Really considering the military....

[tigergal822]

I am currently a cv surgery PA with 3 years experience. I love my job, work with excellent surgeons, and make good money, but I feel like I need more. Being a cv surgery PA I truly think I know the meaning of sacrifice and service. ( being away from family, giving extra time and energy to the job even when"off" or not on call). I am thinking of joining the army or army reserves. My main concern is that I am a

Mother of a one year old daughter. I know that if I join I WILL be deployed. ( which I look forward to the challenge )

 

I am wondering is it better to do the reserves or the army? And I am looking for any words of wisdom or advice. What is it like to be a PA in the military? ( I feel like a recruiter will try to sell me on the idea, without all the details.

[ToppDog]

What is it you need more of? Being away from family, giving extra time and energy to the job even when "off" or not on call? If so, yeah, the military well definitely provide that & then some. Just mentioning that because you mentioned these things as a sacrifice, & I can't tell by your wording if these are the things that make you want a change, or if it's other aspects of your job that you didn't go into. I didn't read any mention of a spouse, so I'm assuming you're a single mother of a one year old. Who is going to raise your daughter if you do get deployed? What kind of impact will that have on her? And you? If you have extended family support this may work out for some. For others, being away from their children for years while they are that young can be excruciatingly painful. It's a huge consideration that I'm sure you've been thinking about.

 

On the plus side, you may get a lot more autonomy, depending on the type of assignment you get, if that is what your looking for. On the downside, you probably won't make as much money. Other than that I'll let others chime in. It's been a long time since I worked with military PAs. Have you considered working as a civilian contractor or joining civil service to work as a PA at a military installation? That may be the best of both worlds.

[ventana]

if you realize you will get orders for things you don't want to do and places you don't want to go and your familly is okay with it go for it

 

if you have a problem being a part of a very big machine where your thoughts don't matter then run away

 

If you want to give everything you got and then some and have some of the most amazing times of your life and work with some amazing people then do it.

 

I was 4 years USAF (F15e crew chief) and would have gone back in but the whole 6-12 month deployment thing really killed it for me - I would likely loose my job(s) and it just no longer fit for me - but it was an amzing experience. Not sure on Army specifically, but the people in the military are like no other......