MDSSP/ STRAP and APMC/SRFF

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Coffeeisamust

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Ive noticed that there is a lot of confusion and unanswered questions on how the MDSSP/STRAP programs works. Also, you will most likely be attached to APMC if you decided to join the reserves while in residency or dental school. I was clueless after I signed up and it seemed like I couldnt get any info on line and my recruiter didnt know much either so I am gonna break it down for yall.

First off, MDSSP. When you are in school you can sign up for the MDSSP. Every 6 months of pay = 1 year of service. So 4 years of d school =8 years of service ( this can change if you specialize, Ill get to that)

PROS:This is a stipend of about 950 every two weeks (I clam 0 defendants) along with 150ish bucks for your 1380s (Ill get to 1380s in a min). Tricare reserve select (health insurance) is 47 dollars per month. If funds are available from APMC (or your unit) you can get paid and have 2 CE conferences paid for a year (townie meeting?) Plus other military benefits, you get a military ID so you get everything else that comes with that. You get a "good year", what that means is your duty is to go to class and turn in your 1380s once a month. You "drill weekends" are sitting your ass in class, EASY. You get retirement points while going through school if you decide to do 20 years then this is huge. You qualify for 400 dollar one time uniform allowance

CONS: you CANNOT get loan repayment/bonus pay (once again there is a catch here Ill explain) until you are done with you MDSSP obligation. Another thing to remember, the army doesnt care if you are on summer break you still need to do your 1380s. For example, you are off for summer in june and july. You cannot have your school sign it off you need to do a real drill.

Okay lets clear some thing up on the above paragraphs:
1380s: these are the papers you fill out for your weekend duty. Remember I said that your weekend duty is to sit your ass in the class room? bingo. Have your admin sign the paper and you get paid. Easy. PM me if you need an example of a 1380 while in dental school. So now you have a 1380 in your hand but where does it go? Send it to your unit. If your unit is APMC send it to your training manager.
How many 1380s can you do? So a normal weekend will be 4x4hour drills. so 16 hrs of drill will take care of your obligation. But while going through school if you wanna make extra cash you can do a total of 9 drills. So a normal drill would be 4x4hrs, so you can max out in a month at 9x4hr drills. During school a good way to get more 1380s complete is to go to you recruiter and do HPSP and MDSSP events and help predent/med students with the process.

MDSSP/STRAP if you wanna specialize: This gets a little tricky. Ill explain by an example. A general dentist is a 63A, and endodontist is a 63E. Lets say you do an endo program that is 2 years long and you decided to take MDSSP for all 4 years of dental school. When you start your endo program you move to STRAP no longer MDSSP. So your MDSSP obligation is 8 years BUT the 2 years of endo count toward your 8 year obligation. YAY!!!....wait a sec. If you do endo and take the STRAP you will get rid of 2 years of MDSSP but add on 2 years from the endo residency. so now you still owe 8 years. BUT!!! you can only take STRAP if what you are specializing in is considered in shortage. Okay...lets clear this up. Lets say you did MDSSP and decided to specialize in dental anaesthesia, well that is not a specialty that the army is in need of so they will NOT pay you STRAP and you will have to start paying back your MDSSP time during residency. You will have to do your weekend drills and 2weeks active and hope you dont get deployed. Now, If you decide to take the Endo route (so you can do STRAP) you can also get loan repayment/bonus BUT you have to have the loans for a least one year. I hope this makes sense but my advice is to get explained to you for your individual situation.

Loan repayment/bonus pay: You HAVE to be on the "war time shortage list" this means if your job title is not on this list.... you're paying your own loans. So if you are going for this make sure your job qualifies. Your recruiter will tell you it does. MAKE SURE TO CHECK!

APMC SFRR: SFRR (solider focus readiness review): This is down in ATL at Fort Gillem. It is a 4 day event that will cover the basics you need to know about APMC and the reserves. Try to have your uniform ready to go (OCP) if you dont business casual is fine. All dental/med students didnt have their OCP so no big deal. Try and get your recruiter to help you get this taken care of before SFRR.

Day 1: Travel day. You will drive or fly to ATL and all expenses are covered. You will get you orders e mailed to you along with the schedule. Do NOT worry about DTS ( the traveling stuff) because they will go over this at APMC. You will be put up in a hotel all by yourself. BRING CASH! they make you pay for lunch upfront for all three days. Make sure to get there no later than 2000.

Day2: Wake up at 0445 and have breakfast. Its hotel breakfast so you gotta deal with that. I HIGHLY suggest bringing protein bars and fruit to eat as snacks throughout the day. The whole day will be power points. They will answer all the questions you have about the reserves, APMC, BOLC and everything else. They will explain the "round robin" This is when you will sit down with every department in APMC and take about you individual case. They had water and coffee provided and bring lunch at 1200.

