Entering Air Force Nursing...how to prepare?

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jan 12, 2013

Have you done the TNCC course yet? That would be excellent!

telern1, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2013

Congrats for jumping through the many hoops in applying! In terms of preparing, I'd suggest getting the Air Force Officer's Guide from Stackpole Books (the 2008 copyright was the 35th edition). This is the fundamentals of life as an Air Force Officer. It gives you a rundown on topics that you'll cover in your Commissioned Officer Training school at Maxwell AFB. It's dry reading, but informative.

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force comes out with a list and here's their link;

Official Site of the U.S. Air Force - CSAF Professional Reading Program

Check those out. Good luck! Now hurry up and wait.

nurse2033, MSN, RN · Jan 14, 2013

Get rockin on your PT if you haven't already. I was Group Fitness Officer at COT and there was a lot of suffering by people who did not prepare themselves. You have enough to worry about there without having to do extra PT at 0500.

allnurses Guide · Jan 15, 2013

http://www.au.af.mil/au/holmcenter/OTS/COT-RCOT/index.aspNo, there is nothing to really prepare for other than to get ready to pass your pt test. Most AF ERs are very small so the likelihood of seeing any big trauma outside of deployment is small. I would save up some money unless things have changed there is high probability your pay will be screwed up for the first month or two after you join the USAF.

allnurses Guide · Jan 16, 2013

Congrats for jumping through the many hoops in applying! In terms of preparing, I'd suggest getting the Air Force Officer's Guide from Stackpole Books (the 2008 copyright was the 35th edition). This is the fundamentals of life as an Air Force Officer. It gives you a rundown on topics that you'll cover in your Commissioned Officer Training school at Maxwell AFB. It's dry reading, but informative.
The Chief of Staff of the Air Force comes out with a list and here's their link;
Official Site of the U.S. Air Force - CSAF Professional Reading Program
Check those out. Good luck! Now hurry up and wait.

I wouldn't recommend going through these books. There are huge differences between being a medical officer and a line officer. These books have to do with being a line officer. Just my two cents, but I have always promoted right on time and been selected for AFIT without reading one of these books.

jhanes · Jan 16, 2013

Better work on your upper body, particularly your arm strength. It makes flying soooo much easier!

SRNA4U, BSN, DNP, RN, CRNA · Jan 17, 2013

I would definitely recommed getting in shape if you're not already. The Air Force has started taking physical fitness testing very serious. Especially with the economy and the reduced budget for the Department of Defense, many military branches are using fitness test failures as a way to weed people out of the military as troop levels must be cut. In my section alone, where I work in the ICU for the Air Force, we have already lost 3 nurses due to PT failures. The Air Force is very good about working with you after you fail a PT test to get you in a fitness program to help you but if you have 4 consecutive PT failures, your group commander must obtain permission from the wing commander to keep you in the Air Force. We normally test twice a year, 6 months apart if you obtain between a 75-89 on your PT test, which is satisfactory. For an incentive, if you score 90-100% on your test, then you only have to do a PT test once a year, which is a good deal. If you fail a test, then you must repeat it in 90 days. If you fail again, then you must repeat in another 90 days. Most squadron commanders will give you a letter of counseling around your 1st or 2nd PT failure. After your 3rd one and so on, it tends to get more serious. If an officer gets a letter of reprimand, then you career is over for promotion purposes.

All in all, the Air Force is the best branch of the military. We really do take good care of our people. I'm currently deployed to a FOB in Afghanistan and only working 7 shifts a month (6 hr shifts) and I pull call every 5th day but hardly have any patients so I just chill in my room or hang out with the civilian contractors. You'll enjoy the Air Force.

