Advice for someone about to join the Air Force

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Aug 20, 2022

It sounds like you'll be trying to join the Active Duty Air Force as a med-surg nurse (46N3). To determine if that's right for you, I would need to know what your personal life looks like as well as your underlying motivations. What is your long term goal? Go back to school? Work towards a management role?

People interested mostly in the benefits tend to be unhappy. People without flexible/understanding spouses tend to be quite miserable. People without a solid long-term career plan tend to also do poorly.

As for bases, San Antonio is really the only place you'll see university medical center level acuity. The rest are small 30-50 bed community hospitals catering to the military base population. If acuity doesn't matter to you, I would pick based on where you want to live.

Matt C · Aug 23, 2022

Yes as a med-surge, but I have heard they work in clinics as well. We aren't really bothered with the prospect of moving around. My motivation is to have a place where I can just lock in and move up in instead of using multiple hospital networks against each other just so that my kids can eat something other than "greater value" food.

On 8/20/2022 at 10:47 AM, jfratian said:

People interested mostly in the benefits tend to be unhappy.

Not doing it necessairly for the money or the benefits. I know that whatever I am signing up for, the government is going to get it back out of me. I like veterans and the community. I like working with them. I like working with people that are motivated and generally career oritented. I like people who make solutions instead of excuses. The benefits do matter. People think "well I see all of these posting for travel positions and they are offering...." A lot of travel nurses get stuck in dirty hospitals out in a high crime areas, dangerous patient loads, no supplies for patient care and they are living in a travel trailer. Then they get a gut punch when they see how much of that check goes to taxes. The military may deploy you, work you brutal hours, put you in bases that aren't ideal, but they don't do that. There are a lot of guys I know who left the military for DynCorp type jobs or the oil field because they saw the money offered, and they now wish they had stayed in.

On 8/20/2022 at 10:47 AM, jfratian said:

People without flexible/understanding spouses tend to be quite miserable.

My wife is excited about the prospects of quitting her job and being a mom with a side hustle. The military works with that plan very well.

On 8/20/2022 at 10:47 AM, jfratian said:

People without a solid long-term career plan tend to also do poorly.

When it comes to goals..... I had several different jobs other than the guard, and I know that life is what happens when you are making other plans. So I am open to management but would probably rather go in the direction of CNS or FNP.

I am in my 30s and being hooah is something I already got out of my system. It is not about acuities as much as it is being prepared for those acuities if I need to handle them. It is important for me to have the skills, but I don't always have to be the one directing the code or doing the chest compressions. I like how the military has so many training oppertunities, humanitarian missions, and bases everywhere.

All of that to say, I am going for an advanced practioner position. I will work for it but I am not going to throw a fit if I don't get it. I know that the needs of the miltary come before mine and being angry about something I can't control isn't going to make my life better. I saw a lot of guys stall out in their career because they got grumpy when they were overlooked for a position they thought they deserved. And they just quit trying.

The reality is that some people "want to be a wound nurse" and then will get really upset when they don't get it. In reality being a wound nurse may sound cool until you have to deal with one case after another of an IVDU with MRSA screaming in pain while you are trying to change a dressing so that their injection sites do not throw them into sepsis.

So until I can see what management looks like in the AF vs advanced practioner, it is going to be difficult to say what exactly I am going to do. But I do have a direction I will be working towards on my own time.

Thanks for responding BTW!

mirrorphantom, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2022

Hi! I am in New Mexico as well. No advice on the active duty nursing but I am curious if you could get me in contact with your recruiter. (If so PM me) I don't have alot of experience (1 year and 2 months) yet but I am currently AGR with the NMARNG and interested in active duty nursing options. I actually am already applying for the board in NOV Army wise. I am kind of curious if I have met you in the NMARNG!

There is definitely something about military service that you either love or hate and it sounds like your heart is in the right direction. It is always scary going into something new but looks like you have thought through alot of the hurdles of active military service. I wish you luck and please let me know if you get it!

allnurses Guide · Oct 2, 2022

I retired from AD USAF in January this year.

