Active Vs Reserve (Air Force)

[KilgoreSnout]

I am prior enlisted, now separated and pursuing medical school. I actually enjoyed the military when I was in, and cannot imagine not serving in the military again as a physician. With the GI bill however, I have been considering paying my own way and just joining as a reservist, with an eye towards the IMA program.

I figure I could go straight into the reserves after med school and enjoy a couple years as a flight surgeon (at a location/unit I actually get to choose). From there I'd apply to residency and USERRA my way through one weekend a month or switch to the IMA program.

From everything I have seen that interests me (operational medicine and trauma-focused specialties), the programs are open to screening reservist docs or even civilians. It feels like being an active duty doc through USU or HPSP would be a more clear-cut path, at the expense of not really getting to settle down anywhere until I retire. Being prior enlisted and being paid through med school and residency, the money from being AD would be at least very competitive to working as a civilian.

1) Are there any opportunities that active duty folks have that a reservist could never really get in on?

2) Is the network of military physicians small enough that reservists can feasibly hop on orders/deployments at will, and work locums in between? I guess what I'm looking for is to make the military a large part of my medical career, but without having to be entirely beholden to the almighty assignment personnel.

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[armytrainingsir]

1). Probably , but the soul sucking AD time makes it not worth it.

2). Depends on specialty. 10 years ago? Easy. No idea on op tempo now.



Edit
You said AF. I read army. So take the above with a grain of salt, although I can’t imagine Air Force docs deploy more than the army docs

Also, AD pay is far behind civilian pay.

 

[KilgoreSnout]

1). Probably , but the soul sucking AD time makes it not worth it.

2). Depends on specialty. 10 years ago? Easy. No idea on op tempo now.



Edit
You said AF. I read army. So take the above with a grain of salt, although I can’t imagine Air Force docs deploy more than the army docs

Also, AD pay is far behind civilian pay.

One thing I'm really struggling to see is mil pay being that much less than civilian for someone who goes through med school O3E. That O3E pay through USU is about 130k a year even with the weird BAH reset. Then being an O3E or better through residency is 160k+ a year.

Sure the last 7 years is being an attending for 200k... I don't know exactly what specialty I'd do and how much I'd lose out on, but I'd have had financial stability and plenty of investing and years of compounding along the way.

When I crunch the numbers, it usually comes out in favor of the military or at least pretty even. But that would delay me settling into a permanent location by about 7 years. So there's my conflict.

 

[armytrainingsir]

I thought they reset you to O1E for your time at USU?

Regardless, during those 7 years of payback is where the .mil makes its money off you.

 

[DeadCactus]

If you want a few years as a flight surgeon between medical school and residency then you need to go active duty. There may (or may not) be a way to pull that off with the reserves but it's unlikely. Many physicians would better meet their goals in the Reserve or Guard, but if your goal is be a full-time flight surgeon for a few years and try to deploy then active duty is the way to go.

 

[Saddleshoes]

Widen your scope...
I would urge you to look into the Air National Guard. ANG is very different that the Air Force Reserve.

 

[el mero mero]

1) yes. Especially as an IMA. Particularly training. As an IMA you're an asset to the active duty unit. They will likely prioritize training active duty folks before you... Nothing personal.. just funding.
2) theoretically possible but difficult. It will be dependent on AFSC / MOS. Taskers are assigned to reserve or active duty. It would take significant coordination to get assigned to them as a reservist on an ongoing basis. If you're in a specialty that is significantly short staffed e.g. Ortho, trauma surgery could probably make it happen, but it would be atypical.

IMA is short for "I am alone".
It's a small field and you won't have a lot of local administrative support.
Reach out if you have any specific questions.

 

[DrMetal]

Regarding this timeless debate, Active vs Reserves:

Right now, given the current climate, I think Reserves is the way to go (and I'm AD).

Right now, skills attrition is rampant in the AD corps. Even if you're stationed at a "busy" MTF, chances are the residents are doing most of the work. There's hardly enough patients for them much less a stand-alone attending service. If you care, you moonlight to keep up. If you don't, you go PT like a ninja.

For our future wars, if we want doctors trained in taking care of real sick patients (and doing it every day), you're not going to find that in the AD corps. We will likely draw largely from the Reserve Corps (which played a huge role during OIF/OEF).

 

[TheEarDoc]

Go to school on the GI bill. Live lean. Sign up for the reserves when you are done and have more control over your life and career.