thinking about AMEDD

**mek42** · 07-22-2010, 02:05 PM

I'm researching the possibility of competing for a direct commission into the US Army Medical Services Corps. The MOS 72A (Nuclear Medicine Science Officer) is my goal. Right now I do not have the education required for this job. If I accepted a commission in 72D (Environmental Science Officer) and completed the 72A education requirements while serving, how likely would it be to transfer from 72D to 72A?

Next, I have a masters degree in chemistry. Am I reading things correctly that I would enter 72D as a 1LT?

**McD** · 07-22-2010, 02:32 PM

1. Do you want to go active duty or have you considered a reserve component? You can direct commission into any of the branches, given that there is a need.

2. It should be fairly easy to become dual-qualified within the MOS. Keep in mind though, you can still be pulled to serve for the other MOS. So even though you get trained and qualified as a 72A, you can still be used to fulfill a 72D role if needed.

3. Yes. With your degree, you should be able to go in as a 1LT. Keep in mind though, most of the enlistment incentives (student loan repayment, enlistment bonus, etc) are typically only offered to those who go the enlisted route first.

4. Is your wife okay with this? Seriously, it's hard being a military spouse and you need to make sure she is on board and knows what can/will happen. Especially if you go active and have to relocate.

5. GoArmy.com > Chat with a Recruiter > Chat Overview Awesome, awesome tool. You can talk with a recruiter and not have to actually meet face to face with a recruiter until you are ready. Keeps the pressure down.

**mek42** · 07-22-2010, 02:49 PM

Originally Posted by MrsMcDowell

1. Do you want to go active duty or have you considered a reserve component? You can direct commission into any of the branches, given that there is a need.

2. It should be fairly easy to become dual-qualified within the MOS. Keep in mind though, you can still be pulled to serve for the other MOS. So even though you get trained and qualified as a 72A, you can still be used to fulfill a 72D role if needed.

3. Yes. With your degree, you should be able to go in as a 1LT. Keep in mind though, most of the enlistment incentives (student loan repayment, enlistment bonus, etc) are typically only offered to those who go the enlisted route first.

4. Is your wife okay with this? Seriously, it's hard being a military spouse and you need to make sure she is on board and knows what can/will happen. Especially if you go active and have to relocate.

5. GoArmy.com > Chat with a Recruiter > Chat Overview Awesome, awesome tool. You can talk with a recruiter and not have to actually meet face to face with a recruiter until you are ready. Keeps the pressure down.

1. I'm looking into both active or NG at the moment. One thing I need to look into is whether Reserve / NG service qualifies for the 10 year Federal student loan forgiveness program (for general public service, not just military).

2. Good to know, thank you. I knew officer branches were different than enlisted jobs, but then it seems like AMEDD officer MOSs are closer to enlisted jobs than to combat arms and combat support officer branches.

3. Yes, I missed the window where officer loan incentives were offered and I think that HPLP (is this the right acronym for the health professions loan program?) is only for Medical Corps (physicians), dentists and maybe nurses.

4. She is actually looking forward to moving around. She isn't keen on long-term separation though. It is the separation aspect that is the worst part of a combat zone deployment. We each had a motor vehicle accident this winter that we walked away from with no injury but that could very easily have been a terminal event.

5. I asked about 72A on the GoArmy discussion board, but the recruiting folks there referred me to contact an AMEDD recruiter. I have called my local AMEDD recruiter and plan to go in to speak with him in person when I have free time (read "am laid off") in September.

If I did go NG or Reserve, wanted to go active but was unable to secure a release, would I be able to apply for active duty upon completing my reserve component obligation? Would my age be a factor in this situation? I'll be 36 by the time I compete for a direct commission, in NG there is a 6 year obligation which would put me over the 41.5 year age limit for active Army new commissions.

Thank you for the quick response, MrsMcD!

