By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI FounderUnlike the Vietnam era, most Americans are now thankful for the service of their military members—including doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, and other “high-income” military professionals. This is a good thing; significant sacrifices are being made by these folks. However, the biggest sacrifices are usually not what a typical civilian might think. As we recognize Memorial Day today, here are 10 reasons you should thank military docs for their service.
#1 Getting Shot At
Most people think the reason you should be thanking military doctors is because they are putting their lives on the line every day for you. While technically correct, support personnel military docs are rarely shot at and even more rarely die as a result of an act of war. For the most part, they are far too valuable to hand a rifle to and send to the front line. Plus, they were never actually trained on how to use that rifle. As noncombatants, they're not even supposed to have the rifle in their hands.
Obviously, not all of our adversaries signed the Geneva Convention—much less abide by it—but the number of doctors who have died as a result of an act of war in the last 40 years can probably be counted on a hand or two. Choppers go down, mortars come over walls, and sometimes the rear areas become the front lines. But most military doctors are actually quite safe during their service. Nevertheless, being deployed to a war zone feels an awful lot like going to a hospital in March 2020. There is a palpable concern that something could happen to you, and all of a sudden, life and disability insurance policies seem a lot more important—and just like in March 2020, those insurances suddenly become a lot harder to get.
#2 Constant Threat of Deployment
A much more significant sacrifice made by military members is living for years with the constant threat of deployment hanging over their heads. They know that it's possible they'll have to leave their regular job and their family for months at a time with little notice. One of the greatest reliefs I experienced in life was separating from service knowing that I could not be deployed again. This was hardly a theoretical concern either. With just three months left in my service, I was deployed with less than 24 hours' notice on a deployment of an unknown length. We had plans to go on a trip to Puerto Rico two days later with my parents flying in from out of state to watch the kids. Katie went without me, and still to this day, we don't talk about Puerto Rico.
More information here:
How Much Do Military Physicians Make?
#3 Disrupted Career Path
The worst part of the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) or attending the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS, the military medical school) is that fourth-year medical students must go through the military match. This is a completely separate match from the civilian matches, and it does not work the same way. It does not favor the applicant and their career desires. The needs of the military are paramount. Instead of an anonymous computer program, the match is done by a handful of people sitting around a table horse-trading with your professional career. Now, these are generally good people who do care about you and do want to help you get what you want, but they are constrained by the needs of the military.
You can be matched into a program where you did not interview. Applicants are frequently informed that they will not be matching into their chosen specialty. However, even those who go unmatched are placed into some kind of training program, usually a rotating or surgical internship. Imagine you want to be a pathologist, cardiologist, or emergency doc. Well, now you're a surgery intern. You can apply again the next year, but there is a high likelihood you will spend 2-4 years as a “General Medical Officer,” with correspondingly lower pay and almost surely a branch of medicine you are not interested in practicing. There are fields of medicine that are very military-specific (aerospace medicine, dive medicine) that draw some people to the military, and there are lots of good things that can come out of a GMO tour. But it would be a lie to deny that pretty much everyone who ever matched into one was extremely disappointed about the disruption to their planned career path.
Specialty competitiveness is not the same in the military match as in the civilian match, and it varies from year to year. For example, emergency medicine in the civilian match has a match rate of over 90% for US medical school graduates. In the military, however, it's like matching into dermatology. The year I applied, the match rate in the Air Force was about 50%. The other 50% did an internship and a GMO tour. In fact, some people serve their entire obligation as GMOs and then go back to residency after they leave the service, essentially delaying the start of their chosen career by 4-8 years.
The rules of the match are also different. For example, points are given for prior service. This makes it much easier to do a second residency if you so desire, but it hurts a “regular” applicant that much more. When a recruiter says you're an officer first and a doctor second and that the needs of the military come first, they're not kidding. That's a big sacrifice, and military doctors should be thanked for it.
