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What is the pay for dentist in the military? I have been looking for a pay scale and have not found one. Thanks
Wow, I wish it was that much money. Here's a site that'll give you some closer numbers...
http://www.dod.mil/militarypay/pay/calc/index.html
let's be careful and not pass on bad information. As a dentist you'll get a base salary for your rank based on years of service. You'll then get BAH based on where you live. BAS is for food, etc . You'll get an ASP bonus and a VSP bonus also based on years of service. This does not include a potential signing bonus or the money you earn while on scholarship. There is also MBRP bonus for the more senior dental officers.
The pay is broken up this way because your BAH and BAS are not taxable leaving you in a lower tax bracket to save you more money.
You can just google "military pay" and find the pay scale and then add the bonus. You will have to google "BAH" also to find what you would get based on where you live.
OK, so let's assume you're an O-3 with 4 years experience(accrued from your scholarship) living in Texas. You'll get..
4297.50 per month BASE PAY
187.49 per month BAS
1690.60 per month BAH
6,000.00 per year ASP bonus
583.33 per month VSP bonus
This does not include a possible 1000.00 - 2000.00 extra pay in COLA if you're overseas.
This does not include a possible $30,000 signing bonus if you sign after graduation.
This does not take into account all the paid leave you get
30 days leave
special liberty for taking care of doctor appt's, etc
military and national holidays
Hope this helps...
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the years you're on scholarship don't count towards years of service, so the pay will actually be a little less.
Also, I'm not sure how those bonuses work, I would love to hear if anyone knows for sure, but I wasn't expecting to receive nearly that much.
This link answers all of your questions:
http://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/special-pay/special-pay-for-dental-officers
Add this special pay plus the basic pay for your rank and years of service. Also, your year's of active duty service does not start until you graduate from dental school.
If you are on HPSP, you start at 0 years of service once you graduate.
If you are on HSCP, you start at years of service for every year you were with that program (which I incorrectly called a scholarship).
For both, you enter as an O-3 but you get paid more if on the HSCP program due to the accrued years of service
The bonus' work like this...
When you come in, you get the ASP and VSP bonus.
You only get the signing bonus if you sign up after graduation and were not funded by the military during school
You do not get the Multi-year retention bonus until after you finish your initial obligation (and have completed extra training (like ACP, comp, endo, etc...).
You only get COLA (cost of living adjustment) if you're stationed in an area
that is expensive (overseas, hawaii, etc...).
Also, if you have an advanced degree before you signed up with the military (like a MS or PhD that is science related) then you will be compensated for that by an earlier date of rank (instead of your date of rank being 2007 when you graduate, it would be 2005 with a MS or 2003 with a PhD). This gets you promoted earlier and more money much faster!