Active Army to FBI

[Moshjath]

Money isn’t her primary concern in becoming a doctor (though it doesn’t do to ignore it...) It’s something she’s wanted to do for a long time- after West Point, she served as an Infantry Battalion MEDO for a couple of years, did an Afghan deployment for nine months, then worked as a area support medical company XO before she got out at the end of her five year obligation. The primary concern is over 78 months of marriage, we’ve spent less than half of that living together due to multiple deployments, different postings, and professional development schools. This latest surprise deployment is leading me to actually pursue a career change that I’ve thought about for a long time. I’m absolutely enjoying Company Command, but it won’t last forever and at some point I will pass the guidon. She’s ok with moving maybe every five or six years, and as an EM doc she shouldn’t have too much of an issue finding work. She’s not really ok with me dragging her all over the US moving every 2 to 3 years to relatively crappy locales in the current career trajectory.

[Nephrology]

Money isn’t her primary concern in becoming a doctor (though it doesn’t do to ignore it...) It’s something she’s wanted to do for a long time- after West Point, she served as an Infantry Battalion MEDO for a couple of years, did an Afghan deployment for nine months, then worked as a area support medical company XO before she got out at the end of her five year obligation. The primary concern is over 78 months of marriage, we’ve spent less than half of that living together due to multiple deployments, different postings, and professional development schools. This latest surprise deployment is leading me to actually pursue a career change that I’ve thought about for a long time. I’m absolutely enjoying Company Command, but it won’t last forever and at some point I will pass the guidon. She’s ok with moving maybe every five or six years, and as an EM doc she shouldn’t have too much of an issue finding work. She’s not really ok with me dragging her all over the US moving every 2 to 3 years to relatively crappy locales in the current career trajectory.

Money isn't really the concern so much as what she likes about medicine and what kind of job she wants. I've met a lot of surgeons who would probably work just as hard for half the pay - it's just who they are. I'd just talk to her about it and figure out what she is looking for out of her residency training. Depending on what that looks like, it may or may not come with some degree of geographic constraint.

If she's close to applying she should probably have a sense of what specialty she wants to do by now and likely know how competitive she will be in the match. Ask her what kind of programs she's thinking about, and if she has a sense as to where she'd like to end up. She's probably thinking about all of this stuff on her rotations right now, so I am sure she'll have something to say.

It's also important to note the timing - she'll apply to programs this summer, interview over the fall/early winter, and submit a finalized, rank-ordered list of programs by roughly this time next year. These decisions are binding, so I would definitely try to square away your own situation to the extent possible as well. For what it's worth, it's generally (statistically) pretty easy to stay at your home institution for residency, so if where you live now is working, you could consider sticking it out through her residency until she is on the open job market.

[Moshjath]

A development- looks like my hometown police department is recruiting, and they also offer prior military to buy back their service with them. Our ultimate goal is to settle down there. We are a big fan of midsized southern cities, and Huntsville was a great place to grow up, with a booming economy, great outdoors, plenty of fun stuff going on. This is another avenue to pursue. Nearest residency for EM would be UAB.

[Le Français]

We have a Huntsville officer (self described) on this forum; hopefully someone else will remember his username.

ETA: It takes time to be eligible for such an assignment, but one good way to network with feds and see if you like the work is to get on a federal task force as a local LEO. Some federal agencies may then “direct-hire” you to the office of your choice, as you would then be a known quantity.

[TC215]

Local LE work is some of the most fun you can ever have. Good luck to you.

[jandbj]

Note: I didn’t read the whole thread, just the first page.


Point of interest: USMA graduate buddy of my cousin (they’re both class of 07), just switched from active army to a US alphabet agency based in Europe... they gave him credit for his 4 yrs on the Hudson River in addition to his active Army time towards his retirement. That one surprised me.

[HCM]

Note: I didn’t read the whole thread, just the first page.


Point of interest: USMA graduate buddy of my cousin (they’re both class of 07), just switched from active army to a US alphabet agency based in Europe... they gave him credit for his 4 yrs on the Hudson River in addition to his active Army time towards his retirement. That one surprised me.

Credit in terms of years of service for leave computation or credit in terms of buying back his military time towards retirement ?

Either way I’m not surprised.

[Moshjath]

Note: I didn’t read the whole thread, just the first page.


Point of interest: USMA graduate buddy of my cousin (they’re both class of 07), just switched from active army to a US alphabet agency based in Europe... they gave him credit for his 4 yrs on the Hudson River in addition to his active Army time towards his retirement. That one surprised me.

I've heard of that...We can't even compute our South Hudson Institute of Technology time towards our retirement in the Army, so thats a great deal recognizing those 4 years as a Cadet.

[jandbj]

I've heard of that...We can't even compute our South Hudson Institute of Technology time towards our retirement in the Army, so thats a great deal recognizing those 4 years as a Cadet.

Precisely the reason it surprised us all.

[JDD]

Credit in terms of years of service for leave computation or credit in terms of buying back his military time towards retirement ?

Either way I’m not surprised.

When I went fed, they automatically calculated my years of active duty towards leave computation and adjusted my base pay entry date to reflect my active duty time (for RIF and a few other purposes, but Not retirement). I had to jump through a few hoops and "buy back" my time for them to count my active duty time toward retirement.