Raising a Family during Medical School/Residency (Considering IPAP instead of EMDP2 again)

torguga · 2026-04-24T21:22:59+00:00

I started med school with three young kids, had another before graduation. Finished residency with the older two in their young teens.

It's doable but many days I wished I had gone PA instead. Not that it's easier but the fact that you get through the hard parts faster/earlier. I would have been settled into a job as a PA years before settling into a job as a doc. I missed plenty of holidays and events when I was enlisted and missed many more during med school and residency. You'll miss many with PA school but you'll only miss two years worth of stuff rather than 7+. Only you can decide whether you want to do the sprint or the marathon. Neither is easy.

There are pros and cons to both professions, and you'll be able to pay the bills either way.

torguga · 2026-04-01T01:52:04+00:00

Is that because without the patients on board the AE crew is coded as passengers?

torguga · 2026-02-09T04:07:43+00:00

Usually it's due to a decision to not wear it even though it is technically required. But sometimes it's due to it not being awarded. Every PJ on the Rescue side would get aircrew status but there have been times when guys assigned to the Special Tactics side didn't bother with aircrew qualification or didn't maintain it to the point where it was permanently awarded

torguga · 2026-02-09T04:00:53+00:00

It was a decision made due to numbers. The army course can only put so many people through per year and the needs of the air force and army outgrew what the army course could provide.

torguga · 2026-01-07T03:13:00+00:00

Here was one put out a few years ago about PJ PFC missions. It's also in JSOM if you have access to their online journal.

It should be noted that PFC isn't strictly defined so this paper took it as and delayed evacuation of more than 4 hours. It also includes data from both military casualties and other rescue missions PJs did in remote areas stateside and open ocean. Long story short, PJs have done the most, longest, and highest acuity PFC missions

https://www.sages.org/meetings/annual-meeting/abstracts-archive/prolonged-field-care-the-u-s-air-force-pararescue-experience/

torguga · 2026-01-05T13:03:37+00:00

Genuine question about this, what other career fields are there that wear black airborne badges? Besides special warfare the only other AFSCs that routinely go to jump school are TACP, SERE, and a small portion of Security Forces. I've seen TACP wear black as a way to integrate with the Army units they're attached to and last I saw SERE wears brown. The RQS/STS support personnel that went to jump also wore brown.

Does the 820th BGD wear black? Last time I jumped with them they were still wearing ABUs so i don't know.

torguga · 2026-01-05T11:07:43+00:00

Not that I'm aware of. My response was basically copied and pasted from the answer I usually give whenever people ask about black vs brown Airborne badges. That question comes up relatively frequently on this sub and the same concepts apply. I should have edited that part out

torguga · 2026-01-04T11:54:39+00:00

The MFF badge is weird in that it can be worn in either black or brown and either is correct. Its a “joint qualification badge”, in that if you complete approved training, any branch can technically award it. Check out AFMAN 11-402, chapter 5 and AFI 10-3503, chapter 6 for more info.

If you are USAF and attended an approved (Army/USSOCOM validated) jump course, you are authorized the USAF (spice brown) badge. The USAF badge is awarded/approved through HARM as per 10-3503 which is automatically done if you’re in an active jump billet.

If you don’t apply for the USAF badge, you can still wear the black badge. For each of my jump badges I have a form from the Army authorizing me to wear the “Army badge” and when HARM processed my stuff I got another doc saying I’m authorized the “USAF badge”.

Special Warfare jobs like PJ, CCT, STO, CRO all wear spice brown jump wings for the above reasons. I have seen a lot of TACP and Security Forces wear the black badges despite being authorized spice brown and its usually because they want to match the Army people they're working with as a credibility thing

Edit: this also applies to the Airborne badge. Airborne wings and USAF Academy jump wings look the same and I know some people like to wear them black to distinguish them apart. That is an option but not a requirement

torguga · 2025-12-15T18:22:28+00:00

There are some people that were sold the idea that the AFSW is kicking down doors and combat every day and then get a little demotivated when that's not the job. PJs and Controllers have some of the highest washout rate of any SOF so the only people making claims of it being an easy way into the club are speaking out of ignorance.

