Also called: Army Medical Corps, Navy Medical Corps, Air Force Medical Corps
Doctor who treats service members and families in military hospitals, on ships, and in combat zones.
A military physician might run an emergency department in Germany, deploy with a surgical team, or work in a family-medicine clinic on base. They also get trained in trauma and field medicine few civilian doctors see. Many leave to practice in civilian hospitals, the VA, or academic medicine debt-free.
Military physicians are officers (O-3 to O-6). Figure combines RMC with medical special pays and board-certification incentives, 2026 estimate; surgical specialties sit at the top of the range. Residents earn the lower end.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 11 years after high school. Bachelor's, then medical school paid for by the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) or free at the Uniformed Services University (USUHS, which also pays a salary), then residency. Service commitment roughly year-for-year. Free-college benefits: Tuition Assistance (up to $4,500/yr) while serving, the Post-9/11 GI Bill (36 months of tuition + housing stipend) afterward, and SkillBridge internships before separating.
Ways in: Military, 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Neuroscience.
Growing about average. Military specialties are not in BLS projections. The services recruit for this job every year and openings track force size and retention rather than market growth.
Low risk for 10 years. AI drafts notes and flags diagnoses; exams, procedures and combat-zone care stay human.
Classes: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, Anatomy & physiology.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.