AFROTC FY2012 Nursing Grad

razorshark · Sep 13, 2011

He is correct, although I wouldn't bet on going to Germany or Alaska for your 1st duty assignment. Peterson/AFA should also be in that list. New entry level nurses need to go to hospitals, not clinics.

v/r

Sharky

allnurses Guide · Sep 14, 2011

Hello everyone,
So currently I am on scholarship with my local AFROTC detachment and am going to commission in FY 2012 with a BSN degree. Because our detachement has only around 4 nurses including myself, little to no information gets out to us about what to expect within the coming year of our nursing career. We are set to find out our bases, but we first have to fill out our "dream sheet." Our detachment Colonel is telling us that we only have 10 base options:
Andrews AFB, Washington, D.C.
Eglin AFB, Florida
Ellendorf AFB, Alaska
Keesler AFB, Mississippi
Lacland AFB, Texas
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany
Langley AFB, Virginia
Nellis AFB, Nevada
Travis AFB, California
Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
Are these in fact the only bases we have to choose from? Just a general overview of what to expect as a new grad in the Air Force would be great! Will we be working on a MedSurg floor? How long until we can attempt to specialize? What are the chances of getting a base oversees right out of ROTC? Aren't there bases also in Italy and England? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks :)

Andrews AFB is in Virginia near DC. It is very small and unless you have a personal reason to go there it will do nothing to improve your nursing skills. I suspect at some point it will become nothing more than a clinic.

Eglin is nice size AF hospital. It keeps fairly busy, and the location is great if you like the beaches.

Elmendorf is a decent size AF/Army/VA hospital. We keep relatively busy, but the pace is still much slower than most civilian hospitals. You can expect 4-5pts of low acuity if you work on the med-surg floor here. Don't believe all the stories you hear about Alaska...

Keesler AFB has not been the same since hurricane Katrina, and the only reason it didn't close is because of politics.

Lackland is merging with BAMC it is one of the biggest DOD hospitals and you can expect a large teaching hospital atmosphere. San Antonio is great area too.

Landstuhl is the largest DOD hospital overseas. It is the where all the wounded usually go initially from Afghanistan and Iraq. You can expect to stay busy. Many people love living Germany.

Langley is medium size AF hospital, but I don't know a lot about that particular base.

Nellis is AF/VA joint hospital and is medium size hospital. It right there on there in Las Vegas if that is the type of thing you like.

Travis AFB is teaching hospital. It is a medium size hospital by AF standards.

Wright Patterson is small to medium size facility. It is a teaching hospital but most of the students/residents spend most of their time on rotations. Dayton Ohio is nice family town.

I don't know if any of that helps, but it should get you started.

I have been stationed at Sheppard, Keesler, NNMC/USUHS (near Andrews), and now I am at Elmendorf.

allnurses Guide · Sep 14, 2011

He is correct, although I wouldn't bet on going to Germany or Alaska for your 1st duty assignment. Peterson/AFA should also be in that list. New entry level nurses need to go to hospitals, not clinics.
v/r
Sharky

We get new grads at Elmendorf all the time.

Smash567 · Sep 14, 2011

Awesome thanks for the info. Do you also agree that going oversees right away doesn't usually happen?

allnurses Guide · Sep 15, 2011

Awesome thanks for the info. Do you also agree that going oversees right away doesn't usually happen?

We seem to get the same amount of new grads at Elmendorf as any other comparable base. I think every base is going to need a certain amount of new grads. You always here that new grads rarely get overseas assignments, but I have met/known several nurses whose 1st assignment was overseas.

crj5047 · Jan 2, 2012

smash567, I am AFROTC nursing student commissioning FY12. I see this post was from Sept, did you get all of the answers you needed?

kristenchick · May 23, 2012

Since you are commissioning soon, do you have any information about what happens right after. I am in AFROTC as well and I feel we have been left in the dark. Great, we commission, then what? I'm assuming the Nurse Transition Program right?

2012RN2b · May 23, 2012

Kristenchick,

After you pass the NCLEX you will go down to Maxwell AFB in AL for 5 weeks of commissioned officer training (COT) after that you will go to one of four sites for NTP (nurse transition program). Its for nurses with less than six months of experience. You follow a preceptor, rotate through various areas and it also has a didactic portion as well. NTP is either nine or 11 weeks of training depending on whether you go to a civilian or military site. The military site is 11 weeks. The sites are Cincinnati, OH, Tampa FL, Scottsdale AZ, and San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC). Then its on to your first duty station. Hope this helps.

kristenchick · May 23, 2012

We go to COT after ROTC? I've heard we dont do that.