**McD** · 07-22-2010, 03:09 PM

1. Here is what I found regarding Fed Loan Forgiveness:

Perkins loans and Stafford Loans can be cancelled for full-time service as a teacher in a designated elementary or secondary school serving students from low-income families, special education teacher (includes teaching children with disabilities in a public or other nonprofit elementary or secondary school), qualified professional provider of early intervention services for the disabled, teacher of math, science, foreign languages, bilingual education, or other fields designated as teacher shortage areas, employee of a public or non-profit child or family service agency providing services to high-risk children and their families from low-income communities, nurse or medical technician, law enforcement or corrections officer, staff member in the educational component of a Head Start Program, service as a Vista or Peace Corps Volunteer and service in the Armed Forces (up to 50% in areas of hostilities or imminent danger). FinAid | Loans | Loan Forgiveness

I added the bold emphasis to help you wade through the unapplicable. Sounds like a starting off point to get you started.

2. Currently, the only experience I have with the military is the enlisted side. That will change once hubby starts training the NG OCS canidates. I would very strongly advise going as a combat arms officer. Multiple reasons. I can expand if you wish.

3. Enlistment Incentives suck during a recession. Enlistment tends to pick up during a recession as it's guaranteed job, benefits, etc. so the military weans back their incentives to when they need to use them.

4. Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program | Military.com Way better resource on that than I am.

5. If she isn't keen on separation, you may consider researching that Air Guard or the Air Force. Typically, their deployments are not for as long of a period of time.

6. Good for you for being proactive. I would talk with a variety of recruiters in various branches. You'll be able to tell who is telling you what he thinks you want to hear versus telling you what you need to know.

7. Yes. Prior Service is given much more leniancy in reenlistment than a new recruit. You are a cheaper asset to the military.

**mek42** · 07-22-2010, 04:45 PM

I'm all confused with the numbering now, but this ( FinAid | Loans | Public Service Loan Forgiveness ) is the forgiveness plan I was looking at. It looks like I would either need to be active duty or full-time NG to qualify.

I'm too old to go in as combat arms and I don't think my wife would want me in that field. I did briefly look into the NBC officer branch. If I was able to get an age waiver, would you expand upon why I should look into combat arms instead of medical?

Even in times of need, my (limited) experience (been kicking around the Army as an idea off and on for quite some time) is that officer usually doesn't get any incentives other than for professions (i.e. doctor, lawyer, nurse, etc.).

I am looking also into the Air Force. Also briefly at Navy for completeness. Navy, though easier for me to get into with respect to additional training was ruled out upon reading, "... opportunity to serve on an aircraft carrier ..." I have an emotional preference for the Army out of all four services.

I'll ask the different recruiters about reserve to active possibilities also.

I'm also going to volunteer at my local hospital and/or VA hospital once laid off. If that goes well, I might also put together an application for USUHS and see what happens. As I research more about medical physics I feel like I owe it to myself to at least look into whether I'd rather want to be a radiologist, but that age clock is ticking hard for this path. I've reviewed the academic requirements for entry and have emailed them to make sure my biology meets the requirements - it does. It was obvious to me that everything else was met. I'll also look into the civilian med school scholarship programs from the Army.

Thank you again for the answers and thoughts - I'll check back in as I learn more and/or have more questions.

**mek42** · 07-22-2010, 10:55 PM

I was thinking about the USUHS idea on the drive home and I don't know if it fits. I'm thinking it is better to either just do 72D or retrain just the year (two if part time study) for health physics.

I'll still look into volunteering at hospital and what is involved with USUHS, but it feels like this idea is a distraction, so maybe it isn't right. Thanks for letting me think about things here.

**McD** · 07-23-2010, 10:50 AM

I am also very confused with the numbering system.

There are full time NG postions available, but if the loan repayment is the primary reason behind accepting a direct commission, then I would probably go active duty.

I think we had some miscommunication. I really meant to type that I would strongly advise against going as a combat arms officer. Multiple reasons for that.

There is another route to consider here that could also work for multiple reasons. I've known soldiers to do it. You could go the enlisted route. Go through basic/ait and all of that. Get mos-trained for whatever you want. Get the incentives that are offered. Then go through OCS (officer canidate school). It seems like back-tracking career-wise, but financially, if it would pay off loans or get you a hefty cash bonus, you might be better off. Just a thought. I was in AIT for my medic training with a DOCTOR. He wanted to do it this way before getting commissioned because he wanted to know what the soldiers he would be leading went through to get where they are. Very unconventional, but an option nonetheless.

I like the Army the best too.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

**mek42** · 07-23-2010, 11:22 AM

Is Chemical Corps too close to Combat Arms? Would I only go in as a 2LT if I went Chemical Corps?

