Life as a Army Doctor [Benefits of Military Doctors]

By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI Founder

Most long-term readers know I spent my first 4 years out of residency as a navy doctor. I used to be an Air Power officer (separated as a significant), however I labored shifts in each Air Power and Navy hospitals (the Navy was rather more impressed after I launched myself as “Captain Dahle”). I took care of troopers, airmen, sailors, and Marines. I even took care of SEALs, though their descriptions of how they obtained injured had been all the time extraordinarily imprecise.

I practiced drugs on 4 continents, ran a hospital division, served on the medical govt committee, and functioned because the EMS director. I might direct the meeting of a tent hospital in a matter of hours, and, at occasions, I knew essentially the most about my specialty and a number of other others (ophtho, ENT) of any navy member in a whole nation. Those that have learn what I’ve written about navy drugs would possibly conclude that I’m essentially the most anti-military physician on the planet. That’s not true in any respect. When I’m requested for my trustworthy opinion, I inform those who the dangerous simply barely outweighed the great. I might not do it once more, however I had a lot of nice experiences. Nothing actually dangerous that would have occurred to me ever really occurred.

I managed to skate by all however one of many dangerous issues that may happen in navy drugs. No one ever took a shot at me. I managed to get precisely what I needed out of the Army Match (and the civilian match). My deployments had been shorter and safer than these of another navy emergency physician I do know. One in all my two children even knew who I used to be after I got here residence. I put up with my share of bureaucratic nonsense and got here residence much more usually complaining about my job than I do now, however the one actually dangerous factor that ever occurred to me was my project.

Once I got here out of residency, I used to be advised to make a rank listing of the 16 or so locations that the Air Power despatched emergency docs. My spouse and I stewed over it like a residency rank listing, and after a lot blood, sweat, and tears, I submitted it. Then, we got our final alternative. It form of made us surprise why we bothered making the listing because it clearly had no impact on our project. On the final minute, we had been supplied a brand new project, one the place there wasn’t even an emergency doc (and so, it wasn’t on our listing in any respect). Given the choice, it appeared like a good suggestion to take it (which we did in about 10 seconds as my spouse yelled, “Take it! Take it!,” whereas I used to be protecting the mouthpiece on the cellphone). We ended up a good distance from household and even farther from the mountains. Oh nicely. I took up disc golf and gave up climbing for some time (which serendipitously allowed me to switch a really costly time period life insurance coverage coverage).

The navy and its HPSP “Scholarship” have their issues, however in right this moment’s submit, I might wish to level out some actually superior issues about navy drugs.

The Advantages of Being a Army Physician

#1 High quality of the Folks I Served With

One of the best a part of the navy was, definitely, the folks. I served with my co-workers, and I served with my sufferers. The overwhelming majority of the folks I labored with and the folks I labored on had made a dedication to serve their nation and one another. They had been completely a pleasure to be round. They had been actually the salt of the earth. Now, I am in a fantastic partnership and have some nice co-workers. I even have some nice sufferers. However think about an ER the place all of the sufferers are required to keep up a wholesome weight, work out thrice every week, work laborious for a dwelling, and get drug-screened repeatedly. It is fairly cool. However since they do not really get non-viral diseases fairly often, the medication itself was just a little boring.

Extra info right here:

10 Causes to Thank Army Docs for Their Service

#2 Camaraderie

Within the navy, it not solely looks like it’s you towards our nation’s enemies, but it surely additionally looks like it’s you towards “the person.” It is not that any of our commanders, proper as much as the commander in chief, actually needed something dangerous for us. It was merely that the wants of the navy didn’t all the time coincide with our private and profession wishes. However that opposition actually makes for a fantastic sense of camaraderie, like we’re all on this collectively. You may have just a little little bit of that in residency however valuable little of it in a neighborhood hospital.

#3 No Uninsured

Did I point out that everybody you see has insurance coverage? Whereas wait occasions are generally longer than you desire to (the Naval hospital I labored at scheduled MRIs 24/7, even at 2 or 3 within the morning each evening of the week), no person has to cross on wanted care as a result of an absence of potential to pay for it. I do not suppose I noticed a dental ache affected person in 4 years. Superb!

#4 Everybody Has Somebody

Likewise, everyone has somebody assigned to care for them. Some sufferers in a civilian emergency division have nobody they will name to return get them and care for them. However everyone within the navy has a primary sergeant and a commander. They might not need me to name them, however I might. No sitting round ready to sober up in my ED.