#4 Low Pay
Many military doctors come into service via the Health Professions SCHOLARSHIP Program. If ever there was a misnamed program, this is it. A scholarship implies that you are being given something. When we hear scholarship, we think “free money” right? HPSP should be named the Health Professions CONTRACT Program. Essentially, you are contracting with the military to pay for your tuition and expenses and pay you a stipend for four years in exchange for them later paying you less than you are worth for four years. How much less? That's highly specialty-specific. But let's do a quick comparison. Here is the most recent Medscape salary survey for various specialties:
Remember those figures are an average. Half of doctors make more. What do military doctors get paid? Let's take a look. They are paid in numerous different ways that make it confusing to calculate.
Base Pay
The first kind of pay everyone in the military gets is Base Pay. That is easily looked up in a table (this is the data as of January 1, 2024).
A typical doctor (at least one who matched) comes out of their military residency as an O-3 (Captain or Lieutenant) with three, four, or five years of service. Let's say three. They are paid $6,241 per month or $74,892 per year. Those with prior service can make a little bit more.
Basic Allowance for Housing
Every military member is either housed on base or paid a tax-free Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH). This varies by rank and location, but for an O-3 in Texas, that figure in 2024 is $2,730. Don't worry. If you are married or have kids, you get an extra $489 a month to pay for that extra space. But for a single person, that $2,730 adds up to $32,760 per year.
Basic Allowance for Subsistence
Every military member is eligible to be fed on base or to be paid a tax-free Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS). Interestingly, this figure is higher for enlisted folks than for officers. For 2023, officers are paid $316.98 a month or $3,804 per year.
Variable Special Pay
Every doctor, even those under obligation, is also eligible for a “special pay,” called Variable Special Pay (VSP). This can range from $1,200-$12,000 per year, but it's paid monthly. I couldn't figure out what the current number is (I bet it'll show up in the first few comments on this post), but it was $5,000 per year when I was on active duty, so I'll use that.
Additional Special Pay
Doctors are also eligible for another “special pay,” called Additional Special Pay (ASP). This is currently $15,000 per year.
Board-Certified Pay
Once you pass your boards, you get an additional payment of $2,50o-$6,000 per year. It was $2,500 when I was on active duty, so I'll use that.
Incentive Special Pay
The final “special pay” that a doctor under obligation is eligible for is Incentive Special Pay (ISP). This annual payment varies by specialty. An intern gets $1,200, a resident gets $8,000, and a general medical officer gets $20,000.
These numbers rarely change. The EM number has only gone up $13,000 since 2006 when I came on active duty.
At any rate, a preventive medicine doctor or pediatrician gets $43,000 per year and an orthopedist, neurosurgeon, or cardiologist gets $59,000 per year. Notice that all of the other payments do not vary by specialty. The only variable one is the ISP. Thus, every military doctor under obligation is essentially making the same amount of money, at least within $16,000 per year. For those of you who have wished for more income leveling in the house of medicine, here is how it is done! Of course, you might not like the chosen level. Let's add it all up, shall we?
- Base Pay: $74,892
- BAH: $32,760
- BAS: $3,804
- VSP: $5,000
- ASP: $15,000
- BCP: $2,500
- ISP: $43,000
- TOTAL: $176,956 for a pediatrician fresh out of residency (less than $200,000 for 99% of residency grads)
Now, let's scroll back up to that Medscape survey. What do civilian pediatricians make again? Oh yes, $260,000 on average. And orthopedists make $558,000. The average physician in this Medscape survey made $363,000. The difference between $363,000 and $177,000 is $186,000. Per year.
What is the value of the HPSP scholarship? The current cost of tuition, books, and supplies at the University of Utah School of Medicine (where I attended and where tuition is now average to somewhat above average) is currently $45,864 for residents and $84,071 for non-residents. Add in the taxable stipend of $28,704 per year, and you get a total of $74,568-$112,775 per year. There is some time value of money there and a few minor tax advantages of military service (tax-free BAH and BAS, the potential to claim a tax-free state as your home, and some tax-free base pay while deployed). Due to inflation, however, civilian pay (and, to a lesser extent, military pay) is also likely to be higher upon finishing training than upon starting med school. Exact calculations are impossible, but the bottom line is that the average obligated military physician gets paid $177,000 plus perhaps $100,000 in educational benefits ($277,000). The average civilian physician gets paid $363,000. Some scholarship, huh? Obviously, due to the flattened pay system, the higher-paid specialties come out way, way behind, and the lowest-paid specialties can actually come out ahead. But there's no “free” money here. It's a contract, not a scholarship. This low pay is one of the reasons you should thank military doctors for their service.
