Well, I can say its been interesting being on this forum and seeing how emotional discussions can get on both sides. It still escapes me how people can defend something so blindly that they have not yet had full contact with, and I wish they would continue to post their experiences here. It also surprises me how many people there are signing up that still do not have a good picture of what their potential future in military medicine is going to be like.
I have been able to help a number of people make more informed decisions, and most would think that makes me feel great. Actually the feelings are mixed. On the one hand, I feel a great shame that our country has let the military get so screwed up, (at least in medicine), that a forum where people like me have to put out warnings. On the other, I feel good someone else won't have to go through the problems I experienced.
I one of my recent communications with someone, I actually got asked about the Army. Well, to not be labeled as not being an "expert," by the usual, hosts, I got on line, and called two separete army hospitals. William Beaumont, and Womack. I spoke to a surgeon who had been on AD three years. I told him who I was and was seeking info because someone wanted to get an opinion about surgery in the army. I could tell right away by his wording that he was unhappy. He told me he did not even have privileges at his hospital when he got sent to Iraq, and found himself doing a trama case he did not feel comfortabele doing. He's physically separated from his girlfriend, parents, and did not choose to go where he ended up. He feels like is his supervised like you would a grade school child, and said over 90% of the physicians there would leave first chance they get. I imagine he meant surgeons, but it be everyone included. He felt he was busy enough, but certainly not like civilian counterpart.
The next guy was a chief resident, 18 yr prior service!! He said he knew what to expect, but that certainly the vast majority of surgeons are shocked once they get there. He said out of training, unless you have some "in", you will likely end up in a hospital that cannot even support inpatient care. So basically you may spend your first 3 years in a place where you can do the bare minimum of surgery, and certainly nothing complex. He said most people at major medical centers have been somewhere in the system for a while. They are more busy. Deployments at this time, are a minimum 8 months every other year. Its a 6 month deployment, with a month or more on either end for training, downtime, etc.
So, not as an "expert" but as someone who had two casual conversations, I present the decline of ARMY MEDICINE as well, except of course where homumculus is training as a pediatrician now..........lol. Seriously, I can at least attest to surgery in the army being a place where you may not end up practicing to the fullest of your abilities, and certainly not as much as one should to keep their skills up. I can conclude that based on what everyone else has said here, that its not only surgery, but medicine as a whole in every branch of the military.
I again encourage anyone seriously thinking about the military to call up places and just talk to the doctors. It took me one phone call for the first, and 3 for the second to talk to a surgeon.
My email is open to anyone with questions:
[email protected]