Day3: These is the physical test day. You will be in your army work out clothes and will have a diagnostic physical test (you can choose to make it count) that will be push ups, sit ups, and 2 mile run. You will go back to the hotel, eat crappy hotel breakfast, and then chower up. Return to AMPC for the round robin. This is where they will sit down one on one with you. VERY USEFUL. Take advantage of this!!! Some people got screwed and had to take a BLS course. IF you done have you BLS card on file or can prove youve completed BLS they will make you take a 4 hour course. Have your BLS done

Day4: Civilian clothes! you will head to APMC and do nothing. If you didnt complete your round robin you will finish that. Other wise its some closing statements and pictures. I was out by 1000. If you drive its great because you can drive to APMC and leave from there. If not they will load everyone up on a bus and drop you off at the airport around 1300.

A couple more things: for reserves and NG there has been talk about an additional course in OK called direct commission course ( DCC, or something like that) Word on the street was if you swore in after 10/1/16 then you have to go to this 3 week DCC. YOU DONT NEED TO!!! straight to BOLC no need for DCC.

There is other threads about the MDSSP/STRAP and whether or not it is worth it. IMO if you take the MDSSP you cant do the loan repayment, BUT the benefits of being paid in school so you dont have to take out living expenses in the form of loans is huge. Do the math for yourself and see which route is best for you.

All of the benefits of the military are clear. MDSSP, loan repayment, HPSP, HCSP blah blah blah. The money is there not matter what you do but make sure you want to be in the military!! Most Docs I met at APMC are all great people that want different things from the military. One doc I met wanted to join an air unit and jump out of planes. Most people I met are total adrenaline junkies and loved being a part of a team like the reserves. I met one guy who made it clear is was in it for the loan repayment. Well what sucks for him is after med school he wants to go to pedo, well pedo is not part of the war time shortage and he will not qualify for STRAP or loan repayment....Surprise. He was not happy about that.

Overall I am very glad I signed up and if yall have any questions please feel free to PM or just ask.

Dave

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Thanks for the post... I think you should post this in the med student section as well.
 
Ive noticed that there is a lot of confusion and unanswered questions on how the MDSSP/STRAP programs works. Also, you will most likely be attached to APMC if you decided to join the reserves while in residency or dental school. I was clueless after I signed up and it seemed like I couldnt get any info on line and my recruiter didnt know much either so I am gonna break it down for yall.

First off, MDSSP. When you are in school you can sign up for the MDSSP. Every 6 months of pay = 1 year of service. So 4 years of d school =8 years of service ( this can change if you specialize, Ill get to that)

PROS:This is a stipend of about 950 every two weeks (I clam 0 defendants) along with 150ish bucks for your 1380s (Ill get to 1380s in a min). Tricare reserve select (health insurance) is 47 dollars per month. If funds are available from APMC (or your unit) you can get paid and have 2 CE conferences paid for a year (townie meeting?) Plus other military benefits, you get a military ID so you get everything else that comes with that. You get a "good year", what that means is your duty is to go to class and turn in your 1380s once a month. You "drill weekends" are sitting your ass in class, EASY. You get retirement points while going through school if you decide to do 20 years then this is huge. You qualify for 400 dollar one time uniform allowance

CONS: you CANNOT get loan repayment/bonus pay (once again there is a catch here Ill explain) until you are done with you MDSSP obligation. Another thing to remember, the army doesnt care if you are on summer break you still need to do your 1380s. For example, you are off for summer in june and july. You cannot have your school sign it off you need to do a real drill.

Okay lets clear some thing up on the above paragraphs:
1380s: these are the papers you fill out for your weekend duty. Remember I said that your weekend duty is to sit your ass in the class room? bingo. Have your admin sign the paper and you get paid. Easy. PM me if you need an example of a 1380 while in dental school. So now you have a 1380 in your hand but where does it go? Send it to your unit. If your unit is APMC send it to your training manager.
How many 1380s can you do? So a normal weekend will be 4x4hour drills. so 16 hrs of drill will take care of your obligation. But while going through school if you wanna make extra cash you can do a total of 9 drills. So a normal drill would be 4x4hrs, so you can max out in a month at 9x4hr drills. During school a good way to get more 1380s complete is to go to you recruiter and do HPSP and MDSSP events and help predent/med students with the process.