Note that once your obligation is up, you are eligible for “Multi-Year Specialty Pay.” This varies from $12,000-$150,000 per year. It's specialty-specific and is in exchange for an additional commitment of 2-6 years. But a neurologist signing up for two more years is essentially trading that $100,000 per year educational benefit for just $13,000 per year. Even with a six-year commitment, an emergency physician is still working for 25% less than their average civilian counterpart.
#5 Unable to Live Where You Want
I didn't think this would bother me as much as it did. I also naively thought a brand new military doctor could be stationed somewhere cool like Germany, Japan, or Alaska. The best assignments are used to retain people who are eligible to get out. Those coming out of residency get the leftovers. While this is a personal thing and there are plenty of nice places to be stationed, there is a near 100% chance that you will not be living in your preferred location, especially during your first tour. Look at how much most doctors resist doing geographic arbitrage. It's not optional for military doctors.
More information here:
Life as a Military Physician – 10 Things I Loved About Being a Military Doctor
#6 Frequent Moves
While this doesn't usually apply to a military doctor doing one four-year tour to pay off an HPSP obligation, those who stay in the military must move frequently. I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy moving. Even though the military pays for it (and can even pay you to move your own stuff), it makes it much harder to build any sort of housing wealth. You can imagine what it does to your partner's career. Since you need to stay in a house for five years on average to make money owning it and since most military tours are only 3-4 years long, you, on average, lose money every time you buy. So, your options are to rent, to lose money, or to become a multiple out-of-state “accidental landlord.” Hard to get excited about any of those.
#7 Military Bureaucracy
You know how you hate the fact that your hospital is run by that MBA instead of a doctor? Imagine if it was run by a pilot, a tanker, or a submariner. The needs of the military come first, and that can affect your life in many unforeseen ways. Meanwhile, your patients can't get in to see you because you're off doing gas mask training all afternoon.
#8 Different Training
The quality of your residency training can be highly variable. It might not be all that different from the civilian world in pediatrics or OB/GYN. However, the more your specialty treats older, sicker patients, the more it is likely to be affected by doing it at a military medical center. I was faculty in an EM residency program in a big-name naval hospital for three years. Not a single one of my patients in those three years was intubated or got a chest tube. That has to affect training at a certain point. While residents rotate through civilian hospitals and their academics (and thus board scores) are often top-notch, you may not feel as prepared to see sick patients as you otherwise would be.
More information here:
How Physicians Are Affected When a Government Shutdown Is Looming
#9 Different Justice System
Military members are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). It's a completely different legal system, and by joining the military, you are giving up a number of rights that most Americans enjoy. As a general rule, the system is much stricter. For example, adultery can be punished by forfeiture of pay, a dishonorable discharge, and a year of imprisonment. What's the penalty for that in the civilian world? Still, it's not as bad as lying to your boss. You get five years for that.
#10 Boring Medicine
You can't join the military if you aren't healthy. If you become unhealthy, you're kicked out. Your health is screened again when you are deployed so only the healthiest of the healthy are out there. Sure, there are still some sick dependents and retirees seen in military medical centers, but you can imagine how this affects your training and your practice.
Every Monday morning, for example, my ED was filled with airmen, soldiers, and sailors with minor illnesses whose employers required them to come to me to get the equivalent of a work note. Seriously, for the first five hours of my shift, I'd be seeing six patients an hour, few of which had anything that required prescription treatment. You're not saving lives and stamping out disease. Other specialties had their own complaints, like disability evaluations (seems like everyone could be at least 25% disabled by the time they separated). You are also highly likely to find yourself short-staffed—not just with support personnel, but with doctors. Difficulty recruiting and deployments can make it so that seven of you are covering a schedule that really needs 10 doctors. When not deployed, I generally worked the equivalent of 1.3 FTEs in my field.
And no, there's no overtime in the military. More work, less pay, what's not to like? Deployments can be feast or famine. Some people go to Fallujah and see a dozen trauma patients at a time. Others sit around in Qatar treating STDs and runner's knee for months. Hope you brought a book.
