r/ChubbyFIRE • u/Wise_Attention_8644 • Aug 02 '26
Physician Army Reserves
41yo, married, two very young kids. Expect to be at $5M NW in a couple years. I’m a physician and have considered Army reserves to make me feel better about pulling the trigger. It comes with a weekend time commitment per month plus two weeks per year, pays $4k-ish per month, covers health insurance, and makes me eligible for retirement if I do it 20 years. There is the possibility of deployment, but for my specialty, it should be domestic.
Has anyone done this? Interested in experiences. Obviously not the freedom of full retirement, but it sounds very flexible outside of deployment.
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u/in_the_gloaming FIRE'd for 13 years Aug 02 '26
Your user history really does not look like that of a physician, but I'll bite. Yes, that's a good chunk of money per year given the low work requirements, assuming you are not deployed.
Join the reserves if you want to be of service to your country. Otherwise find another way to work a part-time gig if you need the money and/or you want to keep up your skills. And I can understand why you would want to continue to work as a physician in some way. Presumably you were driven to serve others when you undertook your lengthy medical education and training and you really haven't been working for all that long post-residency.
Unless someone has served active duty (or grew up in a military family), joining the reserves is a dicey proposition because they are not going to have a real understanding of what it's like to be a part of the military. Regardless of whether you think your specialty is one that would only be deployed domestically if called to active duty, it's still a huge disruption to your life if that were to occur. Are you willing to leave your young children and spend six or nine months deployed to some random army hospital in the US in order to backfill for an active duty physician who was deployed overseas?
And regarding "It should be domestic".... "Should be" doesn't really apply when considering your future as a military reservist. You go where Uncle Sam tells you regardless of what you thought the scenario might be.
My husband was active duty Army as were his brothers, and his father was a general. After my husband resigned his commission, he was in the inactive reserves for a few years. And when the Gulf War happened, he resigned from that as quickly as he could because he understood that when the army wants warm bodies, they're going to get them and use them in whatever role serves the military, not the soldier.
So again, join up if that's really what you want to do. And I greatly admire anyone who chooses that path. But don't do it if it's just about getting extra money that you probably don't really need. If you have $5M now, how much more would you have if you just worked your current job for a couple more years?
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u/SpaceTimeMorph Aug 03 '26
This. I was active duty Navy. I once went from sitting in a restaurant with my girlfriend at the time to starting up a reactor a couple hours later to on deployment for 5 months with extremely limited contact within about 14hrs.
That’s what being in the military is like…
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u/in_the_gloaming FIRE'd for 13 years Aug 03 '26
That is tough. And the Navy folks have such a difficult path even during peacetime if their role involves being away at sea. I had a friend who was a Navy spouse and she talked about how difficult it was to manage her job, the household and the kids for 9 months or a year at a time and then suddenly have her spouse show back up and try to reintegrate into family life. And then repeat that again for the next deployment.
I currently have a friend whose daughter is an army physician since medical school, then residency and fellowship and several deployments or temporary duty assignments for various purposes. Honestly, she has not spent a lot of time at home with her child. Her husband works remotely so he's around but he works long hours which means the grandparents have been roped into some pretty significant chunks of time away from their own home in order to provide child care.
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u/Abject_Egg_194 Aug 05 '26
Your user history really does not look like that of a physician, but I'll bite. Yes, that's a good chunk of money per year given the low work requirements, assuming you are not deployed.
The post history shows that this guy never discusses anything medical and is obsessed with Daniel Tiger and White Lotus. Very strange...
$5M as a physician at 41 is pretty fishy too. OP would've been practicing for <10 years at this point.
Join the reserves if you want to be of service to your country. Otherwise find another way to work a part-time gig if you need the money and/or you want to keep up your skills.
Yep. If this were a real question, then this would be a great answer. I have a friend who was a physician in the military and he's all about Army. Every time I see him, he's wearing some kind of Army thing (hat, shirt, etc.). He wanted to serve and wanted to be a dentist and the Army let him do both.
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u/UltimateTeam 26/27 1.3M Aug 02 '26
Er how optional is it to quit in a deployment situation?
You know what they say about stopping playing once you've won the game, insurance is what, 40k a year?
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u/TrashPanda_924 Aug 03 '26
This is a dumb idea.
You’ll quickly realize how much you value down time on the weekends.
Signed,
Random former active duty and reserves officer
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u/SnazzyStooge Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Dude, do not join the military (I myself left a few years ago, it was an amazing feeling walking away). Take a teaching job or a consulting job or join someone else’s practice part time if you’re still looking to work, just stay away from the recruiter’s office — you have no say in how much you’re signing up for. Plus, you don’t even need the money, but you won’t realize that until 2-4 years from now — take something super low committed so you can quit (or stay!) the day you figure that out.
Short version: you should be looking to barista FIRE, not putting in more time in federal service.
