Make up your mind. You are confusing me. I have known many pilots who have seen the handwriting on the wall that either their CO thinks they are unsafe getting aboard the boat at night or who have scared themselves enough to quit who still like to be around Naval Aviation and are smart enough to go to med school. Any many who get out within a few years regret it. With the new GI bill, it is kind of like an aligning of the stars. You might be surprised.
Basics of Becoming a Pilot
- Thread starter IrishDancer
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Make up your mind. You are confusing me. I have known many pilots who have seen the handwriting on the wall that either their CO thinks they are unsafe getting aboard the boat at night or who have scared themselves enough to quit who still like to be around Naval Aviation and are smart enough to go to med school. Any many who get out within a few years regret it. With the new GI bill, it is kind of like an aligning of the stars. You might be surprised.
kp2001
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I'm not waivering...I simply left out all of the details in the first post:
by pilots getting out and going to medical school I meant they get out and take the HPSP to attend a civilian medical school or attend USUHS. They will also at times be required to take a year or two betwen this happening because they either need to retake some classes that have "expired" for application purposes or never had them in the first place.
The new GI bill will have no effect for physician retention. There are already scholarship programs in place which allow you to still retain your GI bill benefits for future use. Those who use the GI bill for medical school won't come back in the military because they won't have any obligation to come back in the military. There is a huge difference between a pilot/nfo getting out, trying the civilian market and not liking it and an aviator who gets out and goes to medical school.
There is a world of difference between life in the line community and life in the medical corps when it comes to many issues. One is pay disparity. For most specialties you will make about 1/3 of the pay you would make in the civilian sector. There have also been financial analysis done showing the break even point for those who take the military scholarship vs those who don't. I think it is about the 7-10 year mark that a civilian physician will have overcome and surpassed the financial benefits you gain from taking the medical school scholarships. There are tons of reasons people aren't becoming military physicians, but they are getting into "the weeds" and not really the point of this thread. I'll try to stick with aviation.
The reason I say there are "plenty of prior navy pilots/nfos" who are now navy flight surgeons is because the Navy doesn't use the pilot-physician in the same way the air force does. In fact the Navy does not currently support this program. The Air Force continues to have them and I have met one who flew combat missions in Afghanistan. In the past the Navy has used this type of person as a test pilot or instructor pilots. These programs can really mess with a persons promotion rate as well. (as an aside)
by pilots getting out and going to medical school I meant they get out and take the HPSP to attend a civilian medical school or attend USUHS. They will also at times be required to take a year or two betwen this happening because they either need to retake some classes that have "expired" for application purposes or never had them in the first place.
The new GI bill will have no effect for physician retention. There are already scholarship programs in place which allow you to still retain your GI bill benefits for future use. Those who use the GI bill for medical school won't come back in the military because they won't have any obligation to come back in the military. There is a huge difference between a pilot/nfo getting out, trying the civilian market and not liking it and an aviator who gets out and goes to medical school.
There is a world of difference between life in the line community and life in the medical corps when it comes to many issues. One is pay disparity. For most specialties you will make about 1/3 of the pay you would make in the civilian sector. There have also been financial analysis done showing the break even point for those who take the military scholarship vs those who don't. I think it is about the 7-10 year mark that a civilian physician will have overcome and surpassed the financial benefits you gain from taking the medical school scholarships. There are tons of reasons people aren't becoming military physicians, but they are getting into "the weeds" and not really the point of this thread. I'll try to stick with aviation.
The reason I say there are "plenty of prior navy pilots/nfos" who are now navy flight surgeons is because the Navy doesn't use the pilot-physician in the same way the air force does. In fact the Navy does not currently support this program. The Air Force continues to have them and I have met one who flew combat missions in Afghanistan. In the past the Navy has used this type of person as a test pilot or instructor pilots. These programs can really mess with a persons promotion rate as well. (as an aside)
I guess this is what threw me:
This implied that they were out of the military while in med school while, in fact, those attending HPSP or USUHS are actually under military contract and have been in the military during their med school sojourn so I would consider them "in" instead of "out" while in med school. Just semantics I guess. Sorry for misinterpreting your post.
I wouldn't be too quick to make this statement. I think it will, in deed, have an effect on military aviators coming back into the military as MDs. Whether positive or negative, I am not sure. And whether or not ex-military aviators, in themselves, are an asset or detriment to military medicine, I have no idea but my speculation would be that it would be a positive asset to flight surgery.
In the past, HPSP or USUHS was basically the only avenue for a mid-career service academy aviator to get decent compensation while attending med school. Now, there is a very viable alternate. Actually, if there are med schools with comparable tuition to what the VA will cover, the stipend package for VA is better than HPSP, and the GI Bill could become the favored. Also, federal law allows only one military contract at a time, so, with VA, the individual would not be precluded from continuing flying with the active reserves. I guess one could argue time restraints but I know a dentist and an ophthalmologist who have continued their active reserve aviation careers both through med school and into their new civilian careers. And by using their GI benefits, they retain the choice of military or civilian medicine when they graduate. If all MDs are in it only for the money, there will probably be a drop in Naval Aviators with a flight surgeon second career. They will all go civilian. If all mid career naval aviators go to med school simply to remain in the Navy in what they consider a more satisfying and viable career path, the numbers will probably go up. If it is somewhere in the middle, the results could be where one might basically say "It had no effect".
However, a very interesting topic. I have heard a few mid career Naval Aviators discussing this very item. Should have paid more attention.
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