Good luck to you.

bigsick_littlesick · Jan 23, 2013

I would definitely recommed getting in shape if you're not already. The Air Force has started taking physical fitness testing very serious. Especially with the economy and the reduced budget for the Department of Defense, many military branches are using fitness test failures as a way to weed people out of the military as troop levels must be cut. In my section alone, where I work in the ICU for the Air Force, we have already lost 3 nurses due to PT failures. The Air Force is very good about working with you after you fail a PT test to get you in a fitness program to help you but if you have 4 consecutive PT failures, your group commander must obtain permission from the wing commander to keep you in the Air Force. We normally test twice a year, 6 months apart if you obtain between a 75-89 on your PT test, which is satisfactory. For an incentive, if you score 90-100% on your test, then you only have to do a PT test once a year, which is a good deal. If you fail a test, then you must repeat it in 90 days. If you fail again, then you must repeat in another 90 days. Most squadron commanders will give you a letter of counseling around your 1st or 2nd PT failure. After your 3rd one and so on, it tends to get more serious. If an officer gets a letter of reprimand, then you career is over for promotion purposes.
All in all, the Air Force is the best branch of the military. We really do take good care of our people. I'm currently deployed to a FOB in Afghanistan and only working 7 shifts a month (6 hr shifts) and I pull call every 5th day but hardly have any patients so I just chill in my room or hang out with the civilian contractors. You'll enjoy the Air Force.
Good luck to you.

Good information. I've gotyears till I can even think about joining (more time to work on my fitness) as I only took NCLEX today.

I know this is off topic and sorry to hijack the post, although it seems like this is where the post is going, but what does the PT consist of? I'm super green to anything military related. I'm assuming lots of push-ups, sit-ups and running? Anything else? I used to train muay thai and boxing before I got into nursing school so I definitely got a lot of practice with various calisthenics. I plan on resuming training and adding BJJ to the mix. Should help I would think.

Yammar · Jan 23, 2013

I agree PT baby!!!! Run, lift and eat right and everything else will take care of itself...

SRNA4U, BSN, DNP, RN, CRNA · Jan 23, 2013

Good information. I've gotyears till I can even think about joining (more time to work on my fitness) as I only took NCLEX today.
I know this is off topic and sorry to hijack the post, although it seems like this is where the post is going, but what does the PT consist of? I'm super green to anything military related. I'm assuming lots of push-ups, sit-ups and running? Anything else? I used to train muay thai and boxing before I got into nursing school so I definitely got a lot of practice with various calisthenics. I plan on resuming training and adding BJJ to the mix. Should help I would think.

The AF PT test consist of a 1.5 mile run, push-ups, situps, and abdominal circumference. The run is worth is a max of 60 pts , abdominal circumference is 20pts, pushups 10pts, and situps 10 pts. Everything is by age groups for example, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49. I'm in the 30-39 age group so the max pushups is 55 and the minimum to pass the category is 27. For situps I need about 37 minimum and 57 to max out. For the run, to max out I need to run in 9:54 to do the minimum would be less than 14:00 mins. People in the 20-29 have to do a little more than us in the 30-39 age group. For the abdominal circumference, if you are a male your abdominal circumference must be 34 inches or less to max out and it can't be bigger than 39inches. If it's bigger than 39, you automatically fail the entire PT test. Also, you can have a score of a 90 on the PT test and still fail if you don't pass each category. I have seen some people max out on the run, situps, and have a good abdominal circumference but fail the puship category and they end up failing the entire PT test even though they have a score of 90.

By the way, you only get 1 minute to do your pushups and situps whereas the Army and Navy gets 2 mins for their pushups and situps. Tall people tend to struggle with the pushups since we have a lot further to go down since we have to maintain a 90 degree angle in the down position. Short people tend to struggle with the situps. Our situps are more like crunches since our backs don't completely touch the mat and we only have to have our elbows touch anywhere on our thighs so most tall people tend to go for the lower thighs, which means you don't have to come that far up.

The order the test proceeds is abdominal circumference first with height and weight. I have seen a lot of big people fail this part of the test and then they walk out because it doesn't make sense to do the pushups and situps and the run when you have already failed the test because of not passing the abdominal portion.

The thing I love about the Air Force is you will not find another branch of service or civilian job that allows you an hour and a half to work out during your duty time (work time). It's great!

allnurses Guide · Jan 23, 2013

I have only had one job in 11 years with the AF that I was able to work out during duty time. Getting time off to work out will depend on your job and duty station.