MDSSP/STRAP if you wanna specialize: This gets a little tricky. Ill explain by an example. A general dentist is a 63A, and endodontist is a 63E. Lets say you do an endo program that is 2 years long and you decided to take MDSSP for all 4 years of dental school. When you start your endo program you move to STRAP no longer MDSSP. So your MDSSP obligation is 8 years BUT the 2 years of endo count toward your 8 year obligation. YAY!!!....wait a sec. If you do endo and take the STRAP you will get rid of 2 years of MDSSP but add on 4 years from the endo residency. so now you owe 10 years. BUT!!! you can only take STRAP if what you are specializing in is considered in shortage. Okay...lets clear this up. Lets say you did MDSSP and decided to specialize in dental anaesthesia, well that is not a specialty that the army is in need of so they will NOT pay you STRAP and you will have to start paying back your MDSSP time during residency. You will have to do your weekend drills and 2weeks active and hope you dont get deployed. Now, If you decide to take the Endo route (so you can do STRAP) you can also get loan repayment/bonus BUT you have to have the loans for a least one year. I hope this makes sense but my advice is to get explained to you for your individual situation.

Loan repayment/bonus pay: You HAVE to be on the "war time shortage list" this means if your job title is not on this list.... you're paying your own loans. So if you are going for this make sure your job qualifies. Your recruiter will tell you it does. MAKE SURE TO CHECK!

APMC SFRR: SFRR (solider focus readiness review): This is down in ATL at Fort Gillem. It is a 4 day event that will cover the basics you need to know about APMC and the reserves. Try to have your uniform ready to go (OCP) if you dont business casual is fine. All dental/med students didnt have their OCP so no big deal. Try and get your recruiter to help you get this taken care of before SFRR.

Day 1: Travel day. You will drive or fly to ATL and all expenses are covered. You will get you orders e mailed to you along with the schedule. Do NOT worry about DTS ( the traveling stuff) because they will go over this at APMC. You will be put up in a hotel all by yourself. BRING CASH! they make you pay for lunch upfront for all three days. Make sure to get there no later than 2000.

Day2: Wake up at 0445 and have breakfast. Its hotel breakfast so you gotta deal with that. I HIGHLY suggest bringing protein bars and fruit to eat as snacks throughout the day. The whole day will be power points. They will answer all the questions you have about the reserves, APMC, BOLC and everything else. They will explain the "round robin" This is when you will sit down with every department in APMC and take about you individual case. They had water and coffee provided and bring lunch at 1200.

Day3: These is the physical test day. You will be in your army work out clothes and will have a diagnostic physical test (you can choose to make it count) that will be push ups, sit ups, and 2 mile run. You will go back to the hotel, eat crappy hotel breakfast, and then chower up. Return to AMPC for the round robin. This is where they will sit down one on one with you. VERY USEFUL. Take advantage of this!!! Some people got screwed and had to take a BLS course. IF you done have you BLS card on file or can prove youve completed BLS they will make you take a 4 hour course. Have your BLS done

Day4: Civilian clothes! you will head to APMC and do nothing. If you didnt complete your round robin you will finish that. Other wise its some closing statements and pictures. I was out by 1000. If you drive its great because you can drive to APMC and leave from there. If not they will load everyone up on a bus and drop you off at the airport around 1300.

A couple more things: for reserves and NG there has been talk about an additional course in OK called direct commission course ( DCC, or something like that) Word on the street was if you swore in after 10/1/16 then you have to go to this 3 week DCC. YOU DONT NEED TO!!! straight to BOLC no need for DCC.

There is other threads about the MDSSP/STRAP and whether or not it is worth it. IMO if you take the MDSSP you cant do the loan repayment, BUT the benefits of being paid in school so you dont have to take out living expenses in the form of loans is huge. Do the math for yourself and see which route is best for you.

All of the benefits of the military are clear. MDSSP, loan repayment, HPSP, HCSP blah blah blah. The money is there not matter what you do but make sure you want to be in the military!! Most Docs I met at APMC are all great people that want different things from the military. One doc I met wanted to join an air unit and jump out of planes. Most people I met are total adrenaline junkies and loved being a part of a team like the reserves. I met one guy who made it clear is was in it for the loan repayment. Well what sucks for him is after med school he wants to go to pedo, well pedo is not part of the war time shortage and he will not qualify for STRAP or loan repayment....Surprise. He was not happy about that.

Overall I am very glad I signed up and if yall have any questions please feel free to PM or just ask.

Dave
Awesome post! I PMed you!
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Ive noticed that there is a lot of confusion and unanswered questions on how the MDSSP/STRAP programs works. Also, you will most likely be attached to APMC if you decided to join the reserves while in residency or dental school. I was clueless after I signed up and it seemed like I couldnt get any info on line and my recruiter didnt know much either so I am gonna break it down for yall.

