Air Force Nurse Rank????

If you manage to enter as a captain, the most junior fellow captain you will encounter will probably be around 26. That's assuming the person went from high school straight into college and then straight into the officer corps... captains that enlisted first or went to graduate schooling will probably be older.

I wouldn't worry about being a couple of years older. I know several servicemembers who chose military medicine as a second career after starting out in other branches of service, and so are just getting their degrees and certifications in their late twenties or early-to-mid-thirties.

An Army nurse I was talking to also mentioned that you put up with less BS as a military nurse as opposed to civilian nursing. As an officer, you automatically outrank the majority of soldiers in the Army.

Okay, basically it all depends on your education. my rotc instructor was a nurse in the air force for 22 years and because she didn't have prior education she retired as a MSgt.(E-7 in enlisted) If you go to a military academy or finish collage with an undergraduate degree, then you can apply for a commision in the air force. But when it comes to being promoted its the same as anyone else in the air force. If you go to OTS(officer Training School) Then you'll start out as a 2nd Lt.

Okay, you do realize this is thread from 2005?

Your ROTC instructor was more than likely either a med tech and/or LVN/LPN. So, either way they were not eligible for commisison as a nurse in the AF. Just slightly less than half of all RN officers in the AF are prior enlisted. In other words (and I don't know if this is the way you meant it to sound) but being an officer is not a closed club, if it wasn't for prior enlisted almost half of the officer corps wouldn't be here. Being an enlisted/staying enlisted is a choice....get your BSN and you are pretty much eligible to become a nurse corps officer if you are currently enlisted.

Being promoted is not the same for everyone in the AF.
1. Officer and Enlisted promotion systems are totally different.
2. Enlisted have to test for promotion, there evaluation system is different, and they have to complete CDCs.
3. Not everyone starts out as a 2Lt especially in the medical field. As a nurse in the AF, the AF will let you come up to Major and as a physician usually up to a LTC (in one instance one physician came in as a Full bird Col).
4. Basically there are three commissioning routes in the AF: The Academy, ROTC, and OTS (Commissioned officer Training/COT if you are Lawyer, Clergy, or in the medical field. OTS and COT are two totally different schools).
5. Each corps in the medical fields promote at different rates and basically have different aspects for eligibility for promotion. Physicians pretty much have set time line to LTC and it is fairly noncompetitive for COL. MSC officers are also fairly set in their promotion timelines to LTC. Nurses in the AF on the other hand have the lowest promotions rates in the AF and only have set promotions thru Capt.


I am not trying to pick on you, but your post was very confusing/innaccurate.

Capt E., USAF, NC

So, Basically the highest a nurse can go in ranking is an O-3? and how to earn you promotions in the air force as a nurse

Time in rank, time as an RN, advanced education, extra duties, different positions held, command positions, officer evaluation reports, and your promotion recommendation from the base/hospital commander are some the ways that the board determines if you are 1st eligible to sit for the board and 2nd how you compare to the other nurse corps up for promition.

The most credit given to go IN ON active duty is USUALLY an O-3. However a Nurse can go ALL THE WAY BABY! O-9 General. All though I don't know of any - it is possible!

Actually, the highest rank a nurse can make in the military is a 2-star general (O-8). There are only 2 general rank nurse corps officers in each branch of the military. Major General "Rank" (yes that is her last name) is the USAF's current chief nurse officer. http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7854


In general most nurse corps officers will probably retire at the rank of O-5.

Sometimes there are special acquisition programs with different criteria. There was one when I was first in the service that commissioned nurses as first lieutenants instead of second lieutenants even though they may have individually had no experience at all. That was just the way that program was set up. One should always ask around to find out if there are any special programs available. Sometimes not all recruiters are knowledgeable about everything that is available. So it's good to ask.

Any idea on why only 2 star is the highest? Not that I would complain. Can they not go higher if....??

Nope...don't really have any idea why nurses can only get two stars, but I am sure it has something to do with us never being able to be of the same rank as the surgeon generals. It has only been the last few years that you could even become a two star general as a nurse it used to be that the highest rank that a nurse could become was a one star general/admiral.