Military Options post-residency

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Heideggerian

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
I scanned through this forum and did not see this question addressed recently. If I overlooked any posts that previously addressed this question, my apologies. Basically I am a new attending psychiatrist and I am curious to know what the pros and cons are of doing Air Force Reserves and retaining my civilian job. I have just begun the process of speaking with a recruiter and know from discussions with others that they can present information in a biased way. Combined with the lack of accessible information online, I thought I'd reach out to this community for your experiences.

Members don't see this ad.
 
I scanned through this forum and did not see this question addressed recently. If I overlooked any posts that previously addressed this question, my apologies. Basically I am a new attending psychiatrist and I am curious to know what the pros and cons are of doing Air Force Reserves and retaining my civilian job. I have just begun the process of speaking with a recruiter and know from discussions with others that they can present information in a biased way. Combined with the lack of accessible information online, I thought I'd reach out to this community for your experiences.
You'll lose money during deployment, be gone 4months at a time and can go to places where people die

But you can get a chance to work with some good people and some not so good

Do you have any specific questions?
 
Financial incentives for the Air Force are likely low as they rarely struggle for physicians of any kind. The benefits will mostly be intangible and related to service, a generally rewarding patient population, and some unique experiences.

Sb247 covered the negatives pretty succinctly. Deployments seem to be a bit more controllable in the Guard/Reserve and even more so in the Air Force but that can always change for the worse including the risk of a 15 month deployment loaned out to the Army. The biggest negative to consider though is the impact of deployment on your civilian career. Solo or small group practices do not mix well with the military as even short deployments can be devastating. Less of an issue in larger groups but you're going to need their support, not all groups want a physician who needs 2 weeks off a year for training and may disappear for a few months on a deployment. Working for the VA or another government entity is the exception as you have strict protections and a supportive culture behind you.
 
Top