First off, MDSSP. When you are in school you can sign up for the MDSSP. Every 6 months of pay = 1 year of service. So 4 years of d school =8 years of service ( this can change if you specialize, Ill get to that)

PROS:This is a stipend of about 950 every two weeks (I clam 0 defendants) along with 150ish bucks for your 1380s (Ill get to 1380s in a min). Tricare reserve select (health insurance) is 47 dollars per month. If funds are available from APMC (or your unit) you can get paid and have 2 CE conferences paid for a year (townie meeting?) Plus other military benefits, you get a military ID so you get everything else that comes with that. You get a "good year", what that means is your duty is to go to class and turn in your 1380s once a month. You "drill weekends" are sitting your ass in class, EASY. You get retirement points while going through school if you decide to do 20 years then this is huge. You qualify for 400 dollar one time uniform allowance

CONS: you CANNOT get loan repayment/bonus pay (once again there is a catch here Ill explain) until you are done with you MDSSP obligation. Another thing to remember, the army doesnt care if you are on summer break you still need to do your 1380s. For example, you are off for summer in june and july. You cannot have your school sign it off you need to do a real drill.

Okay lets clear some thing up on the above paragraphs:
1380s: these are the papers you fill out for your weekend duty. Remember I said that your weekend duty is to sit your ass in the class room? bingo. Have your admin sign the paper and you get paid. Easy. PM me if you need an example of a 1380 while in dental school. So now you have a 1380 in your hand but where does it go? Send it to your unit. If your unit is APMC send it to your training manager.
How many 1380s can you do? So a normal weekend will be 4x4hour drills. so 16 hrs of drill will take care of your obligation. But while going through school if you wanna make extra cash you can do a total of 9 drills. So a normal drill would be 4x4hrs, so you can max out in a month at 9x4hr drills. During school a good way to get more 1380s complete is to go to you recruiter and do HPSP and MDSSP events and help predent/med students with the process.

MDSSP/STRAP if you wanna specialize: This gets a little tricky. Ill explain by an example. A general dentist is a 63A, and endodontist is a 63E. Lets say you do an endo program that is 2 years long and you decided to take MDSSP for all 4 years of dental school. When you start your endo program you move to STRAP no longer MDSSP. So your MDSSP obligation is 8 years BUT the 2 years of endo count toward your 8 year obligation. YAY!!!....wait a sec. If you do endo and take the STRAP you will get rid of 2 years of MDSSP but add on 2 years from the endo residency. so now you still owe 8 years. BUT!!! you can only take STRAP if what you are specializing in is considered in shortage. Okay...lets clear this up. Lets say you did MDSSP and decided to specialize in dental anaesthesia, well that is not a specialty that the army is in need of so they will NOT pay you STRAP and you will have to start paying back your MDSSP time during residency. You will have to do your weekend drills and 2weeks active and hope you dont get deployed. Now, If you decide to take the Endo route (so you can do STRAP) you can also get loan repayment/bonus BUT you have to have the loans for a least one year. I hope this makes sense but my advice is to get explained to you for your individual situation.

Loan repayment/bonus pay: You HAVE to be on the "war time shortage list" this means if your job title is not on this list.... you're paying your own loans. So if you are going for this make sure your job qualifies. Your recruiter will tell you it does. MAKE SURE TO CHECK!

APMC SFRR: SFRR (solider focus readiness review): This is down in ATL at Fort Gillem. It is a 4 day event that will cover the basics you need to know about APMC and the reserves. Try to have your uniform ready to go (OCP) if you dont business casual is fine. All dental/med students didnt have their OCP so no big deal. Try and get your recruiter to help you get this taken care of before SFRR.

Day 1: Travel day. You will drive or fly to ATL and all expenses are covered. You will get you orders e mailed to you along with the schedule. Do NOT worry about DTS ( the traveling stuff) because they will go over this at APMC. You will be put up in a hotel all by yourself. BRING CASH! they make you pay for lunch upfront for all three days. Make sure to get there no later than 2000.

Day2: Wake up at 0445 and have breakfast. Its hotel breakfast so you gotta deal with that. I HIGHLY suggest bringing protein bars and fruit to eat as snacks throughout the day. The whole day will be power points. They will answer all the questions you have about the reserves, APMC, BOLC and everything else. They will explain the "round robin" This is when you will sit down with every department in APMC and take about you individual case. They had water and coffee provided and bring lunch at 1200.

