So after 4 years of medical school, 3 years of emergency medicine residency training, board certification, 2 years assigned to an infantry brigade and now working full-time as an attending physician, I am deploying in support of Operation Enduring Freedom next month.
Probably.
What It's Like To Prepare For Deployment
The first thing one has to understand about the Army and military units in general, is that they're a bit like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On one side of the coin is the orderly, well-groomed and totally prepared representation that has every contingency planned for, including what to do if the commander's mother passes out during an outdoor ceremony on a hot summer's day.
The other side of the twisted, rusted and unrecognizable coin is a face that is a more common sight to those working through it everyday: last-minute changes, new requirements, miscommunication and scrambling. Lots of scrambling.
Not many people understand these idiosyncrasies better than an ER doctor. After all, making critical decisions with incomplete information on a tight timeline? All in a day's work. Still, that skill set doesn't make short-notice adjustments significantly more enjoyable.
Here are just a few of the items one must address prior to departing for your all-expenses paid vacation to the most popular skiing destination of 2075.
-SRP (Soldier Readiness Program)
-packing and knowing what to pack
-online Army trainings
-contacting your future unit (when PROFIS)
-preparing home needs
-taking care of spouse, family; aka spending time/taking leave
-will, Power of Attorney
-car, vehicle storage
-financial arrangements
-loan payments in deferment or autopay
-have trusted agent periodically check account status
-cancel or suspend cell phone, utilities, newspaper/mail service
-ending lease early & move belongings into storage (if renting & living alone)
I will compose a follow-on entry after I've gone thru the rigamarole of finishing preparations, attending my week of pre-deployment screenings at the CONUS (continental US) Replacement Center in El Paso, TX, and made the long journey to Afghanistan. I'm sure there will be many things that I thought I needed that I'll find out were useless and vice versa.
My hope is that this information will be helpful for my fellow providers who will deploy in the future. Use the suggestions to avoid the mistakes I made and tailor the knowledge to fit your needs. Good luck!
31 December 2014
22 November 2014
Are Personal Statements personal anymore?
From time to time, I wonder: what did that admissions panel think about my PERSONAL STATEMENT?
This wondering usually happens when I am slogging through some other paper and hit the wall.
(I originally started this entry a few years ago. Fortunately, I don't have any more papers to write. Unfortunately, those papers have been replaced with other tasks, like adult life.)
Have you ever been asked to write about yourself? Anyone who has ever applied to a school or job has been faced with the dreaded PERSONAL STATEMENT. I consider myself an above-average writer, but the thought of tackling that still makes me cringe. Why? My belief is because it is a paradoxical situation. The difficulty does not come from the fact that you don't have enough information to start. Rather, you have TOO MUCH information. After all, you are the "subject matter expert", right?
The problem comes from filtering out the pedestrian from the extraordinary. Without a doubt, every person who has passed time on this earth has both pedestrian and extraordinary experiences. The hiring department usually just wants to hear about the latter, though.
"But I never have any extraordinary experiences," you say. "I'm sort of boring."
Maybe. Not everyone is Michael Westen or Amelia Earhart. But look at Jerry Seinfeld: his is admittedly a "show about nothing" and yet America spent 9 years watching those four bumble around New York City doing extremely pedestrian things. Including walking a lot. That the show made people pause, examine their supposedly pedestrian days and find humor in them, was extraordinary.
The first things to materialize in my mind include overseas service projects, running one's own business, and research experience. Perhaps a heroic act of valor - though, nothing too over-the-top, of course. We want admissions to be intrigued, not scoffing at what you or I would call "harmless embellishment." None of these are easy to wrist about eloquently, but they show up on personal statements all the time. How come? Because some students on the fringe did these things decades ago, wowed some people and word spread. These days, it is almost expected to have accomplishments of this level when you apply for school admission or first job, depending on your industry.
The truth is not everyone is able to do these things. Writing about something you are deeply interested in rings infinitely truer than trying to convince a stranger that you did, in fact, love spending Thursday afternoons in a hospital lab, helping nerdy Ph.D. candidates collate reams of data for their dissertation on Why I Think My Lab Rat Doesn't Have Backaches Anymore.
This wondering usually happens when I am slogging through some other paper and hit the wall.
