Physical Therapy in the Military

[sarahkm7]

Hi everyone! I am new to this network but I have been reading some posts and have a few questions that I want to ask. I am very interested in becoming a Physical Therapist in the Military. I will be starting civilian PT grad school this coming fall (2017). I do not have much knowledge of the branches but I know that I have always wanted to serve the country and help others while doing it. I have read some posts on here and have researched some but I cannot find much information online about how to go about the process of joining as a PT. My questions are as follows, if anyone has any information or has served as a PT in any brach please answer the best you can

1. I know that the military does hire civilian PT's, but I am interested in enlisting as a PT (aka not working as a civilian) How should I go about entering a branch? (unsure which one I would like to join, I will have to do more research when the time comes)
2. Should I do clinical rotations at a military hospital, if so, are the positions highly competitive?
3. Do I need special references (like from a PT currently in the military) to become one myself?
4. Are there steps I should be taking while I am in DPT school to better my chances of working as a military PT?

There is a lot I would like to know so if anyone can offer any advice and/or answers I would really appreciate it!

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[scrawnyguy]

The first step would be talking to a recruiter. The Army has specialized healthcare recruiters, not sure about the other branches. I know the Army gets almost all of its PTs from Army-Baylor. I believe the other branches get the bulk of their PT accessions this way as well, but all of the branches do take some civilian folks on occasion. From what I understand they generally take folks with some experience under their belts. I met two civilian Army accessions last fall. One had 5 or 6 years under his belt, while the other was right out of school. I think the latter did ROTC during undergrad and was pretty much the exception to the rule. As far as clinicals go you might be able to score a rotation at a military clinic. If you don't have any military experience that's a good way to show you are serious about serving that population. When I was observing at Ft Carson there was a civilian doing a rotation there. Whereabouts are you located? One area of the country you may have trouble getting a military clinical rotation is Texas since that's where the Army-Baylor folks tend to do theirs (with the exception of Navy who goes to San Diego).

 

[starrsgirl]

I'm currently in the process of applying to the Air Force. I graduate in 2 weeks from PT school.

1. When you are in your last year of school and nearing graduation, you will need to look for a military healthcare recruiter in your area. Generally, you have to be within 90 days of licensure before you can even apply. You will not be "enlisting", rather "commissioning" as an officer.

2. Yes, I would absolutely try to do a clinical rotation at a military hospital. Start talking to your clinical coordination person right away when you get to school. My school did not have a military affiliation set up and it took nearly a year to get it in place, and then I was able to select it my 2nd year and do it my 3rd year. If your school can get the affiliation, then generally you will only be competing against your classmates. But it may be hard for a school to get an affiliation if its never had one before.

3. No, you do not need special references to become a PT in the military, but having one from a military PT certainly doesn't hurt.

4. I recommend getting strong grades in orthopedic classes, have an overall high GPA and also get a military rotation (or do some shadowing over a summer if you can't). I also took my CSCS while in school to help a bit.

@scrawnyguy is absolutely correct in that generally the military branches like to take PTs who have been out of school for a few years. The like graduates who have heavy experience in orthopedics and manual therapy, they also give preference to those who hold the OCS (orthopedic board specialty). Unless you go through the direct accession via Baylor, it is hard to get into the military as a PT right out of school. The services fill their need with the direct accessions first, then if they need any more, they will look to civilians. I can speak for the Air Force only but they have not held physical therapy boards (application boards where you apply to go into the Air Force) for the last 2 cycles....meaning they did not take any other physical therapists in other than those graduation from Baylor.

 

[scrawnyguy]

A couple quick things before I forget. I wouldn't discount working as a civilian PT on a military base for a bit. If you did apply a few years after graduation I'm sure that type of experience would look great when compared to someone who has been working at your run of the mill ortho clinic. While some of the services have been adding PT positions over the past several years the biggest factor in how many PTs they take off the street has to do with how many current military PTs decide to leave the service in a given year. That number can vary drastically from year to year. We have about a 5 year commitment after graduating Army-Baylor. One of my professors said that when his classes commitment was up all but 3 of his classmates (out of about 25) left the service. In other years practically everyone stays. A lot of factors come into play including the strength of the civilian job market vs current military pay/benefits and the state of world affairs (the possibility of deployment is not ideal for most). The civilian job market seems pretty solid right now and with everything going on in the world the military option may not seem like such a great deal anymore and folks might be more likely to throw up deuces, grow a beard, and get fat as a civilian (that's my dream at least).

 

[sarahkm7]

A couple quick things before I forget. I wouldn't discount working as a civilian PT on a military base for a bit. If you did apply a few years after graduation I'm sure that type of experience would look great when compared to someone who has been working at your run of the mill ortho clinic. While some of the services have been adding PT positions over the past several years the biggest factor in how many PTs they take off the street has to do with how many current military PTs decide to leave the service in a given year. That number can vary drastically from year to year. We have about a 5 year commitment after graduating Army-Baylor. One of my professors said that when his classes commitment was up all but 3 of his classmates (out of about 25) left the service. In other years practically everyone stays. A lot of factors come into play including the strength of the civilian job market vs current military pay/benefits and the state of world affairs (the possibility of deployment is not ideal for most). The civilian job market seems pretty solid right now and with everything going on in the world the military option may not seem like such a great deal anymore and folks might be more likely to throw up deuces, grow a beard, and get fat as a civilian (that's my dream at least).

