The rosters of all military medical services at present show a disturbing ratio between career men and civilians on relatively short turns of duty; a ratio in which the number of career men is already too small for the optimum utilization of the services of either group. Since the percentage of doctors of medicine on full time or part time salaries is increasing, and since, therefore, the various characteristics of medical careers are receiving attention from an increasing number of prospective aspirants for salaried positions, some of the elements of medical careers deserve review. This assertion carries additional weight because the falling purchasing power of the dollar has disturbed what used to be a stable factor in the calculations that could be made about any type of medical career. Some reflections on what, generically, will be called military medical careers seem to be in order. From the range of motivations