RHC81 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I have been considering joining the reserves as a way to pay down my student loans, in addition to getting to serve my country and fulfill a life-long dream. I wanted to join the active duty right after college, but life got in the way...Anyway, I'll be about 36 when I graduate PA school (hopefully), so I shouldn't be too old. :smile: However, I was shocked to find that the Air Force Reserve does not have a PA career field. Nurses? Yes. Doctors? Of course. PAs? Nope. Only the active duty AF has PAs. The Army Reserve does have PAs. I don't have an answer yet from the Navy. Has anyone else had any experience with the reserves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujin Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I'm on active duty right now getting ready to come off summer of 2013 so I can hopefully do a year of undergrad to get some prereqs done and go to PA school. I'm trying to do the Army PA program. Anyways I was in the Reserves for nine months before coming on active duty. I can tell you the deployment rate for PAs is higher than any other health professional in the military (aside from medics). PAs in the Army do not work in the hospital, rather they are attached at the Battalion level so they go wherever the Battalions go. Now with the reserves you monthly BA aka Drill will pretty much be the same as working in the civilian world. Once you're deployed though you have a lot more freedom and practically work independently. In fact when I was deployed I don't ever remember seeing a doctor once. PAs pretty much served their role... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sartort Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I'm on active duty right now getting ready to come off summer of 2013 so I can hopefully do a year of undergrad to get some prereqs done and go to PA school. I'm trying to do the Army PA program. Anyways I was in the Reserves for nine months before coming on active duty. I can tell you the deployment rate for PAs is higher than any other health professional in the military (aside from medics). PAs in the Army do not work in the hospital, rather they are attached at the Battalion level so they go wherever the Battalions go. Now with the reserves you monthly BA aka Drill will pretty much be the same as working in the civilian world. Once you're deployed though you have a lot more freedom and practically work independently. In fact when I was deployed I don't ever remember seeing a doctor once. PAs pretty much served their role... This was what I saw on active duty as well. I did see doctors during deployment, but probably because I had a huge unit, and they were in the minority. There were docs in the hospital, but PAs were with the soldiers on the ground, but did work in TMCs (or the tent they called a TMC). One of the things that is really cool about military medicine is the freedom, and not just for PAs. You will be able to train medics to do something, and then they will do it for you. This is probably why one of the first things I was taught how to do at the medical clinic was a rectal exam. If you have questions about the life of deployed PA, message deployedarmypa. I worked with him at Benning and he started this thread. http://www.PhysicianAssistantForum.Com/forums/showthread.php/37595-Consider-an-Army-PA-career Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
just_me Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Im in the process of going into the Army National Guard. Not much help during school except for some federal aid, but they have a sign on bonus and/or loan repayment options depending on how long you sign for. I also like the fact that they have an active guard option. If youre interested, go on the National Guard website and use the chat function to get a AMEDD recruiter for your state (theres usually just one in your state for the NG) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enjoy223 Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 FYI - Air Force Reserves does have a PA option but you must have 2 years of PA experience under your belt per a recruiter I spoke to in Sept 2012. I know a few PAs in the AF Reserves. The AF Res website is crappy and hard to navigate...but they do have some info about PAs if you look hard enough. I was told the Air National Guard doesn't have that experience requirement (per Air NG recruiter). In the end, I decided to join the Army NG. Excited to serve and get some help on the dreaded loans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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