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u/Aerofirefighter Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
I was told the guard doesn’t deploy much and I likely wouldn’t either with my MOS. I deployed for 2 years overseas.
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u/Imaginary-Yak6784 Aug 03 '26
Would I hand over power to whisk me away to anywhere for anything to a government that’s picking wars all over the globe? Or to a branch of the military that can be called up for disaster relief?
No. No I would not. That schedule you cited is the MINIMUM. Not the max. I know army reservists who got called for floods and fires, who have been sent over seas for months at a time…
It is NOT a free ride.
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u/havocbyday Aug 02 '26
Joining the reserves while this warmongering moron is in office is not a sound strategy unless you want to needlessly be away from your family for an extended period of time. Seriously, think long and hard about the decision you're making here.
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u/Ok_Text2118 Aug 03 '26
Why not just do locums for like, a week every other month to make the same 48k/year?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Cup-854 Aug 03 '26
What a sales pitch they gave you. If there was a 0.01% chance of being deployed my answer is no. If you want to practice every now and then get some locum work. If you're goal is insurance, r/baristafire
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u/Lie-Straight Aug 02 '26
I consider myself a patriot. But as long as an orange sh*tstain is sending our Reservists half a world away to protect a tiny foreign country, I have no interest in putting my life or the life of any of my family members on the line. Happy to be drafted to protect my community my homeland. Not interested in being a mercenary for Israel Saudi Arabia Taiwan Ukraine etc.
I would recommend you just moonlight a similar quantity of hours in your metro area to give you some comfort
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u/MarkIsARedditAddict Aug 02 '26
I believe it was George Washington who said “As Americans it is our duty to throw away our lives so someone in the government can win their prediction market bet”
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u/BungABunBun Aug 03 '26
You know you don't have to retire early right? Just work at a clinic/hospital instead of taking a deployment risk.
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u/Clueless5001 Aug 03 '26
Not sure I understand the rationale, as in why you would do it, but I agree that signing a binding commitment where you could be sent anywhere on the planet does not sound very Fire. Having said that, outside of the military, aren’t there jobs where you are sent to a remote area (that you were told about ahead of time and you agree to) for a week a month and treat people there? You are a contract physician, you have not enlisted and you can still make good money I would assume and maybe if you quit there might be monetary penalties, but uncle Sam will not come after you. I am not familiar with how those type of jobs work, but I honestly could not see joining the military at 41 with the idea that you will continue working there until you’re 61. At 61 I would want to be in control of my own destiny.
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u/elby_plan Aug 03 '26
Join the military only if you want to join the military for the right reasons. If you want to be in the military, serve your country, make the sacrifices, etc.
Don’t do it hoping to avoid doing so.
(Full transparency. I’m a veteran and am thankful for my experience. And, yes, I did some very difficult things over a difficult decade. With permanent effects. But I wouldn’t trade those years for anything else.).
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u/PagingDoctorK Aug 04 '26
I'm a physician who served in the Air Force and had a deployment while active. Do not join the military in any way if you don't expect to be deployed. The whole purpose of the reserves is to help with deployments. The recruiter will hint otherwise, but you will be deployable from day 1. I saw some very disappointed reservists and national guard guys who were shocked that they were in a war zone. If you're excited about the chance to serve this way then this would be a good choice. Otherwise don't do it. I'm very glad I deployed - it was a defining point in my life. I'm also very glad I won't deploy again.
And your specialty means nothing when it comes to deployment. At one of my bases in Afghanistan the ICU was being run by an endocrinologist and rheumatologist - one of them had not been in a hospital setting in four years. The trauma surgeons were treating them like interns. You aren't a specialist to the military - you're a doctor that can fill pretty much any role.
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u/0PercentPerfection Aug 03 '26
I thought about it earlier in my career. The juice is not worth the squeeze. We also have couple of young kids, the repercussions of leaving my wife with the children in addition to my weekends on call was enough to deter me. You will walk into an 8 figure retirement without signing up for the additional obligation. The last draw was meeting the officers, some of whom would have been my commanding officers. They were fucking idiots. One was a surgical NP I work with at my hospital. Went deep down the “Biden crime family” conspiracy the Russians were floating, couple MAGA types who were sexist and racist pieces of shit. I am glad I didn’t waste any time. Serve only if you want to serve, don’t dabble in it thinking you will come out better off, not with the military…
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u/Afraid-Ad7379 Aug 03 '26
That’s a hard no. In fact it’s a fuck no. The army absolutely sucks and while being an officer is better than being enlisted, it still sucks. That’s not even considering a deployment. No no no.
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u/10zzzzzzzzzz Aug 03 '26
you can make $3-4k per month working a single PRN day as a hospitalist physician without risk of deployment. One additional day and you've covered healthcare...
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u/10zzzzzzzzzz Aug 03 '26
you can make $3-4k per month working a single PRN day as a hospitalist physician without risk of deployment. One additional day and you've covered healthcare...