While there are many wonderful things about military service (great patients, camaraderie, early career leadership opportunities, interesting temporary duty assignments), there are real sacrifices involved even for doctors. The next time you meet one please thank them for their service. They really are making significant sacrifices to keep our troops in the field defending your freedoms.
What do you think? What other sacrifices do military doctors make?
Be great if you could have some statistics about how many doctors are actually injured in the course of deployments. Because I’m 100% disabled, qualifying for Aid and dependence, as well as patient caregiver support program as a direct result of my service in the US Army Medical Corps.
It does happen so don’t disrespect doctors who are disabled in the course of their military service. Get your facts straight.
Thanks for your service. I’m sorry to hear you were disabled too. I do think you’re a pretty rare bird though if you’re a doc disabled due to a combat injury. I don’t have any statistics though. If you do have some, please share.
Did I miss seeing the pension?
Several of the orthopedic surgeons in the practice I go to, are young – to me – (50 ish) former military doctors. It would appear they have the best of both worlds and the added respect many of us give to those who have served.
A military pension can be valuable, but even including it many military doctors are still pretty underpaid.
While “respect” is nice, how much income are you willing to give up for it? If you’re like most of us, not very much.
Hi Jim, this article references the old military physician pay system. There is no longer a VSP/ISP. The military is now using a MSP which varies by specialty and is significantly higher than the figures you quoted. In today’s military system primary care providers can make more in the military than the averages in the civilian sector.
Also, retired military docs will receive an inflation adjusted pension worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.5 million (plus a VA disability pension which many retirees qualify for). If you go to USUHS for medical school that tacks on an additional 10% for your military pension. All in all to have on average $7-10,000 per month of guaranteed income (with lifetime inflation increases) plus family healthcare and a GI college bill for a child with a housing stipend in your 40’s is significant.
Military medicine can be an incredible career and there are many military physicians who retire from the military before 50 with a net worth of $2-5+ million plus have a pension for life. The WCI has certainly helped increase the number of military physician millionaires (as has Joel Schofer’s medical corps career planning blog finance Friday articles).
For anyone thinking about military medicine as a career reach out to an Active Duty doc to get the most up to date info. I think you will be surprised by how many additional benefits are out there for military docs.
My spouse is an example. Retired at 46, still fully able had he wanted or needed to work, we did then have the above mentioned net worth and enjoy a pension we are able to live off of had we no other funds coming in. However the Tricare benefit is quite valuable as well- this year premium $700 annual, plus <$45 copay / doctor visit, and free Rxes (if covered- and easier to get an exception than with regular insurance companies).
My military and further civil service career illustrate another benefit: I purchased the military buy-back for the years I served (too few to get a pension) and with an excellent return on the investment now get a pension for 12 years work after my 5 years total VA and Army civilian doc. (Whether to take civil service jobs is a whole 'nother blog post but if you might do so, keep this in mind.)
Thank you so much for making this comment. This is news to me and while it’s been close to a year since I actually wrote this article (I think Josh updated the base salary data to 2024 data before running), I was not aware of any changes in the military medical special pays as far as VSP, MSP, ISP etc.
I tried Googling military MSP, medical special pay, and multiyear special pay and all I could find was this
https://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/Pay-Tables/HPO4/
which may be what you’re talking about. I can’t quite tell if these are paid while you’re still paying off an educational commitment (I think so and I think the commitment from taking this pay runs concurrently) but for a 4 year commitment, the special pay ranges from $20K to $110K.
I don’t think that really changes anything about the conclusions of this article though, that most military docs aren’t paid all that much compared to their civilian counterparts and ought to be thanked for it.
Even for primary care, there’s not a huge differential here. Per the latest Medscape salary survey: https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2023-compensation-overview-6016341
primary care docs are averaging $265K. The medical special pays for FM, IM, and peds for four year commitments are $35K-$43K. I don’t see how one can add up base pay, BAH, BAS, the value of a pension contribution, tax benefits, and $40K and get anywhere near $265K. Help me with the math if you’re seeing something I’m not.
