It was hard work to be on call day and night for six months in a challenging environment as an independent practitioner without the amenities we take for granted in the UK, like running water. As a medical director, motivating those under my command in such conditions was one of the challenges I faced. But it was an exciting time. I gained important skills that were transferable to the NHS, particularly in the areas of clinical management and governance. I was sent to Afghanistan for a six-month business trip. Unlike the counsellors stationed at Bastion Hospital, the young doctors were spread across the many small patrol bases in Helmand province to provide primary care and preclinical emergency care to soldiers on the front lines. If you decide to become a military doctor, start with the same medical training as any doctor. You will attend a civilian medical school or the Special University of Uniformed Services, a state medical school that trains doctors for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Health Service. When you have completed your training, which may include special training in combat medical skills, you will enter the army with the rank of captain. Army doctors do not have to undergo basic training. Instead, they take a six-week basic officer leadership course that teaches military life and the role of a leader [source: U.S. Army]. The military has a long list of medical problems.

If you have one, you may not be able to register. Some medical problems will prevent you from fully joining the army. Others think they have to wait a year or two before joining. Some aren`t as serious and may not prevent you from reaching immediately if the army doctor agrees. At the bottom of this page you will find the current list of medical conditions. The deployment consists of a military component and a clinical component. The military component is responsible for administration and is usually located in one of the army`s combat infantry and cavalry regiments, the so-called arm-to-teeth regiments, or in a specialized medical regiment. The army has six specialized medical regiments made up of all the clinical personnel that the army needs for operations. These units each have their own doctor.

Regiments may call their medical officer for tasks such as operational deployment or foreign and domestic military exercises. I also joined the military while studying in medical school and experienced a medical elective at a trauma center in Washington, D.C., a general practice internship in Cyprus, and a parachute jump trip. I served as a surgeon general in the 4th Armoured Medical Regiment in Aldershot and worked with the Grenadier Guards on Operation Herrick 16 in Afghanistan. An operational tour was my main reason for joining the military and it turned out to be as challenging and exciting as expected. After experiencing the skills and professionalism of army consultant surgeons in Afghanistan and the UK, I decided to stay in the army. I am currently an Army Basic Surgery Intern in London and will be applying for higher surgical training next year. If I succeed, I want to stay in the military and ask for an extension of my commission to serve as a consultant surgeon. Military life is not for everyone. The benefits and experience gained were considerable, but so were the disruptions. If a career in Defence Medical Services is interesting, I would recommend exploring it further.

You are expected to sign a form that gives the military access to your medical records. Some aspiring doctors are attracted to the life of an army doctor. You don`t need to start a practice or run a business. No worries about malpractice insurance, no dealing with the bureaucracy of health insurance companies. You will have the opportunity to travel and enjoy the camaraderie of the service. Physicians typically join the Army during their first two years of medical school after applying to the Army Officer Selection Committee for a Medical Cadet. This board tests fitness and mental insight. Successful candidates are awarded a short-term service commission of 10 years with the option of extending it if higher specialized training within the military is sought. Once doctors have completed these three years of general tasks that do not require training, they usually apply through the national selection for basic training, which can be in general medicine or in a hospital specialty. To maintain high standards, the Army uses the national interview selection process to assess the suitability of its physicians for the specialty of their choice.

Essentially, in order to get a basic training job in Year 1, doctors need to get an interview score good enough to be offered the same special job in the NHS. Basic training is usually provided in a hospital unit of the Department of Defence, but doctors often work in NHS hospitals to gain the necessary experience. The basic training is the same for doctors who still need to acquire the desired skills and pass their annual skills progress exam in order to be able to apply for higher specialized training. Read on for some valuable tips for becoming an army doctor. Being a doctor in the British Army is an exciting and challenging opportunity for British medical graduates. Gareth Huw Jones and Matthew Wordsworth describe their experiences The military needs doctors – and offers generous financial support to attract them. The American Medical Association estimates the average cost of four years of medical school at more than $250,000 [source: U.S., Army] and the military offers help paying for the entire package. Until the completion of basic training, the career of a doctor is identical to that of a civilian assistant doctor. Failure of medical care is the second most common reason why people do not join the military. (The most common reason, by the way, is that they decide the army is not for them – most army candidates change their minds before signing up.) Payment is similar to that of civil practice. There are also financial incentives for those who wish to enroll as students or as fully qualified doctors. Doctors can receive a bonus of £50,000 once they have completed a year of probation.

There are all sorts of other benefits you get as a member of the armed forces, such as a generous pension and cheaper annual leave and train tickets. But the military way of life is not for everyone. Bureaucracy and hierarchy of ranks can be an inconvenience for some. Most army doctors are deployed abroad at some point (but not necessarily in a war zone), away from their families. And remember that once you sign up, it`s your supervisors who decide where to go and what to do. You will try to respect your preferences, but there are no guarantees. You want to join the military, serve your country and see the world. You would also like to become a doctor – after all, the health professions are for you.