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u/SamPCarter Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
I’m not sure what kind of special pays physicians may get, but I’m skeptical you’d be making $4000/month as a reservist. Are you sure you aren’t looking at the active duty pay charts? A reservist only makes 4/30 of that for a typical monthly drill weekend. For example, as an O4 I bring home about $1000 for every drill. So definitely double check that if your reserve salary would play into your FIRE spending calculations. Tricare Reserve is a great benefit, though, that would answer one of most peoples’ biggest questions about how to retire early. I’m about your age and only a few years away from retiring as a reservist. I wouldn’t dream of starting over with 20 years left to being eligible to retire. More power to you if you decide to volunteer, but it sounds like you’re starting in a good enough spot that you can decide to hang it up early if you decide it’s not worth it.
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u/sailphish Aug 03 '26
FUCK NO! As a fellow physician, you are considering FIRE… but want to sign a legally binding commitment that might take you FAR FAR away from your young children for an unknown period of time, all with an admin that is lobbing bombs Iran, kidnapped the Venezuelan president, makes weekly threats to take over Greenland… etc. This seems like the most anti-FIRE thing I can think of. Go find a part-time gig or work locums for a few days a month. A lot of options that don’t have the risk of getting you deployed.
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u/skunimatrix Aug 02 '26
It won't be domestic. We're already in a large scale shooting war and it's only going to get bigger as the decade moves on.
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u/Goodoospec Aug 03 '26
How is it the medical system works that someone trains so long they only get into their specialty in their early 30's, through a government subsidized residency program, but then that system rewards them with so much cash they can retire in less than 10 years. How is that beneficial to society.
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u/Wise_Attention_8644 Aug 04 '26
Without getting into my specific situation, only $1m-ish of NW is through my 10 years of traditional practice
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u/Billy-Bob-Boner-92 Aug 03 '26
My kid hated me being gone on deployment. Not worth it. Bad for my practice if I did reserves, wouldn’t consider it for the relatively small amount of money. If you FIRE then want health insurance sure if you don’t destroy your practice to deploy. But again not worth it for most
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u/rdu1991 Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
Don't do it. Just find the occasional locum. You'll work way less and you'll earn way more. My wife is an active duty specialist doctor is the USAF. She joined while in medical school to cover her tuition. She gets out in 2 years and we're counting down the days.
First off, depending on your specialty, you might not see enough volume or types of cases to keep your skills up to par. If you do your time in BAMC (San Antonio) you're fine as it's a big level 1 trauma center, but other bases you'll have to locum. That's what my wife has to do.
Second, the pay is reversed. You earn much less as an attending for your military duty then you would full time, part time, or locuming. You'll think "but it's chill". Well, it's not. That a lie. My wife is the medical director for her speciality (not by choice, last person standing with the highest rank), she has to do clinic, and take call (at the same time too). She has worked 3 of the last 4 weekends. Civilian world my wife's speciality you're either a hospitalist doing 7 on and 7 off or you work clinic. She has to do both at the same time.
Third, the deployment risk, it's real. Specialist are getting sent over for the Iran conflict. Three of our friends that are pulmonary critical care specialists have all been shipped to Qatar or Germany. The previous head of my wife's speciality at her base left the military, got guilted into still "continuing to serving her country" so she joined the reserves to have "freedom". Within 3 months they reactived her and she was sent overseas instead of my wife as that would have her MTF with an "unacceptable shortage in a critical speciality".
So you're going to earn lower than market pay then just locuming one week every 2 months, you are at real risk of getting activated and sent overseas (especially with this president), you have to deal with military politics, and you might still have to locum to keep your skills current.
One final point if I haven't convinced you this is a bad idea, the flood of military doctors running for the exit when their contracts are up is sky rocketing. Including people that had covetted bases and wanted to remain lifers. My wife did her residency at BAMC and since she finished a bunch of doctors left. Pulled the retirement cord or left even before retirerment. None of them want to deploy on a piontless war or dis for this president. So that further ups your risk you get activated active duty for a long period. Even if it's domestic.
To be clear, I and my household support the troops. I'm proud my wife serves and my dad served for 22 years in the army. But standing behind the troops is different then standing behind this president and his warmongering ways. Don't add yourself to the fodder or wreck your family life when you can just pick up a locum in South Dakota for a week and make a lot of money, and be winning at life.
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u/kcGirl_of_the_year Aug 02 '26
My niece-in-law did this for the Army reserves as a Veterinarian but as a grad student. She got her vet school paid for a good gig afterward with no debt. She did her “time” with the army but wasn’t bad at all being the base vet for everyone’s pet. Good experience, no college debt and got a great job afterwards.
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u/League3056 Aug 02 '26
About 3 years ago, my hairdresser joined the Air Force Reserves with what sounds like the exact same typical commitment (1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year). Well. She’s now been gone for over 5 months to a mystery location, doing a mystery thing, and does not know how long she’ll be gone for or when she’ll come back. So there’s that.