To military PAs

[LT_Oneal_PAC]

I'm not offended by the question either. It's not as if he said he was entitled to serve and not deploy. Not nearly as bad as the actual military PAs and others I've witnessed get out of deployment by strategically planning (and yes, they will admit it) their pregnancy, or the medical retirees coming in to my clinic wanting my help to increase their disability rating.

 

I've known lots of people who joined for monetary reasons. While they often hate being in the military and treated like a kindergartner, they do as good or better job than anyone else.

 

But trust me Ace when I say the money is not worth being in the military. They will get more from you than they can monetarily repay. It is a hard life as a military PA even not on deployment. Personally, deployment is the easy part of my job.

[south]

Yeah I got no problem with it, he doesn't know so he asks.  Somewhat sensitive subject, but no problem.

 

Some folks had ducking deployments down to an art form.  The best strategy is to work yourself into a "non" deployable position by getting a convenient but hard to prove injury, taking classes or your wife or kid is sick or taking classes or your wife's boyfriend is both sick and taking classes, etc.  Until the tempo lessens and something cool comes up.  

 

At 1st SOW, I watched a guy try to explain (in a deployment briefing in front of about 120 guys) that he could not deploy to the North Sea so the navy guys could assault oil rigs, in the winter, but WAS able to go to Scotland for the best (and drunkenest) scheduled complete and utter boondoggle deployment the same week.  

 

So yeah it can be a thing.

[sas5814]

I had no problem with the question and I think considering service is a noble thing in itself. We all join for different reasons. I was in at 17 looking for college money and I retired 20 years later. I tried to explain politely and then felt like a hard reality check was in order. I have also talked to him offline and he is quite nice and sincere (though I'm still not sure he gets it but he wants to speak to a recruiter so I cautioned him about that). 

Monday I was at the movies with my wife and as we left I saw a guy with 3 kids and service dog. I'm 6"4" and he was a head taller than me and shaped like a triangle from the shoulders down. His service dog had SF patch, Ranger Tab on its vest and his R arm had a special ops tattoo. He was limping a bit and one hand was missing 2 fingers but he looked as strong and fierce as you can imagine all while having fun with his kids. I thought I was looking at the very picture of strength, duty, honor and it made me think of this thread.

I wanted to call him brother but I was too humbled to even take the liberty. I was also afraid he would dent my forehead. :-)

[Acebecker]

sas5814 - rest assured, I get it.

 

I'm glad that those of you who have served know where I'm coming from and understand the point of the questions - I appreciate your responses. I also appreciate the bluntness of the replies. This is the internet after all.

 

I do regret the tone and tenor of the initial post - I should emphasize that I wanted to know if I'm a candidate for service at this point and if my skill set enhances my candidacy or not. But I own my words and the outcome of posting them. It has been valuable.

[corpsman89]

I had no problem with the question and I think considering service is a noble thing in itself. We all join for different reasons. I was in at 17 looking for college money and I retired 20 years later. I tried to explain politely and then felt like a hard reality check was in order. I have also talked to him offline and he is quite nice and sincere (though I'm still not sure he gets it but he wants to speak to a recruiter so I cautioned him about that). 

Monday I was at the movies with my wife and as we left I saw a guy with 3 kids and service dog. I'm 6"4" and he was a head taller than me and shaped like a triangle from the shoulders down. His service dog had SF patch, Ranger Tab on its vest and his R arm had a special ops tattoo. He was limping a bit and one hand was missing 2 fingers but he looked as strong and fierce as you can imagine all while having fun with his kids. I thought I was looking at the very picture of strength, duty, honor and it made me think of this thread.

I wanted to call him brother but I was too humbled to even take the liberty. I was also afraid he would dent my forehead. :-)

 

Several months ago I was swimming at the city pool with my family and I noticed a wheel chair at one side of the pool. I noticed it had many military stickers, 10th mountain division, purple heart, etc. I noticed the person swimming in the lane that the wheel chair was parked at. Just one arm would come up for each stroke that he took. The other was just a nub. WOW, this guy only has one arm and he is Swimming! As I play with my kids for a bit I noticed he is done and starts to get out. Once out I see the real sacrifice he made. NO LEGS. That's right. This man only had one arm, and he was swimming for over 40 minutes. Just incredible. I felt compelled to walk over to him and I thanked him for his service. But I felt the same as you SAS. I was nervous as all hell, afraid that he would tell me to GTFO. But he said it was honor. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. I'll never forget it.