1. Nellis is trying to expand into a Level 1 trauma center. It’s going to be growing for a while and have plenty of opportunities. On the bad side Las Vegas schools are iffy at best and any services you might need for a special needs child or adult are sorely lacking and take months or years to get appointments/into.
I stayed away from San Antonio as there was always more politics than I wanted to deal with. That maybe something that doesn’t bother you or may not even notice at your rank.

JBER/Anchorage Alaska for us was a great assignment. JBER has a medium size hospital by USAF standards.

You should qualify for any of the of the hospitals with med-surg with your experience, and will likely be one of the more experienced nurses when you do start.
2. There are opportunities everywhere, if you are sure you want to do NP look at bases that have just clinics. Overall, clinic work is more conducive to family life than working on the floor with rotating schedules and constantly coming in on your off shift/days for meetings and extra duties. You will need a minimum of 1 year clinic experience to do AFIT NP unless things have changed. The AF is way behind on properly utilizing CNSs. The majority of CNSs I’ve known/know are utilized as unit educators.
3. The only issue I’ve really noticed with Army to USAF is that former Army alway expects there to be a policy that covers everything, but you’ll find the USAF often has policies (written and unwritten) that vary widely between bases. It can be a little aggravating, and after 8 duty stations every new USAF person assumes that their base/hospital policies are the same at every base or that X is done the same at every base..

St.BaptistRN, BSN · Oct 5, 2022

I’m current active ICU USAF, feel free to private message, I can discuss the overall experience

Jordan1023 · Oct 17, 2022

On 10/5/2022 at 11:08 AM, St.BaptistRN said:

I’m current active ICU USAF, feel free to private message, I can discuss the overall experience

How are the hours? Do you typically work 12 hour shifts 3 days a week? How often are you deployed?

St.BaptistRN, BSN · Oct 17, 2022

12 hours ago, Jordan1023 said:

How are the hours? Do you typically work 12 hour shifts 3 days a week? How often are you deployed?

Jordan,

currently at my hospital, it’s seven 12 hour shifts every 2 weeks. Deployment rates vary, especially given how current events have shifted priorities. Historically it’s you can go for a 6ish month deployment every 2 years with 1.5 years off.

personally, I’ve been deployed once, was going to go again, but was taken off d/t injury. And did a Covid mission for 1 month.

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Oct 17, 2022

Schedules and deployments vary depending on what base you are assigned to (typically people at bases with more nurses deploy more frequently), what job you hold (ICU, ER, OR are more likely to deploy), and what is going on in the world.

Yes, theoretically active duty AF nurses are on a 2 year cycle and vulnerable to deploy 6 months per cycle. In reality, I find it isn't divided evenly. Bases with only a handful of nurses manage to somehow argue their people are 'too vital' to every deploy. Also certain specialties simply aren't needed as often in the deployed environment.

An example I give is a 46N3 (clinical nurse) I know who only worked at Eielson and Elmendorf AFBs (both smaller bases in Alaska) during the nurse portion of his career (8 years...he was prior enlisted). He's retiring now and has not even been asked to deploy in 8 years despite being healthy.

Another example is a 46N3E (ICU nurse) I know who was only active duty at Travis AFB for 4 years. He deployed twice to Afghanistan for 6 months each during some of the same time guy #1 was twiddling his thumbs.

It looks like you're an ICU nurse, so I would say you're likely going to deploy nearly every cycle (every 2 years). When not deployed, you'll work roughly 14 12-hr shifts a month with an additional 1-2 days of call. You rotate from nights to days every 3-4 months. Keep in mind there are often mandatory in-person staff meetings once a month. There are also mandatory additional duties outside of clinical work (I.e. falls, infection prevention, etc) that can take several hours a week or more. I'd say you realistically get 12 days per month (out of 30) off work (excluding vacation).

