Air Force Bonus/Questions

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For those of you that are Air Force nurses, have they been offering a bonus to extend your service years once your time comes up? I am wondering how the pay in the military compares to civilians after all bonuses are added in.

Were any of you civilian nurses before entering the AF and if so, do you think you made the right move?

What is the typical day like as a nurse in the Air Force? Do you have any say as to what department you want to work in or if you want to switch units? I prefer pediatrics.

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We are AF ... well my husband is. I myself have no interest in becoming dual military as he is already in.

However, I can tell you that according to the last report he brought home they are offering bonuses to keep nurses in. As far as which department you will work, it depends, although if you have a background in a specific department already that may help to get you in that department.

One thing to consider is def pay. You would have to have a BSN to become a nurse in the military because you would be an officer. You would also receive BAH and BAS and possibly COLA depending on where you live. BAH is housing allowance, BAS is a food allowance, and COLA is a cost of living allowance provided if you live overseas, Alaska and Hawaii included.

Another factor....FREE healthcare. We have had 2 children and paid 0 dollars....0 for all care including the c-sections. Sometimes it is hard to get sick appts but again, there is no charge. You can pay a copay and opt for the Standard insurance which allows you to pick your own doctors off base, but you will pay copays and like 20% of the bill or something.

Dental is free for active duty as well.

There is a lot to consider with military vs civilian. You could call a recruiter and ask them to send you the information via mail to review rather than going in and feeling like you have to make a decisio on the fly. If you decide to go in.....make sure you leave to think about it so you dont make a fast decision you later regret.

We have been in the military for 16 yrs...he is enlisted and is a MasterSgt, E7. We plan on doiing at least 20 yrs but prob 30 yrs as his goal is E9, Chief, the highest enlisted rank.

There are lots of pros and cons....the military has been really good to us, and in today's economy it is nice to know we have a paycheck and dont have to worry about housing either.....bc you could also live on base for free which includes your utilities.

Hope this info helps.

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Here are a few numbers for you based on the 2008 Pay Scale.

Coming in as an O1, which is the starting rank of officers, with less than 2 yrs military time (pay goes up every 2 yrs...so it will say less than 2 yrs, less than 4 yrs, less than 6 yrs, etc)

your Base pay....regular mthly pay would be

2555.70 (you get a 3.9 % raise in Jan 2009, every yr actually)

202.76 BAS (Food allowance per month)

1011.00 BAH (housing allowance for my base, spokane Wa)

so just starting out if u were stationed in spokane Wa your mthly pay would be $3769.

BAH, housing, varies state to state. We were in Alaska before WA and in AK we got 1800 per mth and now we get 1115.

...so as you can see it is higher or lower depending on the cost of living in the area.

If you live on base they "take" your BAH and you live in housing for free but it also INCLUDES your electric, water, and trash pickup, which saves you a few hundred dollars.....plus save on gas bc closer to work.

Again, that is just starting w/out much time in.....if you stayed in 20 years so you could Retire and get your retirement (50% of your base pay after 20 yrs,,,,goes up to 75% of your base pay with 30 yrs time).....

An average officer could get to

O5 before retiring....so based on "todays" 2008 pay scale which of course goes up at least 3% per yr bc of inflation....your base pay would go from

2555 as an O1

to

7408 as an O5

and that does NOT include your housing allowance or food allowance, for an O5 in spokane this yr the housing rate would be 1460 instead of 1011

plus, again you would have free healthcare for you and all the members in your family

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I'm the wife of an Air Force RN. We have been in for almost four years and are coming up on the end of our first commitment. Last year they offered $10K CSRB (continuing service reimbursement bonus ?) if you continued. The offer this year, if any, has not come out. The paperwork last year came out in December.

There is also talk of an ISP (Incentive Special Pay) for current nurses. As far as we have heard it was passed by Congress and is hopefully going to be enacted this year. The last rumor we heard was that it is going to be $10K a year. It was originally listed at $20K a year, oh well! The $10K will be contingent on somethings..........such as: you must be a working nurse and continue working to receive it each year. If you are an OR nurse you must be a working OR nurse and not be working outside of the OR or your job code. We have also heard that it is only going to be for two years but I'm not real sure on that.

Nothing is easy in the Air Force and until it officially comes out you just never know. Just like anything else there is a lot of rumors about these bonuses so please take with a grain of salt, however, we are hopeful.

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kddex,

About the second part of your question. My husband came from the civilian world. He actually had been a travel nurse for the previous 5 years before coming in. He's been a nurse total for about 15 years. (In my previous life before kids I was a hospital administrator). He came in as a Captain, however, we actually took a %50 pay cut from when we came in. Now almost 4 years later we are getting close from what we used to make. I really like the stability of the military life and considering he grew up an AF brat and was enlisted in the army many years ago he kinda knew what he was getting into. However, he has deployed twice in those four years so be aware. He has worked in the AF at a busy hospital and a small hospital. I think the biggest thing has been all the tasks that are assigned to you. You are not just a working nurse and your job is #1 not your family. It is a big adjustment for the family especially, if like me, you weren't exposed to the miltary before. On the other hand we have been living in Japan for 3 years and are on our way to Europe for the next 3 so for those experiences for us and our kids it has been priceless!

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One last thing about coming in as a nurse. It was written into my husband's AF contract that he was an OR nurse and only an OR nurse(46S). He is not an "N". Remember if it is not in writing it does't exist no matter what your recruiter says. If you are an 46N they can work you anywhere in any dept even if you do PACU, ICU etc... you can easily end up in MedSurg, family practice clinc, etc..

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So is it better to hold on to your identifier. I am a Operating Room Nurse also. I wanted to keep this identifier, however after getting Lackland instead of an overseas assignment, I was wondeing if I should have just came in as a clinical nurse. I figure there are more opportunities for clinical nurses as far as assignments, rather then O.R. nurses?

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I guess that would be a personal decision. I only know of one nurse that got an overseas assignment on accession and there were extremely special circumstances that justified it. I'm not sure coming in as a 46N would help in getting an overseas assignment immediated upon entering. Also, depending on your rank coming in I think all overseas assignments are filled by Captains and above, no LTs. The N designation would then open you up to any nurse job assignment. Also I believe once an N always and N no matter even if you work in the OR.

As far as assignments you are extremely limited as an OR nurse. Stateside the only bases I can think of are Lackland, Keesler, Eglin, Wright Patterson, Travis, Mountain Home, Langley, Washington D.C. and Las Vegas. Overseas the only bases are RAF Lakenheath, Landstuhl, Incirlik, Aviano, Misawa, Yokota and Korea. Also overseas these are all smaller hospitals therefore less nurses are needed. I believe at Incirlik there are 2, Landstuhl are 4 and Aviano is like 3. Also remember that sometimes Majors will take a Captain slot for overseas assignment..........rank has its privledges.

One other thing about coming in as an N would be bonuses. Not sure if all nurses are going to get a bonus or just some specialties. Just one more thing to check on and get in writing. Hope that helps a little.

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Thanks for the info. I pretty much decided to keep my identifier as an O.R. nurse. I was thinking when I get to Lackland the first thing that I would do is volunteer for an overseas assignment. I know Korea is a hardship tour and I was there before in the Army. I pretty much figured that I would have to wait till the end of my first tour to see what assignments were out there. One question, how do you find out what slots are open?

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You will have a branch manager that you can work with as that time approaches.

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