By the way, if you’re interested in helping with recruiting military docs (a real problem as IDRs/PSLF become more generous), you might suggest to the powers that be making the salary information a whole lot more transparent than it currently is. If I can’t get it right, how in the world will a prospective recruit get correct info? And don’t say talk to a recruiter. I don’t know any military docs who don’t feel they were at least somewhat misled by a recruiter. While I think every recruit ought to talk to a practicing military doc before signing up, that shouldn’t be necessary to get the basic info on how the contract works.
For example 44 year old Military Family Med Doc:
Monthly pay-
Base pay 05 @18 years-10,800
Bas(food)-317 ** tax free**
Bah (housing allowance in national capital area) 4224 **tax free**
IP (Family Med Incentive Pay)-3580
RB (Retention Bonus)-4583
$23,504 x 12 months= $282,048
**does not take into account financial benefit of tax free pay**
no out of pocket expenses for family health insurance, 30 vacation days, 11 holidays, 5 cme days, 6-10-ish additional days off for extended holidays, (sick days do not count against days off) and individual will qualify for immediate retirement pay and benefits within 2 years
Additional Pay
Board Certified Pay-$8000 annually
I am also an O-5 with 18 years on the west coast in a surgically based specialty. My annual pay is just under $253k. This is at least $100k less than the civilian average. There are some significant benefits financially in the military. However the financial opportunities on the civilian side are significantly higher. In the area I perform off duty employment to maintain my skills, the money is beyond anything I thought possible. Four days a month is more than I make from the military on a monthly basis. The full time physicians in that area are making more than double the national average.
Some specialties are valued much higher in the eyes of the military. Just look at the specialty pays to see who they are. Several have been cut to the bone and don’t leave a lot of hope to continue serving. Most of the junior officers recognize this and have been leaving in droves in those specialties. This will likely worsen as the physician shortage continues. There will be a lack of experience down the road since this is not being addressed with any real sense of urgency by military leadership.
There are other significant items that affect you in the military not discussed here. You nearly always have collateral duties such as committees or executive/leadership duties which can include being a department head or a director. These are great opportunities to learn, but are not reimbursed in any meaningful way. In the civilian world every additional job is often financially rewarded. Teach medical students or residents, there is an opportunity to negotiate payment. Spend time after work reviewing lawsuits or gathering data for state/national metrics, another opportunity for more money. Not so in the military. These tasks are not paid but cost you time away from your family or other pursuits. They are required to promote to the next rank and are expected of every officer no matter how short their service. You must test and preferably pass a physical test 1-2 times annually. For most, this is not an issue but can hold back your career goals if you stay in and don’t pass the test. The staff turns over frequently or is left unfilled. The doctors are told to continue the mission regardless. All of the small things the civilian side recognizes as integral to support the physicians is limited or non existent in the military, especially at smaller commands. It can be a very frustrating thing to see happen before your eyes.
Two additional comments:
1. Dental for dependents is not great and comes with sometimes significant out of pocket expense depending on where you are stationed. Try getting you child’s wisdom teeth removed in a small command.
2. I saw in the comments that the military retirement pension is worth 2.5 million. For an O-5 with 20 years it is estimated at 1.8 million based on the DFAS retirement calculator. Incoming servicemembers will be enrolled in the Blended Retirement system which is another complicated calculation that affects these numbers.
Finally, thank you! I love having the WCI available to improve our financial knowledge. I tell every med student, resident and junior officer about it because most have no clue!
05 at 18 years in DC seems the biggest factor here. Run that again for an O-3 with 4 years in Alabama and it won’t look nearly as good.
But you make a good point that there is a range here and the top of it is similar to the average primary care salary of $277K.
I’m a former Navy doctor that entered via AFHPSP. I had the honor and privilege of doing my internship, residency and fellowship at the National Naval Medical Center, the late, great Bethesda Naval Hospital (now Walter Reed – go figure). My first patient as an intern was a leper. Our residents could routinely diagnose malaria by doing thick films themselves. Liver biopsies, bone marrow biopsies, pleural biopsies, central lines so forth were done often by interns, occasionally by medical students. Twice a week medevacs were received from around the world. We also cared for retirees and dependents. Since we were the flagship hospital in the nation’s capital we received foreign embassy members, foreign leaders, Supreme Court justices, members of congress and a president or two.