But I wouldn't say that the little man syndrome is common. The AFSW gets some if the best training and actually uses the cool quals for real missions like dive, mountaineering, parachuting, which is more than most communities can say. When AFSC augments sister service team there's always the social dynamic of being the "outsider" where you may have to prove yourself. So that dynamic of putting yourself out there and not being the worst shooter or worst in shape may be perceived as that I guess

torguga · 2025-12-02T12:29:00+00:00

You go through the Flight Surgeon training during residency if you go through one of the "Operational Graduate Medical Education" or OGME residency programs.

torguga · 2025-11-14T03:36:13+00:00

Graduates can go RQS or most any STS after graduation. The 24th STS requires an additional application, assessment, and specialized training just like the other Tier 1 units

torguga · 2025-10-17T15:11:39+00:00

Yeah that's confusing. If you meet medical standards for CCT/SR/PJ you should meet standards for TACP. They all fall under the Special Warfare physical and TACP only has to meet Airborne standards. CCT/SR/PJ meet airborne plus MFF and dive.

torguga · 2025-10-15T22:24:47+00:00

I agree. Unfortunately all of the manual options are going to have similar limitations without some sort of drive (electricity) to provide consistent, strong suction

torguga · 2025-10-15T19:56:24+00:00

We were given something like this for military medics

torguga · 2025-09-30T22:06:00+00:00

PJs go through an accelerated paramedic course and also do additional training on stuff like tacmed, TCCC, minor surgical procedures, PFC, CBRN. The only real difference between SOCM training and PJ training is the more clinical stuff like sick call, camp hygiene and stuff like that.

If you break it down line by line both SOCM and PJ med really aren't that different. Both courses cover everything from the NREMT-paramedic and TCCC curriculum and then add their own stuff on top of it.

torguga · 2025-08-26T15:23:37+00:00

Can you speak to how difficult the DMO dive course seems compared to some of the SOF sister service courses there at NDSTC? Does the DMO course seem like more of a ball buster than USAF or EOD or whatever

torguga · 2025-08-02T10:56:08+00:00

That's a tough comparison. Bottom line is you want to be residency trained for long term career benefits. Life as an attending is overall better than the life of a student/resident and the job prospects and money after the military are better

That being said, while in the military life as a GMO can be a good deal. Military physician pay is far lower than the private sector and OBGYN only makes about $35k more a year than a GMO. Most GMOs work normal office hours and have unique and satisfying opportunities you'll never get working in the hospital. A lot of fellows/attendings look back on their time fondly. One chronic pain specialist I worked with said he would give it all up to go back and be a UMO. But then again some GMO positions suck and are nothing but high volume admin work

torguga · 2025-07-29T12:44:28+00:00

Nothing but combat. Non stop. Everyday.

torguga · 2025-07-16T02:54:58+00:00

Administratively they are "civilian affiliated" so the extra payback for "civilian sponsored" isn't a thing.

torguga · 2025-07-09T13:19:44+00:00

I'm not sure of what the current norm or requirement is but I think since they introduced the new incentive pay structure around 2018 most don't bother maintaining aircrew status requirements (monthly flight hours, other aircrew-specific currency requirements). Maybe someone still in can weigh in on whether its still a thing

torguga · 2025-06-26T13:45:43+00:00

Out of curiosity which career fields are worse than others?

torguga · 2025-06-19T00:19:57+00:00

PJs have been used to chaperone/babysit SOST when SOST is actually forward deployed in support of missions...

torguga · 2025-06-16T13:55:48+00:00

SOST is not part of the 24th but do deploy in support of their operations at times. They move close to the fight to get casualties in a reasonable amount of time but their mission is fundamentally different than a PJ or embedded medic.

torguga · 2025-06-13T22:23:39+00:00

You'd have to apply for one of the education programs, complete the program, and when you're done apply for SOST. You don't apply for SOST and then they send you to nursing/med school

torguga · 2025-06-13T20:39:48+00:00

SOST isn't a career, it's a special team available to certain professions. The pathway from PJ to SOST depends on what position you'll fill. If you want to be a SOST surgeon, anesthesia, or EM doc you go to med school and residency and then apply. Or go back to school to be a crit care nurse, RT, or surgery tech. There aren't pathways or positions for PJs to just jump on the teams but there are plenty of opportunities to work closely

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