Day3: These is the physical test day. You will be in your army work out clothes and will have a diagnostic physical test (you can choose to make it count) that will be push ups, sit ups, and 2 mile run. You will go back to the hotel, eat crappy hotel breakfast, and then chower up. Return to AMPC for the round robin. This is where they will sit down one on one with you. VERY USEFUL. Take advantage of this!!! Some people got screwed and had to take a BLS course. IF you done have you BLS card on file or can prove youve completed BLS they will make you take a 4 hour course. Have your BLS done

Day4: Civilian clothes! you will head to APMC and do nothing. If you didnt complete your round robin you will finish that. Other wise its some closing statements and pictures. I was out by 1000. If you drive its great because you can drive to APMC and leave from there. If not they will load everyone up on a bus and drop you off at the airport around 1300.

A couple more things: for reserves and NG there has been talk about an additional course in OK called direct commission course ( DCC, or something like that) Word on the street was if you swore in after 10/1/16 then you have to go to this 3 week DCC. YOU DONT NEED TO!!! straight to BOLC no need for DCC.

There is other threads about the MDSSP/STRAP and whether or not it is worth it. IMO if you take the MDSSP you cant do the loan repayment, BUT the benefits of being paid in school so you dont have to take out living expenses in the form of loans is huge. Do the math for yourself and see which route is best for you.

All of the benefits of the military are clear. MDSSP, loan repayment, HPSP, HCSP blah blah blah. The money is there not matter what you do but make sure you want to be in the military!! Most Docs I met at APMC are all great people that want different things from the military. One doc I met wanted to join an air unit and jump out of planes. Most people I met are total adrenaline junkies and loved being a part of a team like the reserves. I met one guy who made it clear is was in it for the loan repayment. Well what sucks for him is after med school he wants to go to pedo, well pedo is not part of the war time shortage and he will not qualify for STRAP or loan repayment....Surprise. He was not happy about that.

Overall I am very glad I signed up and if yall have any questions please feel free to PM or just ask.

Dave
Hey I'm in that situation but I'm in the ng and trying to move to the reserves. Do you know of any good recruiters that can help me out. Once I get to the reserves I should be automatic in the SRTA program with my letter of acceptance
 
Hey I'm in that situation but I'm in the ng and trying to move to the reserves. Do you know of any good recruiters that can help me out. Once I get to the reserves I should be automatic in the SRTA program with my letter of acceptance

Did anyone get back to you? If not, shoot me a PM and I'll send you the APMC powerpoint my recruiter gave me.
 
Hey I'm in that situation but I'm in the ng and trying to move to the reserves. Do you know of any good recruiters that can help me out. Once I get to the reserves I should be automatic in the SRTA program with my letter of acceptance

hmmm buddy i wish i could help but idk
 
Hey everyone I will be heading down to APMC from 2/6-2/9 if y'all have any questions you would like me to ask about APMC, AMEDD, or USAR let me know. I will post an update when I get back
 
Did anyone get back to you? If not, shoot me a PM and I'll send you the APMC powerpoint my recruiter gave me.
Thanks for the information! I didn't realize how much the Army is in need of dentist. Especially specialists!! I wonder do Endodontist or Periodontist get deployed a lot in the reserves? Is it even worth taking STRAP/ Loan repayment
 
And secondly do you guys have a good recruiter I could ask a couple of questions. I'm really trying to decide if it's a better decision to do the reserves or active duty
 
And secondly do you guys have a good recruiter I could ask a couple of questions. I'm really trying to decide if it's a better decision to do the reserves or active duty

You should be able to google it and find an AMEDD recruiter near you. And whether active or reserves are better really depends on your end goals.
 
UPDATE: Just gat back from the SFRR and they were a struggle bus. Too many people this time and had some unexpected things happen like loosing power so they had to call it a day. Overall some ole stuff really from my first post but some updates.

Incentives: For the Med people some specialties had a decrease or lost bonuses/loan repayment. Dental was pretty good except public health dentist went down in bonus pay.

STRAP: Word around the camp fire was STRAP is now a 6 month = 1 year?.... Not 100% on this. If DID NOT do the MDSSP and plan on doing STRAP only find out if it is year for year or 6 mouth for a year.

Annual training: This was a little confusing last year because as a dental or med student we dont have to do AT. This year I will be graduating and had no idea what I would do. So for AT when you are ATTACHED ( not assigned) to APMC is when you will finally go meet with your unit. You will be assigned a unit shortly after you graduate. For example, a guy I met at APMC ( a dentist) would do his weekend drill (actually fridays) with the coast guard. He would let the guard know a head of time which days he would be coming in and they you have patients for him. His unit was somewhere in Mississippi so when he had to do his AT the unit in MS would cut orders. APMC had nothing to do with his AT.

