Special Forces and Medical School

stfesta · 03-20-2015, 20:13

I can not echo enough what Eagle5US said.

If you have an ROTC scholarship and you have found a way for someone to pay for your medical school. I highly suggest you do that first. No one will want to pay for your education when you are in your 40's. Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you like that.

"Special Forces" is not something you do. It's something you are. There is a common trait that each of us have that brought us here. If none of us were ever Green Berets, we would still share that same trait, we would still be a person that each other could count on.

Just my $0.02.

yojink5434 · 03-21-2015, 08:00

Thank you all for the helpful responses! Really do appreciate it, and I will take all of your advice to heart as I continue on. I will also PM Ender18D soon. Thanks all!

blue02hd · 03-21-2015, 08:28

I love it when I am asked questions like "How hard was it?".

My answer: "Not hard if you want it. If you don't want it, it's damn near impossible."

Stephens · 04-15-2015, 19:34

I'll venture to post as My best friend served as a physician in the 11th SFG (USAR)
He did this after med school and residency. He was prior service 11B. however.
I think he would advise med school, residency and then attempt SF. Based on our many conversations.
Actually, he advises no one to go into medicine with the current state of affairs.

Best of luck, OP.

**Team Sergeant** · 04-15-2015, 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephens

I'll venture to post as My best friend served as a physician in the 11th SFG (USAR)
He did this after med school and residency. He was prior service 11B. however.
I think he would advise med school, residency and then attempt SF. Based on our many conversations.
Actually, he advises no one to go into medicine with the current state of affairs.

Best of luck, OP.

The only folks that post in this forum are the folks that ask the questions and the Special Forces soldiers that answer those questions.

This will be your only warning.

RichL025 · 04-16-2015, 02:19

I'll second what Joe (Eagle5US) said...

Pretty difficult to go to SF after med school. In addition to EM, FP is probably another good choice, but options like that are few & far between. Additionally, should you be one of the very few to get a Q course slot as a MD, you won't really be _serving_ as an SF guy. Oh, you'll get to wear the beret and all that, but you won't be on a team. You'll be at the Bn med shed....

On the other hand, plenty of us old farts manage to go to medical school after SF. Most of them don't wait as long as I did (started undergrad after 12 years on AD) or Dan Godbee (went to med school after finishing 20. Or was it 30?). But after 5-8 years you're still a young man!

Difficult to give you advise in this. The right thing is different for everyone. SF is not for everybody. Neither is med school.

You only live once. Try & make it count whatever you choose to do.

Rich

RichL025 · 04-16-2015, 02:20

Addendum: The "pretty difficult to go SF after med school" thing doesnt count for the NG. They do some weird shit, and I've heard about MDs going through the Q course as 18Ds and serving on NG teams. Don't know how common that is though...

18C/GS 0602 · 04-16-2015, 16:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichL025

Dan Godbee (went to med school after finishing 20. Or was it 30?).

Dan is a great guy and a friend. He has a pretty amazing life story. He turned down SGM to go to Medical School. I am one of those odd NG guys that went to the SFQC after medical school and residency. It was not the path most traveled but it worked out well in the end and I got to spend a few years on an ODA which is priceless. Dan was one of the few people that did not try and talk me out of enlisting to go to SFAS after residency.

miclo18d · 04-16-2015, 05:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by stfesta

"Special Forces" is not something you do. It's something you are. There is a common trait that each of us have that brought us here. If none of us were ever Green Berets, we would still share that same trait, we would still be a person that each other could count on.

WELL SAID!!!

This is actually a hard concept for some to understand. I came up in the 75th Regt and the saying always was, "The tab is a school, the scroll is a way of life". Very true but it was/is more than that.

When I went to Jumpmaster School at Ft Benning, I had an instructor, I still remember his name, SFC Prince, he was such an excellent guy and just professional and knowledgable! I asked him, after I graduated, to go to Ranger School and come to 3rd Ranger Batt and that I would work for him in a second (NCO's must have a tab to be in the 75th). It wasn't a Tab or a school or an award that made him special, it was something inside of him. You could smell it, taste it, feel it. He was a guy people wanted to lead them.

I don't know 90% of the guys on this board, but I was brought in because of a brotherhood. The fact that I would lay down my life for any of them and they would do the same for me. The fact that when there is a job to do, no one looks for an excuse (except the team CPT), they ask what can I do? The fact of when a bullet cracks over head they they run.... toward the fire, not from it!

It can be explained but hardly ever understood.

If that is the kind of thing you want to be part of, I would suggest you go to the Army first (Reg Army, Ranger, then SF), volunteer to go 18D and as far as med school goes.... you never know if you just might go PA. Med school is fine too, you would certainly have a leg up on everyone with real world experience.