8 weeks closer ...

to graduation. Save the date, May 10th 2012. I survived a rough week of tests along with firing our nanny and trying to find a new one on short notice. I won't bore anyone with the school details because I'm too tired to relive them right now. I'm just happy to be able to report that I'm still doing well enough to be above the class average, and that's harder to do than it sounds.

That's a fact Jack!

OK, people are getting wind of my new job that is pending, so it's time to make the public announcement ..... I'm joining the IL Army National Guard. Yes, Brian, I'm joining the Dark Side and going Green, but I'll still bleed Navy blue. So, assuming everything passes the Commissioning Board's approval in November, here's the deal:

~ I sign an 8 year commitment in the reserves which begins counting down the day I sign, and after 12 months in the Guard, they will pay for school. So that will cover 2.5 years of tuition.

~ On top of that, they're hiring me as a student recruiter to get other students to sign on. I'll get full time active duty pay while only working one weekend a month (15 minutes from my home). And since it's in their best interest for me to graduate, most of my time drilling will be spent studying with lots of dentists around to help with any questions that I might have.

~ I will take a reduction in rank from O-5, but that happens any time you switch from an "unrestricted line" commission to a "corps" commission or vice versa, even within the same branch of service. I'll get paid as an O-3 over 20 years or an O-4 over 20 years while going to school. The board will have to decide which rank based on my prior service. I'm being told that it will probably be as an O-4 over 20, but I'm willing to go down two ranks to O-3 because active duty pay as an O-3 with 20 years of service is a hell of a lot more money than no paycheck!

~Since I hit 20 years in the Nav this Nov, when I do retire it'll be as an O-5, at a minimum, higher if I make O-6 during my time in the Guard.

~ I can't be deployed while in dental school, during a post-doc speciality program or during a residency. So, theoretically, my commitment could be up before I ever have to deploy. They have a written instruction that Dentists can't be deployed for more than 90 days at a time in theater, and then only every few years. So, as long as I join a group practice instead of opening a solo office, deployment shouldn't be an issue because I'll have partners to cover my patients.

~ Plus, if UAL should go completely belly up, my family will have 100% medical coverage! (Jim just got the "bump" down to a lower paid aircraft, thank you economy.)

Kind of hard to pass up. My motto used to be, "It's not just a job, it's a job on a big grey boat". Once we get all the documentation complete and get my commission switched over, my motto will be, "Not just paid, Army paid".





Army Training, Sir