Balancing military reserves/guard

[dingdong28]

I did a search but only found threads related to military residency w/ the Army or using the reserves as an additional source of income. Does anyone here have any experience with being an attending podiatrist while also being in the guard/reserves? I only ask as I have been in the USAF for a little over 6 years and would like to do my 20 years (prefer to commission but open to staying enlisted). I know the Army residency exists, which is an option but that also means packing up our stuff and moving to wherever the Army needs me.

For those that may be wondering why I'm asking: I'm at a crossroads of going the midlevel (anesthesiologist assistant over physician assistant) route, possibly cardiac perfusion (probably not, just a recent idea) or going to podiatry school. Everybody these days wants to become a PA, MD/DO or CRNA/FNP/DNP/whatever other nursing initials these days; I don't want to follow what everybody else is doing. I already work in a side of healthcare nobody knows about (lab). I have over 5 years of lab experience and which is very useful in gaining decent healthcare experience for becoming a PA. Nowadays people work as CNA/EMT for a year and think that's enough experience for PA school, even though the PA profession was first introduced as a stepping stone for those (first with Navy Corpsman after the Vietnam war, then others) with significant healthcare experience to expand their role in patient care.

I'm 25 and will be retaking the prerequisites for all the mentioned schools so I have a decent amount of time to decide. I mentioned in another thread that I was interested in podiatry when I started undergrad nearly 8 years ago but thought I wasn't smart enough for it. I'm concerned about being nearly 35 or so by the time I finish residency and become an attending podiatrist. I'm sure others before me have started much later in their careers and became very successful podiatrists.

Thanks for reading to the end. I bolded the portion of text that concerns this thread. Any insight/advice would be appreciated. Happy Good Friday and Easter everybody

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dochopeful13]

I really do not have much insight regarding your questions. However, I just wanted to thank you for your service.

 

[dingdong28]

I really do not have much insight regarding your questions. However, I just wanted to thank you for your service.

Thank you, much appreciated.

I'm currently a Podiatrist on Active Duty. There are essentially no positions open on reserves for Podiatry - at least on the Navy/Air Force side. I'd imagine the same is true for Army/Guard. Our profession is so small (think like 25 billets for the entire Navy) and that translates to even smaller positions open on the Reserve side. Those positions are already taken by people so until they retire or leave they won't be free, or if they decide to free up more spots but that is unlikely.

I can answer any questions about the profession on the Active Duty side or in general. 25 is not old, if you were to start now it would be 4 years for your DPM then 3 years for residency. I love it btw, very rewarding career.

EDIT: If you are thinking of maintaining your reserve status as an enlisted while at the same time pursuing Podiatry I think it would be doable. A deployment would throw a monkey wrench into your studies. That would be something to work out with your school/residency. I just know from officer side of things and guys that are currently Anesthesia/other high demand specialties or line officers (pilots esp). A lot of those guys don't do reserves because if they are deployed it means they take a massive pay cut.

Thank you for your insight. I'm in one of those AFSCs that is almost non-deployable in the Reserves and would be looking to commission into it as well while practicing/doing working as whatever career I figure out. My concern would be a possible deployment (seems unlikely with the DOD healthcare workers cut) and commissioning into an IMA assignment in the Reserves and having to be gone for 42 days at a time.

 

[Creflo]

I heard from an active duty Podiatrist that the number of billets is going to shrink down from roughly 25 to 17 (again rough numbers here). I used to be an active duty podiatrist and it was a very good opportunity to decrease debt and get surgical numbers. Be careful with the podiatry career if you will incur a lot of debt - it's a pain to pay off.