(I originally started this entry a few years ago. Fortunately, I don't have any more papers to write. Unfortunately, those papers have been replaced with other tasks, like adult life.)
Have you ever been asked to write about yourself? Anyone who has ever applied to a school or job has been faced with the dreaded PERSONAL STATEMENT. I consider myself an above-average writer, but the thought of tackling that still makes me cringe. Why? My belief is because it is a paradoxical situation. The difficulty does not come from the fact that you don't have enough information to start. Rather, you have TOO MUCH information. After all, you are the "subject matter expert", right?
The problem comes from filtering out the pedestrian from the extraordinary. Without a doubt, every person who has passed time on this earth has both pedestrian and extraordinary experiences. The hiring department usually just wants to hear about the latter, though.
"But I never have any extraordinary experiences," you say. "I'm sort of boring."
Maybe. Not everyone is Michael Westen or Amelia Earhart. But look at Jerry Seinfeld: his is admittedly a "show about nothing" and yet America spent 9 years watching those four bumble around New York City doing extremely pedestrian things. Including walking a lot. That the show made people pause, examine their supposedly pedestrian days and find humor in them, was extraordinary.
The first things to materialize in my mind include overseas service projects, running one's own business, and research experience. Perhaps a heroic act of valor - though, nothing too over-the-top, of course. We want admissions to be intrigued, not scoffing at what you or I would call "harmless embellishment." None of these are easy to wrist about eloquently, but they show up on personal statements all the time. How come? Because some students on the fringe did these things decades ago, wowed some people and word spread. These days, it is almost expected to have accomplishments of this level when you apply for school admission or first job, depending on your industry.
The truth is not everyone is able to do these things. Writing about something you are deeply interested in rings infinitely truer than trying to convince a stranger that you did, in fact, love spending Thursday afternoons in a hospital lab, helping nerdy Ph.D. candidates collate reams of data for their dissertation on Why I Think My Lab Rat Doesn't Have Backaches Anymore.
17 September 2014
Ways to make your time at a line unit worthwhile...
1. Mentor other providers
2. Help train medics in the skills they use everyday
3. Find ways to augment their skills for tomorrow if/when they leave the military
Things are different at the battalion vs. brigade level. In a typical Brigade Combat Team (currently, the Army's main go-to maneuver force), the brigade is made up of 6 or 7 battalions each consisting of between 600-1000 Soldiers. Each of these battalions has 1 medical officer (physician's assistant), 1 medical operations officer and a platoon of medics. Each of these PAs report to a brigade surgeon, who is a physician (MD/DO) - although sometimes seasoned PAs take on the brigade surgeon role as well.
The 3 points I made above are more easily carried out by those battalion PAs than a brigade surgeon, especially when you are in garrison (not deployed). Luckily, there are opportunities for docs to be at the battalion level too. These often come in the form of PROFIS (Professional Filler System) slots as a battalion surgeon that are filled in preparation for and during a deployment. More on PROFIS, CTC (Combat Training Center) rotations and deployment in a future post.
A point that I've thought about and discussed with many combat medics over the years is succinctly captured in this interview of 2 former Army medics conducted by Jon Stewart.
Jon Stewart interviews 2 former Army medics
2. Help train medics in the skills they use everyday
3. Find ways to augment their skills for tomorrow if/when they leave the military
Things are different at the battalion vs. brigade level. In a typical Brigade Combat Team (currently, the Army's main go-to maneuver force), the brigade is made up of 6 or 7 battalions each consisting of between 600-1000 Soldiers. Each of these battalions has 1 medical officer (physician's assistant), 1 medical operations officer and a platoon of medics. Each of these PAs report to a brigade surgeon, who is a physician (MD/DO) - although sometimes seasoned PAs take on the brigade surgeon role as well.
The 3 points I made above are more easily carried out by those battalion PAs than a brigade surgeon, especially when you are in garrison (not deployed). Luckily, there are opportunities for docs to be at the battalion level too. These often come in the form of PROFIS (Professional Filler System) slots as a battalion surgeon that are filled in preparation for and during a deployment. More on PROFIS, CTC (Combat Training Center) rotations and deployment in a future post.
A point that I've thought about and discussed with many combat medics over the years is succinctly captured in this interview of 2 former Army medics conducted by Jon Stewart.
Jon Stewart interviews 2 former Army medics
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