Recent content by notdeadyet

Regarding civil training in fellowship, all programs aren’t created equally. Forensic fellowships tend to be kind of cult of personalities. Case Western would not be the same CW without Resnick, UC Davis would not be UCD without Scott, etc. I would ask the leadership specific questions about...

Couldn’t agree with this advice more. I was debating doing a forensic fellowship, attended AAPL early in residency, and it definitely made me realize forensics was a good fit. I teach in our fellowship now and give the above advice to those considering the field.

I’d vote for training where you intend to practice for forensics. I wouldn’t go to a bad program over a good one for the sake of locale, but I’d go to a great one over a really great one. Forensics is best done by word of mouth. You develop a reputation over time and can choose which lawyers...

Good to see you again, MedicalCorps. It's been a minute.

My Guard commitment amounts to a fair bit more than the one weekend a month/two weeks a year pitch. For the Guard, your experience is going to be extremely state dependent. Some states are pretty lax and others are pretty high speed. It will depend a lot on local politics and budget. And...

Also, if you leave before five years is up, you can just get another federal job to hit your 5 year mark. It doesn't have to be consecutive.

DMB is right: MDSSP does not start payback until after residency. Too many savvy medical students probably realized they could take 2 years MDSSP in MS3/4 and payback their obligation while still protected in residency.

Keep in mind that the medical student "slots" are because medical students have no MOS/AOC. THAT is why they are non-deployable. They can't be slotted in anywhere on a roster and have no applicable duties they can fulfill. If you come in as a PA and go to medical school, I would be extremely...

This will depend a lot on your state and your command (get used to hearing this for almost any answer pertaining to the ARNG). Most states will at least in theory have a weapons qual drill weekend once or twice a year. Whether you are able to go as a doc depends on what you have scheduled for...

Yep. The “two masters” thing is very much a double-edged sword. Many of us joined the National Guard specifically for the state mission (more local service to the community, disaster response, etc.), but that doesn’t stop me from complaining when call-ups interfere with other plans.

I’d recommend looking to transfer from one unit to another, if the current one isn’t to your liking. If you’re with a high tempo ARNG unit (MPs, etc.), you can spend a lot of time in the field and on short notice, which can be REALLY rough. But after you put time in with a unit like that...

Thanks for the info, everyone. This is tracking with what I’m being told by Army. I’ll re-post when I actually see the money. Well, when my lenders do.... sigh...

No luck. We had a discussion about this topic before at a residency I worked with and the consensus was that BOLC and DCC were not relevant to the medical training and therefore were not permissible for elective time (although residents could be permitted to use pooled time off to attend or...

For Army Reserve responding to COVID, some docs had orders cut for 180 days. COVID was determined to be one of the exceptions for which the BOG policy does not apply.

The Army will in almost all cases treat you identically. Choose your specialty based on its own merits, not the needs of the Army.