Military to Civilian Surgeon Pathway
I am currently a Junior in High school, and I am pursuing an associate's degree with dual college credit from my school. This degree will allow me to start undergrad as a Junior in college. I am thinking about joining Army ROTC for the military experience, not for the education funding or anything. Thus, I want to self-fund my own education, as I heard this will keep the army service payback at the end of my education to a minimum of 3 years. After graduating from college in 2 years with a Bachelor's, and a possible gap year, I want to apply to medical school and take a civilian residency and continue the pathway to eventually become a Military Surgeon. However, I also want to be in the military for the experience, but I don't want a lengthy service payback to restrict me in case I decide to change to a civilian pathway in the future, as I am also interested in the higher salary when I get older after the military. My question is, based on this self-funded strategy, do the pros of joining ROTC outweigh the cons, or is it not worth it, and should I just go the traditional civilian pathway? Will the post retirement benefits be worth it? Will I actually enjoy the army or will I be counting my days until the end of my service payback?
EDIT: Overall, my goal is
Educational Delay for Med School → Civilian Residency Deferral → 3 years of Service Payback as a Surgeon → Continue Service or Exit to Civilian Life. Is this plausible?