#5 Get to See the Worth of Meds

The navy digital medical file had its points. However it additionally had a extremely cool characteristic. If you put a prescription into it, it might inform you how a lot the treatment value the navy on a per tablet foundation. Most capsules had been lower than 10 cents, and $1 a tablet was a extremely excessive worth. It might be fairly superior to have that form of transparency in our civilian system, to not point out these costs!

Extra info right here:

How A lot Do Army Physicians Make?

#6 Safety

One of many worst components about training emergency drugs is that you just worry to your bodily security. Nearly anybody can get into our “weapons-free” ED with a gun and wipe out the entire place as a result of they’re mad they did not get a dozen Percocets. So, what does the hospital do? It provides you an unarmed “guard” (who could very nicely qualify for Social Safety advantages) to maintain the place safe. The response time for the police ranges between 3-4 minutes (ask me how I do know).

Within the navy, I NEVER feared a affected person would harm me. They’d have needed to get previous a guard armed with an M-16 to get to me, and in the event that they began performing up (or ran off after they weren’t presupposed to), I might name a whole firm of closely armed navy law enforcement officials to make sure compliance with my therapy plan. These guys beloved nothing higher than to run down an escapee. There was no approach a affected person I did not wish to go away the ED was going to make it off base. That was essentially the most enjoyable the Safety Forces had all week.

#7 Assured Debt-Free Date

Let’s transfer into a number of the extra monetary subjects associated to navy service. I maintain working into these docs who’re planning to repay their scholar loans over 5, seven, 10, and even 15 years. My “scholar loans” had been paid off in 4 years, assured. Not a day much less however not a day extra both. If you cannot eliminate your scholar loans inside 4 years whereas dwelling a “navy physician life-style,” perhaps it is best to take a better have a look at serving.

#8 Regularly Growing Earnings

I criss-cross this nation preaching to college students, residents, and attendings the deserves of dwelling like a resident and rising into your revenue as slowly as you’ll be able to. However I confess that I had a bonus that lots of them won’t ever have. I used to be FORCED to develop step by step into my attending revenue. We have all the time saved, and as an attending, I all the time saved quite a bit. However it’s just a little simpler to not spend $300,000 as a brand-new attending whenever you’re getting paid $120,000 as a brand-new attending. I generally surprise how a lot of our monetary success I can attribute to the truth that we had many small raises as an alternative of 1 large one, like most emergency docs.

#9 The TSP and the SDP

Army members have two actually cool funding packages out there to them. The primary is the Thrift Financial savings Plan, which is among the lowest-cost 401(okay) packages within the nation. It’s comprised fully of high-quality index funds with rock-bottom expense ratios. It even has a novel funding, the G Fund, not out there anyplace else which offers one of many few “free lunches” in investing—bond yields with cash market stability. The TSP is so good that I’ve saved it since separating, and I really roll more cash into it after I get an opportunity. It is even higher now that it has a Roth choice. The second actually cool program is the “Financial savings Deposit Program.” If you deploy and for 3 months afterward, you’ll be able to put as much as $10,000 complete into this account and earn a assured annualized 10% on it. I want I might discover extra assured 10% returns on the market. After I left the navy, the Division of Protection (DoD) put in place a brand new retirement system, generally known as the Blended Retirement System (BRS), that took impact on January 1, 2018.

Extra info right here:

A Pre-Deployment Monetary Guidelines for Army Physicians

#10 Allowances

One of the best monetary benefit for navy members is the truth that a big chunk of their pay is tax-free within the type of a Fundamental Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) and, extra importantly, a Fundamental Allowance for Housing (BAH). As well as, lots of the “particular docs’ pay” do not require the cost of payroll taxes. Whereas deployed, a giant chunk of your fundamental pay can also be fully revenue tax-free. However wait, there’s extra. Whereas within the navy, you’ll be able to normally declare your state of residency as one of many seven states with out an revenue tax—or no less than one that does not tax your navy paychecks.

All this provides as much as a ridiculously low efficient tax charge in your revenue. The truth is, one yr during which I used to be deployed for the final 4 months of the yr, I had an efficient tax charge (federal, state, and payroll) of beneath 5% on a six-figure revenue. I will not see that once more in my lifetime.

And there you could have it, the highest 10 issues I beloved about being a navy physician.

What do you suppose? Have you ever served or are you at the moment serving within the navy? What do you’re keen on about it? Would you do it once more?

[This updated post was originally published in 2017.]