I deployed overseas one year with the finest men I ever had the honor of serving: United States Marines. I’m not a sexist – there were no women Marines or sailors on ships in those years. Nothing makes you become a RD (real doctor) faster than being responsible for 13000 men spread among a dozen ships on a January crossing of the North Atlantic where for about 9 of the 13 day crossing you are it. Too far from land for a helicopter medevac. No atheists in foxholes? I wore my knees out praying that none of my men would develop something or be so badly injured that I couldn’t or wouldn’t know what to do. Being out there with only one year of medical internship under my belt was downright scary. We weren’t shot at but one of my interns died in a Cobra helicopter crash and I had two near death experiences as well.
My take: I wouldn’t trade my time in the service for anything. I’ve never since been associated with a finer group of people and my training was second to none. My only regret was that I didn’t stay the 20 years to have been eligible for the pension.
Interesting. You’re one of the few I’ve ever met who got out and regretted the decision later. Thanks for sharing your take. Why didn’t you go back?
By the time I was burning out of civilian medicine I called the Navy and discussed my options. They were going to reduce my rank by one step and said that I wouldn’t be eligible for the pension because I would be over 65 once I had my 20 years in. Thanks but no thanks.
I would’ve stayed in had I been a man or single. With spouse having a longer obligation and risk of both deploying same time once we had kids, plus issues during my one maternity leave making me feel my family could be harmed by staying in, I separated. I loved most aspects of the military and felt that as an FP the pay and benefits and duties (when not deployed which I would have been had I stayed longer) were a better fit for me than private practice. Which is why, along with the temporary nature of all our duty stations, I never opted for private practice, instead doing locums (US, and in UK; military and NHS), FQHC, VA, and Army civilian service instead.
Also as a mother in the US military when I had baby one I was envious of British soldiers who got 6+ months maternity leave (no doubt British govt funded in part not just employer funded). Uncertain if they had any significant paternity leave. I’d definitely have done 20-30 years had that been an option, and maybe had 4 kids instead of 2.
Jim is a vet and knows this but many misunderstand Memorial Day. To quote google:
Armed Forces Day: Gratitude for those currently serving in the Armed Forces. Memorial Day: Honors fallen service members. Veterans Day: Honors all that once served in the Armed Forces.
I’m guessing Jim ran this today because May is the month of military appreciation. May or not, it’s cool to thank a living, retired, or fallen military doc or the professional service members for whom they care.
As always WCI thank you for all you continue to do.
What WOULD be a good Memorial Day greeting, to veterans or anyone? I reminded FB friends it’s not “Happy…” and just now had to chastise son-in-law (always a bad idea) when he wished me that. He knew from the look on my face he fouled up… I said as usual “my day is Veterans’ Day in November, so if you are saying something to a person (ie me) because they served, maybe keep it to Thank you for your service which doesn’t need to be mentioned on Memorial Day.” Then added that his wife’s grandfather died of service injuries (Agent Orange complications at 82) so he could say to HER something like I honor your granddad’s sacrifice…
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57322/for-the-fallen
I don’t know either. The “thank you for your service” standard started after my AD time (I got out in 2002). Maybe “enjoy this day we are so lucky to have “?
It’s a solemn thing that should be celebrated. Hard not to seem like a downer.
I guess I like something I’ve seen on Facebook and elsewhere: on this day we remember and then a relative or friend and their dates of life and maybe a military picture of them.
I think Josh picked this day to run this article out of a common misunderstanding among the general public that it’s somehow extra special to thank veterans and active duty folks on Memorial Day. I had some people reach out to me yesterday to thank me for my service. I’m not going to correct them and ask where they were 10 days ago or last Veterans Day. This post was not written specifically for Memorial Day. In fact, it was written last year at some point.
I didn’t see anything WRONG with running it on Memorial Day (or any other day of the year), but it isn’t supposed to be Memorial Day specific by any means and now that people point it out, it probably would have been better to run it May 18th (Armed Forces Day). Too late now. Live and learn, nobody’s perfect, and all that.
