Physician in the military...

Whtny42

New Member
Hey, my name's Whitney. I'm 15 now, and I've been trying to figure out some type of plan for when I get out of highschool. I'm really interested in the Health field, and I"ve been told I show an aptitude for it. I'm considering becoming a general surgeon, or perhaps an Orthopedic surgeon.

One of the things that I've decided to do is get the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholorship. I was wondering how different the expierence is between an Army Physician and a Navy Physician (I mean, the overall job expierence).

Right now, I'm leaning towards the Army. From what it sounds like, I could actually be practicing "on the field", and atleast in a little bit of danger (Something I'd like. :D), unlike being in a boat mored on the shore.

My main question, though, is what I should expect as a Navy/Army surgeon. The working environments for both, the "basic day in the life of", etc. Also, if someone could direct me to a link describing all the training a military doctor must go through, that would be awesome.

Oh, another thing, are military doctors trained in firearms? I don't think I would be with a rifle, but I could see being trained with a handgun.

And this is a pretty stupid question, but for the army, if one is stationed in an army hospital, would you be wearing your fatigues into work everyday? (Obviously not in surgery, but I guess when evaluating a patient and all).
 
From my experiences with docs, most of the time they are in a Charlie type uniform or scrubs of some kind. From what you have said, you may be interested in a Corpsman field. They are attached to a Marine unit and train along side and do everything Marines do. They are not surgeons, mainly general practitioners.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm looking for some more information on the Corpsman job now, but if anyone who holds the position would like to post their story or whatnot, I would appreciate it. I still haven't thrown out being a surgeon, of course, so personal experiences or information would still be very appreciated.

And forgive my ignorance, but is there an officer position as a corpsman, or are all enlisted?
 
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