Quote: (11-15-2013 09:20 PM)CaliforniaSupreme Wrote:
Quote: (11-15-2013 07:31 AM)Checkmat Wrote:
Quote: (11-15-2013 01:27 AM)CaliforniaSupreme Wrote:
Repped, thank you.
I'm planning to go through college/uni and then med school. Deciding between ROTC or just going to AFA.
How would O-3 pay be?
I worked closely with two young female airfield officers. One was an Academy grad and one was a college ROTC grad. They both did the same job, made the same money. I'd say the Academy girl was more "old-boys club" and knew many more people which can be a boon for networking. The ROTC girl mostly kept to herself but just personality type probably.
You want to be a medical officer? Like lurker said all pay charts are online publicly but they always only tell part of the story. There's the extra non-taxed bennies I mentioned plus all kinds of hidden benefits.
2014 Proposed Pay Chart Active Duty
Starting base pay for an O-3 is $3,874 monthly. Add in the two benefits I know for a fact you'll get--$300 food allowance and let's assume $900 housing allowance--and that pay is bumped up to a minimum of $5,074 monthly pre-tax and only the base pay is taxed. The actually pay is probably much higher although I don't know exactly the extra incentives for military officers.
EDIT: I just looked up the actually allowances currently for officers in 2014. The numbers are a little different.
For the zip code where I was stationed, an O-3 with no dependents gets $1,794 for housing allowance. For food allowance officers get a little less than enlisted--$242--obviously made up for in the other income sources.
Great info, thanks. Pay isn't horrible lol
I'd like to become a medical officer, hopefully a Trauma Surgeon. If that doesn't go as planned, I'm shooting for Flight Surgeon.
Do you think going through the Academy is worth the extra pain in the ass/commitment in comparison to ROTC? I mean an officer is an officer amiright?
Good question. I can't really answer that for you since I haven't gone through the Academy. I do know that it's very prestigious.
It's like the medical school joke-- You know what they call the guy who finishes at the bottom of his med school class?
"Doctor."
I don't know how the medical specialties work but I do know that officers operationally do not get to choose their career field. Case in point was the two female officers I mentioned earlier. They both wanted to be pilots and instead were given 12+ hour day desk jobs that they despised.
Medical commissioning I am lead to believe is a different animal altogether. I believe this because the Air Force recruiting web site has it's own special tab for becoming a medical officer. This is where my knowledge on the subject ends.
I will say that there will be a lot more pussy in ROTC at a civilian school of your choice than getting rat-tail'd in the locker room at the Air Force Academy.