Enlisted Marine Couple say ‘I do’ to becoming Army Officers after completing Enlisted-to-Physician Program
2nd Lt. Isaiah Gray and 2nd Lt. Destiny Gray, a married couple, successfully completed the Uniformed Services University's (USU) Enlisted to Medical School Preparatory Program (EMDP2) alongside 23 other service members.
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On May 19, during the EMDP2 commissioning ceremony, 2nd Lt. Isaiah Gray (2nd from left) and 2nd Lt. Destiny Gray (3rd from left) became Army officers. The two are preparing to go to USU medical school later this fall. (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, USU) |
June 1, 2023 by Ian Neligh
A married couple proved the old adage “stronger together” when they successfully completed the Uniformed Services University’s (USU) Enlisted to Medical School Preparatory Program (EMDP2), getting one step closer to their dreams of becoming military physicians.
During a commissioning ceremony on May 19, 2nd Lt. Isaiah Gray and 2nd Lt. Destiny Gray raised their right hands and moments later transitioned from being enlisted Marines to Army officers. The Grays were among 23 other service members in this year’s EMDP2 graduating class.
“This ceremony confirms that you have met and exceeded the expectations of your service leaders whose confidence in your abilities led them to nominate you for this program,” said university president Dr. Jonathan Woodson, who presided over the commissioning ceremony. “It means that you have successfully completed the requirements to take you to the next phase of your careers, that you have demonstrated that you have the skills, commitment and dedication necessary to meet the rigorous challenges of medical school. And it means that you have earned our enduring respect for all that you have accomplished.”
Since 2014, the EMDP2 has offered a select number of promising enlisted service members a two-year pathway to a career as a military doctor. Students attend an intensive 24-month pre-med program, receive mentoring from USU faculty and prepare to take the MCAT – all designed to make them successful in their applications to medical school. While enrolled, those selected for EMDP2 keep their rank, salary, and benefits while attending George Mason University’s Science and Technology Campus in northern Virginia. Students must apply to USU for medical school, but may also apply through the military’s Health Professions Scholarship Program to other U.S. medical schools. Most graduates of EMDP2 choose to attend USU.
“I’ll say I think being married was a huge advantage,” said Destiny. “…and I think that our grades and our MCAT scores show it. We worked really hard and we held each other accountable.”
Destiny and Isaiah's different approaches to studying helped them get through the challenging program.
“I honestly can’t picture having gone through EMDP2 without my spouse,” Destiny said. “I look at the rest of my class and it’s like, ‘how did you do it?’ Because we had a lot of teamwork. It was just incredible.”
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Lt. Isaiah Gray and 2nd Lt. Destiny Gray (2nd and 3rd from left, respectively) were among 25 other service members in this year’s graduating class of EMDP2. The program began in 2014 to offer a select number of enlisted service members a pathway to a career as a military physician. (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, USU) |
‘Supreme confidence’
Originally from Minnesota, Isaiah said while he has always been interested in learning medicine, he enlisted because he was initially interested in playing in a military band. After speaking with recruiters from the different branches, the Marines seemed like the best fit.
“There’s something about the Marines that really spoke to me,” Isaiah said. “Just the level of discipline that they had, the absolute supreme confidence with which they carried themselves. And I just got the sense the men and women that I talked to in that recruiting office would just be capable of absolutely anything. They were just the toughest people I’d ever met. So I really wanted to be like them, and I thought that I could do it.”
For her part, Destiny, from Long Island, New York, said in high school she took an aptitude test that said she would be a good fit as either a doctor or in military intelligence. Growing up, everyone in her family assumed she would become a doctor because of her interest in medicine.
“When I was nine, my grandpa had a pretty serious heart attack, and he lost almost all the functioning in his heart,” Destiny said. “He was in the hospital for a while, and it was super scary. And I was just left thinking, ‘I wish I could do the work that the doctors were doing for him,’ because they brought him back. My grandpa’s still alive and he’s still playing tennis and all these things, but it was doctors who were able to help him.”
She said it was just assumed she would go into medicine, but after the aptitude test, she grew interested in the idea of joining the Marines and then after briefly attending college, she did.
The Grays said becoming Marines was both a powerful and transformative experience for each of them. They both chose to go into linguistics, learning Pashto, and met while attending school at the Defense Language Institute.
“We spent a lot of time together volunteering both in the color guard at the language school,” Destiny said. “We studied together, but we remained friends for a very long time.”
They got married in October 2019.
“I’m not afraid to say that I instantly had a crush on her,” Isaiah said. “And that never went away.”
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The Grays celebrated their graduation from EMDP2 with their families in attendance. (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, USU) |
’An incredible advantage’
While both attended a language refresher course, they met with one of their former platoon commanders, who mentioned the EMDP2 program.
“He said, ‘you know, I don’t know if you guys have heard of this program, but I think you would both be a good fit for it,’” Isaiah said.
It was the first time they’d heard of EMDP2 but they were immediately intrigued.
“Obviously being together, we had known that [a] medical [career] was something we were both interested in,” Destiny said. “But when we heard about EMDP2 I thought, ‘oh man, wow, that sounds perfect.’ We kind of made up our minds that no matter what we did, we were going to do it together… I’m pretty sure it took less than a day for us to decide, ‘okay, we are gonna drive for this, just commit to it and do it together.’”
They both applied to the program — and were accepted.
“I think that we had an incredible advantage over our peers,” Destiny said. “We were able to study on commutes together. We reviewed for every test together beforehand.”
While the Grays will certainly miss serving in the Marines, as the branch doesn’t have its own military physicians (they are supported by the Navy), they say they’re both looking forward to the opportunity of becoming medical officers in the Army.
“Everyone is just so excited to have us be a part of the Army and be a part of the Medical Corps. And it’s just a really cool experience because now we’ll be able to say we’ve seen both (the enlisted and officer) sides,” Destiny said.
Isaiah added that graduating from the program after two years was a terrific experience, especially because he was surrounded by friends and family. During the commissioning ceremony, Destiny also sang the National Anthem.
“That was definitely one of the high points I’d say in my entire life,” Isaiah said.
Then, perhaps not surprisingly, the two received the phone call that they’d been accepted into the USU School of Medicine.
“We’re very excited to start at USU, especially because that's where all of our support has come from for the last two years in the EMDP2 program,” Destiny said, adding they begin school this fall as part of the class of 2027.
The Grays are happy to stress how impactful the EMDP2 program was for them, and say they hope others discover it as they did.
And as they prepare for medical school and all the long hours that come along with it — the Grays know they’ll always have a reliable study partner.
For more information on the USU Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program, visit: https://medschool.usuhs.edu/academics/emdp2.