Thank you so much for the replies! I am located in the Massachusetts area and I know there are military hospitals around where I live so that I could possibly do a clinical rotation at one of them. I am definitely not opposed to serving as a civilian PT on a base, but I am just wondering the likelihood of being hired as a civilian over directly commissioning? Or if it is just more difficult for me to be commissioned right out of grad school because of lack of experience?

 

[sarahkm7]

I'm currently in the process of applying to the Air Force. I graduate in 2 weeks from PT school.

1. When you are in your last year of school and nearing graduation, you will need to look for a military healthcare recruiter in your area. Generally, you have to be within 90 days of licensure before you can even apply. You will not be "enlisting", rather "commissioning" as an officer.

2. Yes, I would absolutely try to do a clinical rotation at a military hospital. Start talking to your clinical coordination person right away when you get to school. My school did not have a military affiliation set up and it took nearly a year to get it in place, and then I was able to select it my 2nd year and do it my 3rd year. If your school can get the affiliation, then generally you will only be competing against your classmates. But it may be hard for a school to get an affiliation if its never had one before.

3. No, you do not need special references to become a PT in the military, but having one from a military PT certainly doesn't hurt.

4. I recommend getting strong grades in orthopedic classes, have an overall high GPA and also get a military rotation (or do some shadowing over a summer if you can't). I also took my CSCS while in school to help a bit.

@scrawnyguy is absolutely correct in that generally the military branches like to take PTs who have been out of school for a few years. The like graduates who have heavy experience in orthopedics and manual therapy, they also give preference to those who hold the OCS (orthopedic board specialty). Unless you go through the direct accession via Baylor, it is hard to get into the military as a PT right out of school. The services fill their need with the direct accessions first, then if they need any more, they will look to civilians. I can speak for the Air Force only but they have not held physical therapy boards (application boards where you apply to go into the Air Force) for the last 2 cycles....meaning they did not take any other physical therapists in other than those graduation from Baylor.

Thank you so much for the response! Was it difficult for you to convince your clinical coordinator to develop an affiliation with a military base? Fortunately for me in regards to competing with classmates for a clinical rotation at a base, I have a small class and I am one of the only (maybe the only) person interested in a career path such as this. But I wonder if the coordinator at my school will be less inclined to try and develop an affiliation because I am most likely the only one searching for one. Of course I will have to talk to them directly and determine the possibility! But I am just wondering more about your experience

 

[starrsgirl]

Thank you so much for the response! Was it difficult for you to convince your clinical coordinator to develop an affiliation with a military base? Fortunately for me in regards to competing with classmates for a clinical rotation at a base, I have a small class and I am one of the only (maybe the only) person interested in a career path such as this. But I wonder if the coordinator at my school will be less inclined to try and develop an affiliation because I am most likely the only one searching for one. Of course I will have to talk to them directly and determine the possibility! But I am just wondering more about your experience

I think you have to sell them on the differences of doing a military rotation. On paper, the rotation will be listed as "outpatient ortho". Our school has a pretty strict policy that they do not setup new clinical affiliations at all (we have a lot, they want to make sure the quality is high versus taking an unknown new rotation). But then, in passing, our director said special consideration would be given to rotations they didn't have/needed more (she was talking about acute care). So I talked to our director about how military PT is different and is sort of a specialized experience (direct access, order imaging, deployments where PTs will do some triage, more focus on eval, leading a large team of PTAs/techs). She agreed with me and said we could purse. The HARDEST part was finding a contact for my school to set something up. My coordinator tried a few times (googled a number and call, no response). So then, my school gave me permission to get a name/number so they could set up the clinical. Calling into the military treatment center is like falling down a black hole. Many unreturned calls, many phone trees with no answers. If your school agrees, do NOT accept "oh, we never heard back from them" as an answer. Unless you heard back from a clinic and got a "no", don't consider a never heard back as a rejection...keep trying.

 

[scrawnyguy]

Thank you so much for the replies! I am located in the Massachusetts area and I know there are military hospitals around where I live so that I could possibly do a clinical rotation at one of them. I am definitely not opposed to serving as a civilian PT on a base, but I am just wondering the likelihood of being hired as a civilian over directly commissioning? Or if it is just more difficult for me to be commissioned right out of grad school because of lack of experience?

Getting hired as a civilian is definitely easier than getting commissioned. If you go to usajobs.gov I'm positive there are several positions open throughout the country. In many clinics the civilians outnumber the military PTs. The Army gets its PTs almost exclusively from Army-Baylor and I'm pretty sure it's the same for the other branches. That means they can be pretty selective when they need to find someone to meet a shortfall, which generally means they opt for more experienced PTs.