Matt C · Oct 17, 2022

On 9/30/2022 at 9:03 AM, mirrorphantom said:

Hi! I am in New Mexico as well. No advice on the active duty nursing but I am curious if you could get me in contact with your recruiter. (If so PM me) I don't have alot of experience (1 year and 2 months) yet but I am currently AGR with the NMARNG and interested in active duty nursing options. I actually am already applying for the board in NOV Army wise. I am kind of curious if I have met you in the NMARNG!

There is definitely something about military service that you either love or hate and it sounds like your heart is in the right direction. It is always scary going into something new but looks like you have thought through alot of the hurdles of active military service. I wish you luck and please let me know if you get it!

I actually have stayed out of the NG for the past few years to first get clinicals knocked out, then I knew I wanted to go active, so I stayed away from the reserves. I tried to switch branches years ago and basically the Army had no intention of releasing me. I can check with the recruiter to see if that is OK. I am waiting to hear back now. The whole recruiting process with the AF has been a little different.

You might want to consider jumping onto a mission to get some active time in. It can be very difficult to get released from one branch and you might have to wait out your contract like I did.

mirrorphantom, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2022

2 minutes ago, Matt C said:

I actually have stayed out of the NG for the past few years to first get clinicals knocked out, then I knew I wanted to go active, so I stayed away from the reserves. I tried to switch branches years ago and basically the Army had no intention of releasing me. I can check with the recruiter to see if that is OK. I am waiting to hear back now. The whole recruiting process with the AF has been a little different.

You might want to consider jumping onto a mission to get some active time in. It can be very difficult to get released from one branch and you might have to wait out your contract like I did.

I am currently active duty in the guard serving as supply. I’ve already had 368s signed but just waiting to see how my army packet goes. I’ve been ng reserve since 06 and active duty since early 21. Thanks for the response.

Matt C · Oct 17, 2022

On 10/2/2022 at 12:29 PM, wtbcrna said:

I retired from AD USAF in January this year.

1. Nellis is trying to expand into a Level 1 trauma center. It’s going to be growing for a while and have plenty of opportunities. On the bad side Las Vegas schools are iffy at best and any services you might need for a special needs child or adult are sorely lacking and take months or years to get appointments/into.
I stayed away from San Antonio as there was always more politics than I wanted to deal with. That maybe something that doesn’t bother you or may not even notice at your rank.

JBER/Anchorage Alaska for us was a great assignment. JBER has a medium size hospital by USAF standards.

You should qualify for any of the of the hospitals with med-surg with your experience, and will likely be one of the more experienced nurses when you do start.
2. There are opportunities everywhere, if you are sure you want to do NP look at bases that have just clinics. Overall, clinic work is more conducive to family life than working on the floor with rotating schedules and constantly coming in on your off shift/days for meetings and extra duties. You will need a minimum of 1 year clinic experience to do AFIT NP unless things have changed. The AF is way behind on properly utilizing CNSs. The majority of CNSs I’ve known/know are utilized as unit educators.
3. The only issue I’ve really noticed with Army to USAF is that former Army alway expects there to be a policy that covers everything, but you’ll find the USAF often has policies (written and unwritten) that vary widely between bases. It can be a little aggravating, and after 8 duty stations every new USAF person assumes that their base/hospital policies are the same at every base or that X is done the same at every base..

Thanks for the advice. I enjoy patient care, politics, not as much. Nellis is a base that I like the sound of. Hopefully I have been out of the Army for long enough that I am not overbearing. I was attached to an AF unit for a couple of years and I loved it.

3 minutes ago, mirrorphantom said:

I am currently active duty in the guard serving as supply. I’ve already had 368s signed but just waiting to see how my army packet goes. I’ve been ng reserve since 06 and active duty since early 21. Thanks for the response.

I just got off the phone with him. He said that was fine. My account is not letting me send a pm for some reason. Maybe if you could send me one, I could respond to it.