Wecome! What is this place?

This blog is the home to as much information and help for those going through the direct commission process in the Special Branch of the United States Army National Guard, especially those that have no prior military experience and particularly new AMEDD officers. The Special Branches (versus the Basic Branches) is made up of corps of the Army Medical Department (Medical Corps, Army Nurse Corps, Dental Corps, Veterinary Corps, Medical Service Corps, and Army Medical Specialist Corps), the Judge Advocate General's Corps, and the Chaplains Branch. Essentially this includes healthcare, lawyers, and chaplains.

Needless to say, joining the military with no prior training and wearing an officer's rank can be intimidating, even for the most seasoned civilian professionals. You wanted to come be a doctor for soldiers, but now you feel like a fish out of water when you get called out that your hat or boots are wrong. When do you salute? What is OBLC?

This blog will be built initially for medical students and physicians, but will expand to nurses, PA's, lawyers, chaplains, etc. as time goes on. For the latter specialties, many of the topics covered on surviving your first drills still applies. The information on incentives, stipends, and deployments varies. EVERYONE should confirm the information in this blog with their recruiter and senior officers before acting or making assumptions. As time goes on, I will update information as it changes. But that doesn't mean it will happen at that very minute. I want to help you, but please email or leave comments if you find anything that needs to be updated.

 Good luck. I hope this blog is helpful and that those of you that make the respectable choice to serve your country are also served by this blog to make the transition easier than others, including myself, had it.