U.S. Public Health -- Commissioned Corps??? NEED ADVICE

Hello All --

I am very interested in the US Public Health Commissioned Corps. The online application process is daunting to say the least, and I could use any and all advice from those of you who chose this career, or at least explored it and know more about it.

I would love your

P.S. -- I am currently looking to relocate to AZ. Attended a nursing career fair here in AL and spoke with a uniformed officer for the US Public Health Service. He gave me a booklet and pointed me towards the website, which is ambiguous when it comes to salary, actual requirements, etc....

USPHS is part of the uniformed services, so the pay/basic benefits are exactly the same as the military. The process to apply is a dual process: You apply for entry into the USPHS & you apply for a job at the same time. USPHS doesn't assign you to a job like the military does.

The lowest rank that nurses start out in USPHS (from what I read) is as an O-2/LTJG, but you can come in at higher ranks up to O-4 depending on education and RN experience.

Here is the link to 2008 pay table: http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables/2008MilitaryPayChart.pdf (this is your only taxable income)---for an O-2 it is approx. $3000 a month.

BAS: is $203 a month

BAH (this is your housing allowance this is based on the zip code you will be working at) Here is the link: http://perdiem.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/bah.html

for Tuscon w/ dependents it looked like $1230 a month.

So if you were living in Tuscon, Az and joined USPHS as brand new nurse/O-2 your pay would be:

Base Pay: 3000 a month/taxable

BAS 203 a month/non-taxable

Housing 1230 a month/non-taxable

Starting out you are looking at 4433 a month which only part of it is taxable, medical premiums are fully paid while active-duty, dental is about 40 a month for family....

Here is another link on other military benefits: http://www.militarybenefits.com/military_active.html

By the way there is a lot more information on the military forum.

Finally here is USPHS job list (this is only a partial list...there are several ways to look for a job with USPHS): http://dcp.psc.gov/VATS/rpt_create.asp

Thanks so much to you who replied so quickly.....planning to live and work across the country is quite a task. If anyone else has advice, please share!

Also, is the housing allowance for military base housing, or for a house of our choice?

:tku:

Becca

That is just how much you get for living off base. In general if you live on-base you give up your entire housing allowance as payment to live in base housing.