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Specializes in Neuro, ER.

Dumb question but here goes anyway. No one has said anything to me about a board choosing me as a officer. They are saying that my package has to be submitted. Is this the same thing? I am applying for a specific position and no one has made any indication that I am competing against other people for the slot. I find that hard to believe after reading all the postings. Am I in denial that I'm the only person going for this position? Any opinions?

Dumb question but here goes anyway. No one has said anything to me about a board choosing me as a officer. They are saying that my package has to be submitted. Is this the same thing? I am applying for a specific position and no one has made any indication that I am competing against other people for the slot. I find that hard to believe after reading all the postings. Am I in denial that I'm the only person going for this position? Any opinions?

Did you submit your package for the NTP (nurse transition program)?

Are you applying for active duty or reserve?

Specializes in Neuro, ER.

No. I've been a nurse for seven years. So the board is for the NTP? Is there no "board" for OTS? Thanks for replying! Being spoon fed information is frustrating.

Specializes in Neuro, ER.

Applying for reserved but I'm going active for a year to get all my training in.

You must have applied for the fully qualified boards....I'm not familiar with those, I'm sorry!

Specializes in Neuro, ER.

No prob. Thanks for replying. Haven't talked to anyone yet who has gone the same path as me yet. Hope someone will answer me who can shine a little light on my path ?. Good luck on your journey.

The NTP is for new grads/active duty only, so you don't have to worry about that since you've been a nurse for seven years and you are applying for the reserve. Nurses (along with other professions like lawyers, doctors, etc) go to COT (Commissioned Officer Training) instead of OTS, it's basically the same thing, but COT is shorter than OTS. I believe that applying as a nurse to the reserve is a little different than applying as one to active duty - as I understand it you are applying for a specific job within a specific unit in the reserve, wheras with active duty you would apply for a job that could be anywhere. Beyond that I'm not really sure how the process is different since I haven't applied to the reserve as an officer before...I would think there are probably a few other people competing for the same slot that you are applying for, but not nearly the number of people applying for an active duty spot. I'm pretty sure that everyone who applies as an officer (active duty or reserve) has to have their package submitted to a board so that they can review it and confirm that they feel you are fit to become an officer. Hopefully some of that makes sense - I could be wrong about some parts....maybe there is someone out there who has gone through the process of applying as a nurse with the reserve who can explain it in more detail...Have you tried asking your recruiter any of these questions?

Specializes in Neuro, ER.

Thank you for your info! Yes I've asked my recruiter lots of questions. He has been very vague since the beginning. I just found out he transferred to another job and my new recruiter is going to be talking with me next week. I think that most of my confusion is that I have no military background so all of the processes and terms are a foreign language to me. I read the chat boards and I'm not sure what does and doesn't apply to me. Many times when I do formulate my questions I find it doesn't even apply to my situation (like the COT-OTS thing ☺). Thanks again for the info. Good luck to you!

You're welcome, and thanks for the good luck wishes!! I hope your new recruiter is better than the other one. I've had a number of different recruiters and some of them are not so great and some are amazing. The ones that are amazing make all the difference in the world when it comes to understanding everything!! Good luck to you too!!

Hey five_marshalls,

We're in the same boat (somewhat). I'm completing my package for fully qualified med/surg (active duty) and the deadline is 27 Sept for submission to the board. The "Fully Qualified" board I believe meets sometime at the end of October but I don't know the exact date.

As for the reserve requirement for package submission, I don't know if it is different. In other reserve AFSCs (job descriptions) you do apply specifically to a job in a specific unit. Do you know what that job/unit is? Since you say that you will be active for a year for training and then go reserves I am assuming you are going into flight nursing (due to its long training regimen)?

USAFblue is right, you'll go to COT instead of OTS. I don't have to go to COT because I went to OTS in '99 and served 4.5 years active duty as an officer in another career field (space and missiles). I'm sure you'll do fine in COT.

Hope this helps. Recruiters can be tricky to track down but stay on them. They'll eventually get back to you. There's probably some ambiguity as to active duty verses reserve recruiters.

Good luck!

Specializes in Neuro, ER.

Your right! Flight nursing is what I'm striving for. They are hoping that I can come in aug/ sept...so any day now. However my flight physical has to be accepted and my package submitted. I'm guessing they have to be completed before I get to start ...? Like everyone else I'm just super excited to get going. Many paths to the same destination. Good luck to us all. Thanks very much for all the info.

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