I was in the HPSP program 40 years ago so a lot of my experience probably doesn’t apply any more, but there is a certain amount of peace of mind in not accumulating a huge debt in medical school. That’s probably more true today but the value of that is going to be subjective. I was in a relatively low paying specialty (FM) and considered the experience to be essentially a wash financially.
We were trained in firing a rifle which I thought was fun.
I did the math before accepting the HPSP scholarship. I calculated something like $1000/ month loan payments for 15 years (back when I expected $4000/month pay) or 4 years after residency and thought, if I absolutely hate being a doctor it’ll really suck to have to work as one to make the big bucks to pay off loans. 7 years vs 15…. So I went military. Helped that with the general prejudice against FM (like all big med cens) in my school I believed that I’d get better residency training in the military than in a civilian FM residency.
I got to zipline (in jump school) back before that was a commonly offered recreational thing and jump out of perfectly good airplanes a few times. More beneficially financially, my spouse got training on flying jets and helicopters and got to fly them a lot. If he hadn’t been military he might well have paid a million by now for similar experiences- he valued those experiences greatly.
Thanks, Jim, for pointing out some of the nuts and bolts that us (former) military docs went through. Generally I am nonplussed when thanked by civilians for my military service. It seems people are saying it more for themselves (to be politically correct) rather than being truly grateful (or knowledgeable) about what I’ve done. Maybe I’ll be a little less pessimistic if thanked by someone who has read this article.
My spouse routinely got money pushed on him in airports- often by drunk guys (and not, apparently, in the bar). Since he was an O-6 this was ludicrous, so he’d pass it on to some corporals/ privates in the airport and tell (order) them to go get a beer. As I do (well I don’t order them) at times when I see a lower ranking soldier traveling.
Cynicism does not become you! I much prefer to just take the compliment at face value.
Hpsp was the worst choice of my life. As a subspecialist it was been a struggle to keep skills and case volume is laughable. The only reason I’m marketable is due to working nights doing ODE away from my family. I see a few guys staying for 20 yrs plus and none of them can get hired at any job that’s not in rural Montana or somewhere like that. Surgery is dead in the military at least and the only way to have a career is on the other side. If you stay past for original adso, you threaten the rest of your career. The government can keep their money.
Military service does not suit everyone. It may only suit a few. I’m still serving at 27+ years. Dual Boarded in very high paying specialties. I would not change a thing. The experience and rewards I receive are far greater than the potential income I could have received as a civilian.
Via email:
I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with you on the first statement. I, as well as approximately 40% of my internship class were deployed to the front lines during Operation Iraqi Freedom. That’s just my internship class. This does not include the many others that we saw over there. I was often on the front lines, sometimes the very front as I was attached to the Marines. We were used quite liberally as they would send us out with minimal security in the dead of night to soldiers that were injured in combat. I would often get into the discussion of having the injured marines escorted to us versus me to them as I am only one, but they felt their personnel and vehicles were more valuable than us. I was not unique in this situation. I was shot at and was in multiple life threatening situations. This may not apply to the Air Force or docs assigned to ships, but the many of us attached to the Marines and Army, we might have a beef with your statement. Either way, I felt strongly enough to refute it as I feel it is misleading to young prospective medical students thinking they will surely be safe.
“As noncombatants, they’re not even supposed to have the rifle in their hands.”
Actually, all military medics (except conscientious objectors) are required to carry a weapon when in certain combat zones (Afghanistan and Iraq are examples). They have the right of self-defense and the right to protect their patients.
I had an M-9 on my hip every day while I was in Afghanistan and Iraq, and when I went off base (which is admittedly rare for physicians, but I was one of the rare ones), I carried an M-4 (which I was trained on) as well. While working on the wards or in their rooms, they are allowed to lock them up, but they have to be in the same general area as the weapon.
An M-9 isn’t a rifle last I checked. I wasn’t even trained on an M-4.
But your quoted statement is 100% incorrect and makes it seem like physicians don’t carry weapons at all. Noncombatants do carry weapons. And noncombatants get killed (at least two surgeons were killed by rockets in the GWOT).
Physicians are allowed to have a rifle in their hands, even if it was one of the ones issued to our enlisted medical staff.
I wasn’t trained on the M-4 until I needed to carry it. That is true across nearly all officers in the Air Force.