Army Reserves to Active Duty?

[aespino4527]

Hello all, I have been digging but can’t seem to find if you are able to switch from reserves to active duty as a physician? I know most often, especially enlisted, to go from reserves to active you need to be relieved of reserves duty then reinlist. However, I found information that stated medical professionals can be exceptions to this. At this point I’m sure I want to do army reserves. After an emergency medicine residency, I should have 1 year left of my military obligation. Would I be able switch to active duty for this year? If I incurred additional commitment from some compensation during med school or residency would I be able to make whatever commitment I owe to reserves active duty? I know I don’t want to do HPSP for a variety of reasons, but I still want to serve.

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[el mero mero]

The short answer is no.
There's a lot of nuance to what you're asking...
It sounds like you're interested in joining the Reserve.

You would incur a 4 year commitment of active reserve with a minimum 4 year inactive reserve commitment.

However, to the best of my knowledge, physicians in training aren't able to sign contracts unless it's linked with an incentive contract like STRAP. if you took strap your commitment would begin after residency.

succinctly, if you want to serve active duty, go active duty.

 

[aespino4527]

The short answer is no.
There's a lot of nuance to what you're asking...
It sounds like you're interested in joining the Reserve.

You would incur a 4 year commitment of active reserve with a minimum 4 year inactive reserve commitment.

However, to the best of my knowledge, physicians in training aren't able to sign contracts unless it's linked with an incentive contract like STRAP. if you took strap your commitment would begin after residency.

succinctly, if you want to serve active duty, go active duty.

That’s interesting. Could explain why the recruiter I talked to immediately redirected me to HPSP. I have found a lot of websites stating otherwise though, articles stating you can enlist in the reserves as a medical student but you would have to go through OTS and such.