from now on. Yes we have been saying CLOSE all residency programs until the job market normalizes. There is a very insidious reason why Path training programs exploded back in the 80s and 90s and has to do with slave labor. Instead of paying a Path Asst. 80K/year, academic programs and some Kaisers were GETTING 80K a year. A full swing of 160K per resident per year...Add 10 residents and do the math. It was a very perverse financial incentive at work that led us here, the Road to Perdition.

The government should NOT be subsidizing resident training via Social Security that was the HUGE mistake made in the 60s or 70s or whenever that crap started...

 

[unemployedpath]

Are you working in the capacity of a pathologist for the army reserve? It was not clear from your post. Do you have to "join up" or are you a private citizen contractor?

Based on the phone conversation, I will be a part time pathologist in a location within 50 miles of my home. I don't think I will be enlisted, but need to talk to them in person during the interview.

How much do they pay in situations like this? Can I take other parttime jobs during the meantime?

Please share information.

 

[2121115]

Based on the phone conversation, I will be a part time pathologist in a location within 50 miles of my home. I don't think I will be enlisted, but need to talk to them in person during the interview.

How much do they pay in situations like this? Can I take other parttime jobs during the meantime?

Please share information.

You didn't ask them how much it paid?

 

[pathresident2]

...

 

[deleted314957]

the only way the military makes sense is for them to put you thru med school on a military scholarship and then you do a military residency and fellowship as an active duty captain/major. you have no debt from med school and they pay you a nice stipend. your pay in residency/fellowship is superior to civilian. then you finish your obligation as a board certified staff physician and get the needed experience to get a job. you get out as a lt. col. or you stay in for an additional 8-10 years, retire as a colonel at age 45-46 and get 1/2 your base pay with raises for the rest of your life. work for another 10-20 years in civilian capacity.

 

[KCShaw]

Somebody should add it up, but that's gotta be a $1 million swing or so, by the time you figure in expenses and loans with interest payments you don't have to make, and income you do make even if you're shorted a bit those first few years as an attending (perhaps not as shorted as one used to be). Financially it seems like a no-brainer, even if not everyone is keen on the concept of being a government peon for a while. Of course, everyone's pretty much a slave to the system at least through the end of fellowship anyway..what's a handful more years of guaranteed job experience?

 

[LADoc00]

Based on the phone conversation, I will be a part time pathologist in a location within 50 miles of my home. I don't think I will be enlisted, but need to talk to them in person during the interview.

How much do they pay in situations like this? Can I take other parttime jobs during the meantime?

Please share information.

Essentially you would be filling in at a local base hospital. The pay will be crap and work relatively unreliable.

They are essentially getting you to sign up as a reliable locums provider they can pay almost nothing for...

I hope you are good a building cardboard shelters for you and your wife. If not, living in a van down by the river is always an option...

 

[Silent Cool]

Working as a reserve officer? Or as an active duty officer at a reserve post??

There is a HUGE difference. I would assume what you discovered is a reserve officer position, there is NO WAY you could live on that. Its like 1-2K a month...so Im confused.

You better check the salary range as I doubt it will begin to cover your medical school loans let alone eating and shelter...

If times are tough and you need to go to Canada, then you need to go to Canada. If your wife divorces you because your are attempting to provide your family the only way you can, then so be it. You dont need a woman like that. Trust me there are tons of young beautiful ladies in foriegn lands who would kill to live in rural Canada with you. Try the Ukraine. If that fails, then there is always internet porn.

Another reason LADoc is one of my favorite SDN'ers

 

[Silent Cool]

Im going to call you Dr. Obvious from now on. Yes we have been saying CLOSE all residency programs until the job market normalizes. There is a very insidious reason why Path training programs exploded back in the 80s and 90s and has to do with slave labor. Instead of paying a Path Asst. 80K/year, academic programs and some Kaisers were GETTING 80K a year. A full swing of 160K per resident per year...Add 10 residents and do the math. It was a very perverse financial incentive at work that led us here, the Road to Perdition.

The government should NOT be subsidizing resident training via Social Security that was the HUGE mistake made in the 60s or 70s or whenever that crap started...

Yo LADoc,

It's interesting that you say this, because there was some discussion recently among the 'powers-that-be' about cutting funding for residency training (in particular for certain high-paying fields like Rads, Ortho and Derm). In dentistry, this is already the case and residents in many fields there actually pay tuition to specialize. On the other hand, the amount of debt that one could have from training in a dental specialty could easily surpass 500K.

 

[turtle1966]

Im going to call you Dr. Obvious from now on. Yes we have been saying CLOSE all residency programs until the job market normalizes. There is a very insidious reason why Path training programs exploded back in the 80s and 90s and has to do with slave labor. Instead of paying a Path Asst. 80K/year, academic programs and some Kaisers were GETTING 80K a year. A full swing of 160K per resident per year...Add 10 residents and do the math. It was a very perverse financial incentive at work that led us here, the Road to Perdition.

The government should NOT be subsidizing resident training via Social Security that was the HUGE mistake made in the 60s or 70s or whenever that crap started...

Run for CAP and will have my vote!

 

[cmz]

Im going to call you Dr. Obvious from now on. Yes we have been saying CLOSE all residency programs until the job market normalizes. There is a very insidious reason why Path training programs exploded back in the 80s and 90s and has to do with slave labor. Instead of paying a Path Asst. 80K/year, academic programs and some Kaisers were GETTING 80K a year. A full swing of 160K per resident per year...Add 10 residents and do the math. It was a very perverse financial incentive at work that led us here, the Road to Perdition.

UTSW is perhaps thinking of going against the national trend and actually cutting the number of residency slots offered (which is already quite bloated, but that's what makes this place somewhat attractive). Regarding PAs... It's been a long time coming, but their community hospital (Parkland) finally bit the bullet and hired a couple of "real" PAs last year.

How would it look to completely close ALL training programs? Yeah, work will still get done (and probably more efficiently)... but what if you're "killing" the next Jaffe, etc. You've got to keep some programs afloat at least treading water...

 

[Tissue issue]

I am another one without a job now. I was just contacted by the army reserve for a parttime position. Anybody has experience to share? Benefit is to be close to family. How does it compare to a full time position in rural Canada? Certainly the canada job will be very far from home and i may end with a divorce.

what are the prospects of working in the army reserve. How is the pay like?

Have you been offered a job in Canada? And why the possibility of divorce- you and your spouse can't both move?

 

[Kilgoretrout 65]

I would pick Canada. Or just plain join the Army active duty full-time. They might have a signing bonus for an already trained board certified pathologist. Of course, you have to be a citizen to be an officer.
An alternative would be a contractor for the army, stay a civilian and work year by year. They used to post those jobs but maybe that money dried up with the sequester.

 

[Tissue issue]

OP- Still here?