MOBLIZATION: THIS IS NEW AND HUGE. Just FYI mobilization means state side while deployment means over seas. So this caught everyone by surprise. Idk why but the army reserves is cranking things up. Some units will be part of Ready Force X (RFX) this means that if you are part of RFX that you can be moblized on a short notice. How short? I heard 24hrs to 3 weeks. For dental, I was told that if you are w/ a RFX unit that you will be mobilized to Solider Readiness Processing (SRP) site ( this is where you would do exams and tx so soldiers can deploy). There is currently 2 SRP sites but the army is cranking that up to 9 sites. For med and dent, if you are part of RFX you can be gone for 1-2 years!!! I THINK! NOT 100%. Idk what happened to 90 days boots on ground and neither did the dude in charge of mobilization. I was suggested to drag my feet and not do BOLC until I have to ( within 3 years of signing up or graduation). Ill update when I get more info on RFX.

This more or less sums up anything new from this year. Feel free to ask questions!
 
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Annual training: This was a little confusing last year because as a dental or med student we dont have to do AT. This year I will be graduating and had no idea what I would do. So for AT when you are ATTACHED ( not assigned) to APMC is when you will finally go meet with your unit. You will be assigned a unit shortly after you graduate. For example, a guy I met at APMC ( a dentist) would do his weekend drill (actually fridays) with the coast guard. He would let the guard know a head of time which days he would be coming in and they you have patients for him. His unit was somewhere in Mississippi so when he had to do his AT the unit in MS would cut orders. APMC had nothing to do with his AT.

You don't have to do AT? Is it optional at least? I'm just trying to figure out how I can get the 50 points needed to have a good year without AT.

Also, how much control do you have over your unit of assignment once you graduate? Are the branch managers at APMC ok with letting you be proactive and find a "home" once you finish school or is there some other arcane army process they use to slot you?


MOBLIZATION: THIS IS NEW AND HUGE. Just FYI mobilization means state side while deployment means over seas. So this caught everyone by surprise. Idk why but the army reserves is cranking things up. Some units will be part of Ready Force X (RFX) this means that if you are part of RFX that you can be moblized on a short notice. How short? I heard 24hrs to 3 weeks. For dental, I was told that if you are w/ a RFX unit that you will be mobilized to Solider Readiness Processing (SRP) site ( this is where you would do exams and tx so soldiers can deploy). There is currently 2 SRP sites but the army is cranking that up to 9 sites. For med and dent, if you are part of RFX you can be gone for 1-2 years!!! I THINK! NOT 100%. Idk what happened to 90 days boots on ground and neither did the dude in charge of mobilization. I was suggested to drag my feet and not do BOLC until I have to ( within 3 years of signing up or graduation). Ill update when I get more info on RFX.

Interesting. Are they still limiting deployments to 3-4 months? Thank you for the updates!
 
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You don't have to do AT? Is it optional at least? I'm just trying to figure out how I can get the 50 points needed to have a good year without AT.

Also, how much control do you have over your unit of assignment once you graduate? Are the branch managers at APMC ok with letting you be proactive and find a "home" once you finish school or is there some other arcane army process they use to slot you?




Interesting. Are they still limiting deployments to 3-4 months? Thank you for the updates!


You will be your 50 pts no problem. 15 points for just being in the reserves and 48pts for your 4 points for 12 months. You will get points for your height and weight, immno and doc visits.

For your unit of assignment (UOA) you will be assigned to the unit that needs your job (AOC) but they will try to get you to a unit that is close by if not than you will be attached to APMC.

If you are not in a RFX unit then yes 90 days BOG. But if your unit is part if RFX then idk. I haven't heard anything new for RFX and whats going on with the 90BOG
 
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I have a two friends that matched into dental residency this year.(1 Endo/1Oral surgery) They are wanting to join the Army Reserves for the STRAP/ Loan repayment. Do you think they would have good chance of being selected? One of them is prior service and the other one never been in the military. They really don't want to join any other branches either.
 
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So I have applied for the Dental STrap Program and now my recruiter is telling me that they haven’t offered the scholarship in over 5 years. I don’t understand why they offer or advertise this but never give it out.
 
So I have applied for the Dental STrap Program and now my recruiter is telling me that they haven’t offered the scholarship in over 5 years. I don’t understand why they offer or advertise this but never give it out.

I think your recruiter may be a bit misinformed. I spoke with incentives manager two weeks ago and she informed that STRAP and LRP are available for those who are pursuing specialties on the shortage list.
 
