Army Medical Cadetship

[couldntgetaname]

Well if you do quit, you have to pay it back, so it's not financially worth it.

Surely that would depend on
a) how much they want back,
b) the terms they agree for repayment,
c) how much of their cash you manage to squirrel away in savings while signed up and
d) how hard you find sourcing a more conventional form of credit

[Riffraf]

Chris, you'd have to pass officer selection whichever Service you applied for, and you are right not to underestimate it. You'd definitely need to do your research. That said, some of the "officer qualities" they are looking for (eg interpersonal/communication skills, leadership potential, ability to cope under pressure etc etc) have much commonality with ideal "doctor qualities". So although not all doctors would be good officers (and vice-versa!) there is probably some commonality.

Kohl, I'm no expert on contracts and stuff, but don't think doing it just for the money would work out well. I would imagine that if you asked to leave after a year - unless there were strong compassionate grounds - your breaking a contract would require you to cough up a fair bit? Also, the selection procedure is quite involved and the guys and girls who interview you know their stuff... I'd imagine they're pretty wise to anything other than genuine commitment!

[chris5656]

Do you have any idea about what the competition is like? - roughly how many medics want to do this vs places available?

[Riffraf]

Sorry Chris but I've got no insider knowledge! But the medical recruiters are quite friendly when you give them a shout and I guess would be able to give you up-to-date info on places and competition etc.

[Hal100]

I'll be starting year 2 of med school this October and am looking into cadetship...need to do lots of research to decide on which service to go with though!

With regards to competition, some literature I have from the Army says that they give out 50 cadetships annually. Whether that's for 50 students from each of med school years 3, 4, and 5 or just a sum total of 50 I don't know. Either way though I think it's likely to be pretty competitive.

Riffraf...am I right in thinking that you'd have to do the identical officer selection process (be it AOSB, OASC or AIB depending on service choice) to any other type of officer? It's just that the Army's website section on AOSB seems to suggets that, with regards to medics, its only admin officers of the RAMC who do the AOSB.

So much research for me to do!

[Riffraf]

Hal, if you haven't done it yet a visit or call to an Armed Forces Careers Office might be a good place to start, as you can get more in-depth, relevant info on all 3 Services in one place than the generic stuff on the websites. I also don't want to give out incorrect or out-of-date info that could confuse people!

However, I think you are right in suggesting the selection procedures are very similar to other branches, although I think that - for the army - you do a RAMC Arms Selection Board (ASB) as opposed to the Army Officer Selection Board (AOSB) and - for the RAF - you do a specialist interview with medical officers as well as OASC.

[Hal100]

What do the medical officers ask in their bit of the OASC?
Had a long chat with an RAF advisor on the phone and he told me about how you guys don't have the equivalent of general duties but instead pick your specialty earlier after graduating...if I got the right end of the stick.

Cheers for the advice...sadly my nearest AFCO and Army Careers offices said they didn't deal at all with Officer recruitment and simply gave me contact details for advisers that did! Was kinda disappointing to be honest.

Oh well...have a visit to the Royal Naval Medical Services down in Portsmouth in September...been getting kinda interested in the RN/RM due to the vague assumption that I'd get more opportunity to combine sea, air and land stuff as a Naval Medical Officer.
Then again...the glossy brochures might be lying and I might spend all my time signing sick notes on a random ship somewhere! haha

[Riffraf]

Hal, the OASC selection procedure is looking at you as an officer and not as a doctor. The specialist interview is done by doctors, and they will focus on the medical side.

If you have spoken to the RAF medical liason people then you have better advice than I can give... But I think in general terms the way you pick and train for your speciality is pretty much as you would in the NHS. So if the generalist/primary care side appeals you basically choose and train as an RAF GP doing your hospital rotations in an MDHU/NHS hospital and your GP registrar time in an RAF training practice. RAF GPs can get more training in occy health, sports medicine and aviation medicine and don't generally have elderly patients. But otherwise I don't think it's so different. But again, I'm no expert...

[Everhopeful]

Hi guys, I've just completed one year as a bursar with the RAF, and about to start my second. I belong to the University of London Air Sqn, which is a stipulation of your sponsorship. (requires attendance one night a week, 2 weeks for summer camp, and one week a year attachment to an RAF base, plus plenty of opportunity to learn to fly and do adventurous training) The RAF have 15 places per year for cadetships, although I believe this is to be increased in the very near future. I would echo the sentiments about preparing for OASC well, it's 3 days of physical and mental testing and it does wear you out! If you have any RAF specific questions please just yell...

[Everhopeful]

Everhopeful, I see from your sig you are about to start second year of med i presume. If you don't mind me asking, how much of a bursary do you get in 1st and 2nd year? I know you get quite a lot in years 3 to 5 but don't know much about 1 and 2. Also, does the RAF pay your fees aswell and do you get extra money for textbooks? Finally, how many years do you have to commit minimum after graduate? Is it 6 years? If so, does this start after completing of FY2?

If I do apply in the coming years it would be as a dentist and possibly to RN but assuming at the mo it is much the same for both careers and all armed forces.

Thankyou very much!

Hi there. In the first two years you get 4K each year, but apply early once you have an offer as it takes some months to get through the paper sift and get a date for the selection board at OASC. I think that fees aren't paid unless you have entered the cadetship, and believe that a book allowance applies then, but this is based on talking to past cadets and not in the paperwork I've signed. As a bursar you automatically get put forward for selection to the cadetship scheme (in fact it's obligatory) and the hope is that as long as you've got the right attitude, show an interest in a forces career (by knowing what your career route entails) and have a reasonable academic record then you should get picked up for the cadet scheme. The 6 yr return of service commences from GMC registration, so from the end of F1. You used to be able to do your F1/F2 in your choice of deanery but it's recently changed to being done in military hospitals. At the end of that you do your SERE course (special entrants and re-entrants) which includes docs, dentists, vicars and previously serving officers re-entering after a break of service. That course is 13 weeks. Then you do a stint of familiarisation at an RAF station, then it depends on whether you're going GP or specialism. The caveat being that your career route has to be amenable to the service you've signed up to, hence if they need only GPs then that's what you'll train as. If you don't like this idea you can choose to leave, but you're required to repay your cadetship funding.
Hope that's useful..
To be honest I've done quite some time in the military already so it's a known quantity to me, and I've been on operations in various places and see the ups and downs of a life in forces quite realistically. Oh, and I think whilst you're training as a GP that you can't be deployed into operational theatre (ie Iraq/Afghanistan), that's certainly what I was advised by a currently serving GP trainee.