I'll look into the enlisted side, but I think I'd be better off going officer - even with $65K student loan repayment, I'd still need to serve for 10 years and take advantage of the general forgiveness program.

I think my plan now is that if I get Trade Act money and funding to retrain for master in health physics I'll do that, maybe join NG (for 72D or Chemical Corps) while studying more or less full-time, then try to go active as 72A. If not, I will look into going active for either 72D or Chemical Corps Officer (74). Once in, I'll use whatever active tuition assistance programs I can find to do the master degree in health physics part time and then try to get into either 72A or maybe even FA52.

I'm planning to leave early from work today to get home and talk with local recruiter about differences between 72D and Chemical Corps. I also want to get a fat measurement so I can mark progress as I lift and run to get myself back in shape.

Again, tyvm for your helpfulness!

**mek42** · 07-28-2010, 10:08 AM

I have learned that age waivers for OCS in the Army are currently closed. So my only option is direct commission into Medical Services Corps. (Other old folks with different backgrounds also have Chaplaincy Corps, other AMEDD branches and JAG open as direct commission options.)

Having thus narrowed my choices, I have two main possibilities. I can try to get commissioned into 72D now and study for a Master degree in health physics (MHP) while serving (I'm currently enrolling into an online program of such, so geography isn't much of an issue) and then try to move to 72A or perhaps even FA52 later. Or I can study full-time for the MHP for about 18 months and then go right into 72A.

If I study full-time, there is a possibility that I might be accepted into a 3 year residency program which would open an important door for me, so I would do that if I could. While doing this, maybe I could enlist in the National Guard or Army Reserve as a 74D (CBRN Specialist). Still kicking around this idea, which has a lot of "if"s tied to it.

**McD** · 07-28-2010, 11:04 AM

Lots of options. What's your gut instinct telling you? What does your wife think?

**mek42** · 07-28-2010, 12:41 PM

From my intuitive side gut:

If I can secure non-debt funding (most likely through Trade Act), do the MHP full-time.

Then, if I get into the local residency program AND it has become CAMPEP accredited, do that. Otherwise, go 72A.

Then, consider a reserve component enlistment while in residency program, unsure.

If neither of the above, I think 72D as soon as I can may be the best thing to do. It looks like there is a much higher likelyhood of a rear echelon deployment for 72D than for 72A.

Need to discuss this plan with wife in more detail.

I'm using www.armyocs.com forums for much of my initial reading. It seems fairly well moderated by serving officers and NCOs and many posters provide .mil references with their post or are willing to do so if asked. Very professional site.

**McD** · 07-28-2010, 01:49 PM

I think it's great that you are being so cautious and researching this thoroughly. Way too many people just jump in and enlist and then spend their entire contract complaining that they got screwed.

**mek42** · 07-28-2010, 02:32 PM

I'm old enough to know that 90% of the time the screwer and the screwee are the same.

Thanks for the encouragement and answers.

While I'm researching this, I'm also planning to visit a local CrossFit affiliate in August with the intent to join in September once laid off to get myself out of no go status for fat and PFT. Right now I've been going to the gym and running, but CrossFit is highly recommended at ArmyOCS.com, so I'm going to go check it out.

**McD** · 07-28-2010, 02:52 PM

Not a problem. That's why I get the cool 'moderator' badge.

I would encourage trying to start a workout routine now if possible. I know it's a 'female' site, but here is a website that has a nice routine to get into: 8-Week Basic Training Fitness Routine

**mek42** · 07-28-2010, 03:01 PM

I have been. In fact, I think I hurt my knee last Thursday running. Might go to the doc tomorrow.

Woke up Friday and it hurt (right knee, down and interior on the tibia from the patella, little bit also near lowest patella / tibia joint). Stopped running and calf extensions on Friday and Monday. Applied some ice Monday night. Something popped yesterday and it went from feeling hurt to sore, so I did a slow jog last night.

This was maybe a big tactical error. (Where is the "stupid" emoticon?) My wife left me at the track, walked home alone and pickep me up with the car. Applied ice last night and this morning. Hope it isn't something permanent. On the other hand, non-70B MSC is reportedly understength, but I still don't want to need a knee waiver.