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I think your recruiter may be a bit misinformed. I spoke with incentives manager two weeks ago and she informed that STRAP and LRP are available for those who are pursuing specialties on the shortage list.
Okay cool. Thank you! I just had a interview last night with LTC to join the reserves and he told me that I will have to do 90 days of active duty time during school. I’m confused bc my recruiter told me that I would be assigned to APMC and they wouldn’t bother me while I was in residency. So much conflicting information
 
Okay cool. Thank you! I just had a interview last night with LTC to join the reserves and he told me that I will have to do 90 days of active duty time during school. I’m confused bc my recruiter told me that I would be assigned to APMC and they wouldn’t bother me while I was in residency. So much conflicting information

I'm definitely no expert but that doesn't sound right to me. I'm not even sure what active duty training you would do. Maybe the LTC is referring DCC and BOLC but the info I received from my personnel manager was that I had two years from when I reported to my unit to knock that out, so way after school is completed. The army is full of people of people who will tell you the "facts" based on anecdotal experience which ends of being wrong 95% of the time. Unless you hear something straight from the source I would take it with a grain of salt. My advice is go seek out another recruiter or ask your current recruiter to verify that info with the APMC.
 
I'm definitely no expert but that doesn't sound right to me. I'm not even sure what active duty training you would do. Maybe the LTC is referring DCC and BOLC but the info I received from my personnel manager was that I had two years from when I reported to my unit to knock that out, so way after school is completed. The army is full of people of people who will tell you the "facts" based on anecdotal experience which ends of being wrong 95% of the time. Unless you hear something straight from the source I would take it with a grain of salt. My advice is go seek out another recruiter or ask your current recruiter to verify that info with the APMC.
Thank you
 
I'm definitely no expert but that doesn't sound right to me. I'm not even sure what active duty training you would do. Maybe the LTC is referring DCC and BOLC but the info I received from my personnel manager was that I had two years from when I reported to my unit to knock that out, so way after school is completed. The army is full of people of people who will tell you the "facts" based on anecdotal experience which ends of being wrong 95% of the time. Unless you hear something straight from the source I would take it with a grain of salt. My advice is go seek out another recruiter or ask your current recruiter to verify that info with the APMC.

So I got selected for the STRAP program and my program is in the War time shortage list. I thought that I would be able to get loan repayments and stipend. My recruiter says that I can’t get both at the same time. Did they change the rules or does my recruiter not know what she is talking about. Let’s say I’m rt how can I prove that I’m rt to her besides my words .
 
So I got selected for the STRAP program and my program is in the War time shortage list. I thought that I would be able to get loan repayments and stipend. My recruiter says that I can’t get both at the same time. Did they change the rules or does my recruiter not know what she is talking about. Let’s say I’m rt how can I prove that I’m rt to her besides my words .

The recruiter got you in, they don't really have anything to do with you once you're in. You need to talk to your command and see what benefits are currently being offered. Things change all the time. I would think your recruiter is probably right. You normally can't double dip on benefits but I honesty can't tell you. Reach out to your command.
 
Update: Now that I am out of school and finally a dentist I have been drilling for a couple months and figured I would give yall an idea of how drill is and how things have been going. The point of this is to take my story and see if it would fit what you want or not. I remember in dental school going to lunch and learns and listening to someone speak about themselves and thinking "how the F**K does this help me and I dont care". One weekend a month and two weeks a year.... for the most part it is just a weekend but what does your weekend look like? ask yourself this. I went straight out of school and started working (so glad I did not do a GPR, I interviewed at 5 and didnt turn in my match list) first 2 months of work we worked 9-5 mon-fri and now work mon- thurs 8-6 so fridays off. After dental school and as I got older I really really value my weekends. So what do your weekends look like and how do you want to spend them? Do you have kids? I told myself that my army weekends are my "volunteering". Some drill weekends, also called BA, are closer than others. Sometimes they are 5 weeks apart sometimes 3. When you get assigned to a until some of the weekend are mandatory. You can not miss these. So you need to plan around this but you know super far in advanced when these weekends are going to be. APMC says you have 3 years to finish BOLC and my unit says you have 2 years. Plan on two years. BOLC is two parts, part one is on line and part 2 is in TX. Ask your unit to write you orders for phase one this can be your two weeks active so everyday you will go to your unit and sit on a computer and finish phase one!

Ok so you just signed up and took some bonus or whatever and now you owe some time so what does the day to day look like? This is what my experience has been so far. Because I havent been to BOLC yet I am pretty much useless. No shooting, no land nav, nothing cool. Saturday: 7 am report. "workout" ( super easy running) until 9 am, 9-1030 go shower and eat, 1030-12 classes or meetings or some other training. 12-1 lunch, Afternoon is most likely getting all the paper work stuff taken care ( BOLC, AT, CPR ect.) and sitting around talking ( good networking) and drinking coffee. 430pm go home. Sunday is usually more involved like land nav, shooting, med classes, random stuff. Also 7-430. I enjoy it because its enough Army stuff for me, its somewhat unorganized. The benefits are awesome but are not worth being the driving force alone to join. Money in school was awesome, student loan forgiveness kicksass, bonus, tricare is great, discounts on everything, TSA precheck, no classes for CCDW ( Im in NM), ect.