[sk732]

The world is weird sometimes - I picked up a chart the other day and gave it to a med student - she came back and said dude was a very grumpy person and frustrated.  Went in to chat, noticed a regimental t-shirt from a unit I'd served with and we got talking - we'd actually crossed paths a number of times, knew a lot of the same people and such, exchanged bona fides (like we do to suss out the Walter Mitty's)...dude settled and even apologised to the staff after for being a bit of a knobber.  Chatted with another guy a few weeks back that was a Korean War vet and had even been at the Battle of Kapyong (a rather famous battle in Canadian military history - a Canadian battalion basically stopped a Chinese offensive by occupying high ground in the way, even after being surrounded because the Australian and American units on either side got pushed of their positions) - again sort of calmed fellow down.  I always find it interesting how we can use that veteran connection to help folks out a bit...unless they're embellishing, then things go a little pear shaped :-D.

 

SK

[Croooz]

What to expect before you go in to speak with a recruiter will be the truth, lies, misinformation, or a combination of all three.  An honest recruiter will tell you what the others here said which is you will NEVER get a contract stating that you will not deploy.  You WILL easily find recruiters who will tell you that you will not deploy but that will NEVER be in writing.

 

Depending on where you live you can get a duty station close to home.  I drilled with people who lived and worked out of state but would fly into MD to work at the then NNMC Bethesda but that was their choice.  If you are not in a geographical area where there is a duty station then you will have to travel to get there.

 

I don't know what you're asking about "physical requirements."  You can find the general physical requirements here: www.navy-prt.com

My assumption is contra to yours in that I opine whatever kept you out as a teenager will probably also keep you out as an adult.  As the article Ventana posted on LCDR Krissoff, M.D., age is waiverable but a medical condition that kept you out before will more than likely keep you out now.  The "demand is high" is true for physicians but I do not believe it is high for PAs.  I have seen the Navy bring in physicians like Krissoff without much of an issue besides a bit of red tape but PAs...  I may be wrong and things may have changed but the military "grows" their own rather simply and they have scholarships for civilians to come in.  I just don't see them waiving too much.  Now if you were a SF qualified and wanted to come back in as a PA that might help but that isn't the case here.

 

Finally you have to understand that many of us served with PAs or physicians who believed as you are now.  Since "they" lied to them to get them in, these providers would do their utmost to not get deployed.  I knew a MD who took a baseball bat to his tibia to avoid Desert Shield/Storm back in '91.  Almost all the ladies got pregnant and the hospital looked like one big maternity ward.  I know things haven't gotten better with those who try to scam out of deployments.  I'm not saying that's you but your post is one that pushes that button kinda hard.  So just realize that since deployments are definitely out of the question that is synonymous with saying military service for you is out of the question.

Have you looked into transferring to another site that does qualify as NHSC?  Have you looked into the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps?  What about your State's loan repayment program?  Have you contacted NHSC and they give you the full details on all your options?
 

 

 

 

[sas5814]

its funny I didn't remember this until just now but in Desert Storm we had a young medic who just lost her mind about being deployed. Hysterical blindness, paralysis, intractable headaches. The philosophy was to treat as close to the front as possible and we had 2 psychiatrists in our group so she never got sent any further to the rear. I asked what she thought she would be doing if the balloon went up and she screamed "my recruiter told me I'd stay in the rear in a hospital or something!" and I absolutely believed her.

[BruceBanner]

I never served, but I did do disability evals for the VA for quite some time. After seeing probably a thousand vets ages 20 to 90, I have a good rapport with veterans, maybe because I look like a marine and they always ask. I always try to thank them for their service. I've never felt uncomfortable doing so. Whether they were a cook or a Navy SEAL they volunteered (or some drafted) for the job and they deserve our thanks. We are a soft society and most of us civilians will never appreciate the sacrifice of military service.

[sk732]

its funny I didn't remember this until just now but in Desert Storm we had a young medic who just lost her mind about being deployed. Hysterical blindness, paralysis, intractable headaches. The philosophy was to treat as close to the front as possible and we had 2 psychiatrists in our group so she never got sent any further to the rear. I asked what she thought she would be doing if the balloon went up and she screamed "my recruiter told me I'd stay in the rear in a hospital or something!" and I absolutely believed her.

 

I actually saw a major in my unit put his release in when Gulf War 1 came up - and then pulled it when he didn't get deployed...the Brigade Commander not only continued processing his release, he expedited it.

 

I, on the other hand, had to stand by and watch my platoon deploy to the Gulf without me because I had torn half the ligaments in one of my ankles on Christmas leave that year...when I was mobile more (I told my physio a fib and managed to show I could run a couple km without crying), I sent a memo up to get sent out...my RSM wandered downstairs, looked me square in the face and told me to commit an impossible sexual act upon myself.  "I'll keep that in mind next time you ask for volunteers for anything, Sir".

 

Mental note - talking to Sergeants-Major like that doesn't make for quick rise through the ranks.

 

SK