Someone correct me if I am wrong, but someone with an MD in psychiatry would probably enter the military at rank of Major upon enlistment.
...in my experiance, doctors go in as captains...same a dentists and lawyers...they get a direct commission....my theory on this guy is he took a military scholarship thru med school...then he owed them 8 years service...he didn’t want to pay the piper when it came time for an overseas tour in a combat zone.
You are wrong.
This _hithead joined out of HS, went to college on the Army dime, them to med school. I suspect he was a butterbar at med school, etc and once he finished his residency, got promoted to O-4 (I will not dignify this POS by using a rank)
But, for a real, already to work MD, you would be CORRECT.
I once worked in a USAF hospital where we had a doc (and a super-duper specialist) started as an O6 (bird Col)
We did help him keep him uniform squared away (brass/medals in the right spots) but was never was able to get a proper salute out of him - guess he was just too busy being a life saver.
Nobody complained, just smiled...... one of the nicest officers I ever worked with.
Physicians, including those who’ve finished their residencies in Psychiatry, ordinarily enter the service as captains (I worked with a couple, although it was forty some years ago so maybe things have changed by now) - Hasan was probably already in the service when he completed his MD, and earned the rank of Major by building time in grade as a captain while completing his residency at Reed.......