Lets talk about the uncomfortable thing that no one talks about, MONEY after graduation. In short, I got a 5k sign on (3600 after tax) and make 750 a day with 4 day workweeks. Take home is 4200 every two weeks. your weekend drills as a CPT are about 500 bucks. So you have to work weekends and not make much. After going through dental school and undergrad making 500 bucks for a weekend IS NOT WORTH IT! As a student, I would have killed to get 500 a weekend but once you start making money as a dentist you valve time and the money is not worth it. You need to crunch your numbers, if you miss two weeks of work for your active duty training you are missing on 5900 ( 250x10 days - 8400). Also this is first year working as a dentist making 120-130k. Where I am living 180k a year is very doable with enough experience. ( please dont turn this into a debate about how much a dentist can make a year). Crunch your own numbers and see.

Overall I am very happy I signed up. Dealing with the govt and paper work is super annoying but so is insurance and medicaid. Most likely you will enjoy the people you are with and doing all the army kind of stuff. It is super weird going from a worthless dental student to "doctor", "Captin", and "Sir".... super weird.
 
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Resurrecting this thread. So D2 here was recently at a lunch and learn with the national guard talking about the MDSSP. What do the repayments entail exactly? The way i understood it and maybe it was wishful thinking was that you have the option of taking the stipend and loan repayment for x amount of years in the guard. I'm going to call the recruiter but the way he described it they pay for dental school essentially in return for service. Though i cannot find that in writing anywhere.
 
UPDATE: Just gat back from the SFRR and they were a struggle bus. Too many people this time and had some unexpected things happen like loosing power so they had to call it a day. Overall some ole stuff really from my first post but some updates.

Incentives: For the Med people some specialties had a decrease or lost bonuses/loan repayment. Dental was pretty good except public health dentist went down in bonus pay.

STRAP: Word around the camp fire was STRAP is now a 6 month = 1 year?.... Not 100% on this. If DID NOT do the MDSSP and plan on doing STRAP only find out if it is year for year or 6 mouth for a year.

Annual training: This was a little confusing last year because as a dental or med student we dont have to do AT. This year I will be graduating and had no idea what I would do. So for AT when you are ATTACHED ( not assigned) to APMC is when you will finally go meet with your unit. You will be assigned a unit shortly after you graduate. For example, a guy I met at APMC ( a dentist) would do his weekend drill (actually fridays) with the coast guard. He would let the guard know a head of time which days he would be coming in and they you have patients for him. His unit was somewhere in Mississippi so when he had to do his AT the unit in MS would cut orders. APMC had nothing to do with his AT.

MOBLIZATION: THIS IS NEW AND HUGE. Just FYI mobilization means state side while deployment means over seas. So this caught everyone by surprise. Idk why but the army reserves is cranking things up. Some units will be part of Ready Force X (RFX) this means that if you are part of RFX that you can be moblized on a short notice. How short? I heard 24hrs to 3 weeks. For dental, I was told that if you are w/ a RFX unit that you will be mobilized to Solider Readiness Processing (SRP) site ( this is where you would do exams and tx so soldiers can deploy). There is currently 2 SRP sites but the army is cranking that up to 9 sites. For med and dent, if you are part of RFX you can be gone for 1-2 years!!! I THINK! NOT 100%. Idk what happened to 90 days boots on ground and neither did the dude in charge of mobilization. I was suggested to drag my feet and not do BOLC until I have to ( within 3 years of signing up or graduation). Ill update when I get more info on RFX.

This more or less sums up anything new from this year. Feel free to ask questions!
Can you post a sample 1380 you do while you are in school please
 
Resurrecting this thread. So D2 here was recently at a lunch and learn with the national guard talking about the MDSSP. What do the repayments entail exactly? The way i understood it and maybe it was wishful thinking was that you have the option of taking the stipend and loan repayment for x amount of years in the guard. I'm going to call the recruiter but the way he described it they pay for dental school essentially in return for service. Though i cannot find that in writing anywhere.
If I take MDSSP do I have a choice of going guard or do I have to do reserves?
 
For anyone who has done MDSSP, are BOLC and DCC both required? what is the type of timeline for this?
 
For anyone who has done MDSSP, are BOLC and DCC both required? what is the type of timeline for this?

Yes, they are both required. I went to DCC after my D1 year. BOLC is much shorter for reserves, around 2 weeks. As of right now the requirement is that you go within 2 years of graduating school.
 
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