Medical Students and Physicians

There are several programs for medical students and physicians.All national guard programs for healthcare professionals of all kinds are handled through the Army's Medical Department (AMEDD). It has been said by many Army officers that "AMEDD lives in our universe but on another planet". That is to say, while you will be joining the Army via any of these programs, AMEDD sets its own policies and you cannot apply anything from your Army buddies to your specific programs. Things are specific and different for healthcare in the military. This is primarily because the ARNG must adapt to bring in high-skilled healthcare professionals that have their own practices in the civilian world. Incentives, requirements, even deployments are often different.

 As of the posting date, the following are the programs available and a brief explanation of required payback. It can get a little tricky, so please post a comment or email if you have a scenario you are wondering about. If you have a questions, others probably do too.


Terms:


Flexi-Training- Policy from the Surgeon General that allows students and Resident Physicians to drill once per quarter and attend Annual Training (AT) every other year instead of 12 drills each year and yearly AT. This is state and, in some anecdotes, CO dependent if you can participate in this schedule. Some states allow Flexi training for Physicians after residency. Check with your state and recruiter.

IRR- Individual Ready Reserve. All ARNG contracts are 8 years and 6 of them must be done drilling. In those last two years you are in IRR status and COULD be called back up without any sort of draft to serve.

Drill- Weekend Training. Occurs typically once a month and you will be required to attend 4-12 each year depending on your state's policy of flexi-training and your job in the ARNG.

AT- Annual Training. Each year all units your states ARNG will go to a single location for 2 weeks of training.

ASR- DOES NOT EXIST ANYMORE. This was a program that was a godsend for many students. It paid active duty pay to students with a job description of essentially "Do well in school and tell other about the ARNG". Funding was pulled and the program is NOT expected back ever. The guard is now focused on paying money for full providers instead of students.

OBLC - Officer Basic Learning Course. Phase I is an online course. Phase II is a 26 day course that takes place at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. ARNG officers must attend within 24 months of swearing in, though your state can give a one year extension making it 36 months to attend OBLC. If you take STRAP, you have until 24 months after residency to complete the course. Officially you get kicked out of the guard after 36 months of not taking this course. Unofficially many people have posted online saying that they forgot to take it and nothing happened until one day they got a letter saying they needed to take it. It is unlikely a needed doctor gets removed one day after the deadline hits. However, the option exists and it is best to get this out of the way as you signed a contract to do it.

Officer Preparatory Course - 2 week course that teaches customs and courtesies to new officers. Takes place 4 times per year. This course will teach you all the basic military understanding if you have no prior service. Often confused with OBLC and you may hear people say that OBLC is only 2 weeks. It is not. They are think of Officer prep.




Programs:

MDSSP - Medical and Dental Student Stipend Program -

STRAP - Specialized Training Assistance Progam -

HPLRP -  Healthcare Professional Loan Repayment Program -

Specialty Bonus - For certain critically needed specialties -



Obligations:


Join during medical school- Attend drill and AT as scheduled (depends if you have flexi training policy). Not deployable during school. Pass school. Drill/AT through residency to keep connected. Not deployable during PGY1-5 by current policy. Fellowship deployment is on a case by case basis. Pay back time owed after Residency in drill years. Get deployed  (by current policy once every 20 months for up to 120 days, 90 days boots on the ground at your location)

Join during residency training-  Attend drill and AT as scheduled (depends if you have flexi training policy). Not deployable during PGY1-5 by current policy. Fellowship deployment is on a case by case basis. Pay back time owed after Residency in drill years. Get deployed  (by current policy once every 20 months for up to 120 days, 90 days boots on the ground at your location)

Join after residency- Pay back time owed in drill years. Get deployed  (by current policy once every 20 months for up to 120 days, 90 days boots on the ground at your location)