Being a military psychologist isn’t for the faint of heart; you’re responsible for the mental well-being of our nation’s bravest. Luckily, the military psychologist salary can provide you with impressive pay for your important job. Learn more about what it means to be a military psychologist and how much pay you can expect below.

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An Overview of a Military Psychologist Salary

The pay for a military psychologist can range widely from $53,000 to $140,000 on average. When calculating the mean pay for psychologists across all military branches, the average psychologist in the military makes roughly $80,500 base pay (not including bonuses and other supplemental pay). However, this is only putting it very simply. Military pay works very differently than civilian pay. Across all branches, all job titles get paid the same, and from here, pay only varies due to rank and years of service. So, an Army military psychologist will make the same as a psychologist in the Air Force so long as they’re at the same rank and have roughly the same years in service. The higher your rank and the more time you’ve served, the higher your salary will be. This means that you can expect a starting military psychologist salary a lot lower than the aforementioned $140,000 per year. But as you work your way through the ranks and spend more time in service, you can expect to attain higher pay as you go.

Military Psychologist Job Description

Can you be a psychologist in the military? Yes! A civilian and military psychologist’s job description is the same. A psychologist is in charge of observing and assessing the feelings, behavior, emotions, and thoughts of individuals in order to work with them, provide diagnoses, and help them cope with any mental health hurdles they may be facing. As you likely know, this is vital in the military, especially with an ongoing military mental health epidemic, as well as widespread struggles with mental health in the Veteran community. If you want to be a military clinical psychologist, here’s how they define your work, at least in the Army: “As a Clinical Psychologist, you’ll provide crucial mental health services to Soldiers and their Families. You’ll learn the psychological principles to diagnose, treat, and support patients while directing medical units and conducting vital, life-saving research alongside dedicated colleagues in the U.S. Army Medical Corps.” Since the COVID-19 pandemic, military psychologists and mental health workers have been in short supply, so it’s more important now than ever that those interested join the service and help out their fellow humans.

How To Become a Military Psychologist

Becoming a military psychologist is the same process as it is for any other position in the military. You must meet your chosen branch’s basic health, moral, and fitness standards, pass basic training, and succeed in your branch’s aptitude test. To be a psychologist in the military, you also have to be an officer, meaning you’ll have to attend and graduate officer training school. Requirements for each branch are a bit different. You can visit or call your local recruiting station for more information. Do Military Psychologists Get Deployed? Yes. Like most other positions in the military, a military psychologist can get deployed. No need to worry, though, as it likely won't be in a combat role. During the War in Iraq, many military psychologists were deployed, but according to the national training director of the Navy's psychology internship program, Eric Getka, there were no military psychologist casualties in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Military Psychologist Jobs Serve Our Nation’s Heroes

There are tons of military psychologist jobs out there. It’s a tough position, and there’s a lot of stress on those tasked with maintaining the mental health of America’s troops, but the military psychologist salary and other benefits only serve to enhance the sense of accomplishment you would feel in this position.

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