Is Air Force Nursing for me?

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Recently I have been looking into nursing for the Air Force and would love some feedback. I have my BSN and have been a Labor and Delivery nurse for 3.5 years. I also have my Inpatient Obstetrics National Certification. I will be training as Charge RN on my unit as well.

If going into Air Force nursing, where does that place me in rank? 1st Lt? Cpt?

Chances of having to move? I live in Northern California and really would like to stay local. Are there options for staying closer to home?

Thanks!!

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
Recently I have been looking into nursing for the Air Force and would love some feedback. I have my BSN and have been a Labor and Delivery nurse for 3.5 years. I also have my Inpatient Obstetrics National Certification. I will be training as Charge RN on my unit as well.

If going into Air Force nursing, where does that place me in rank? 1st Lt? Cpt?

Chances of having to move? I live in Northern California and really would like to stay local. Are there options for staying closer to home?

Thanks!!

You would be a 1Lt by the time everything was processed etc. unless things have changed recently (you need 4 years civilian RN experience for 1lt and 8yrs for Capt).

You have 100% chance of moving unless you are near an AF base with an L&D unit. Then you still probably have to move after 4-5 years. Moving and deployments are just a normal part of military life. L&D nurses do not deploy that often though. They just deal with delivery surge 9-10 months post-deployment of everyone else…lol.

There are east coast bases that you could goto i.e. Langley, Andrews AFB as an L&D nurse.

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Recently I have been looking into nursing for the Air Force and would love some feedback. I have my BSN and have been a Labor and Delivery nurse for 3.5 years. I also have my Inpatient Obstetrics National Certification. I will be training as Charge RN on my unit as well.

If going into Air Force nursing, where does that place me in rank? 1st Lt? Cpt?

Chances of having to move? I live in Northern California and really would like to stay local. Are there options for staying closer to home?

Thanks!!

I can tell you from my experience that if you are planning to stay local, the military is absolutely not for you. You have a very high chance of being stationed elsewhere besides Northern California. The needs of the Air Force come first and they will put you where they need you. They do try to accommodate, but it's almost guaranteed that you would have to move eventually.

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Have you thought about joining the Guard or Reserve, maybe as an IMA? You would still be subject to deployments though. Active Duty would not be a good choice if you don't want to move. I doubt any Reserve/Guard units deliver babies, but maybe check and see if they would take you if you wanted to serve in a different capacity as an RN? The reason I say IMA, is that is what I considered doing when I left Active Duty. I spoke with the recruiter, and they were still taking people for this role. It is mainly at large bases, and you do all your Reserve time at once at the hospital (instead of over several weekends). Not sure exactly what you are looking for, but if you want to discuss more part time options I would call an Air Force Reserve Health Professions Recruiter. Let me know if you need contact info.

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