Air Force or Navy and military married to military

[jhawk07]

Hey,

I just changed my major to nursing and I have been thinking about joining the Air Force ROTC or Navy Nurse Candidate Program (maybe NROTC). I have a few questions. I want to go into neonatal (NICU) nursing or midwifery. My fiance is in in the NROTC and will be a submariner when he is commissioned. We are both sophomores in college.

1. What is better for NICU nursing or nursing overall Air Force or Navy?

2. How much do you travel with NICU or OB nursing?

3. How likely is it that my fiance and I will be stationed near each other? I have done some research on this and the closest navy and AF bases are in Virginia and Hawaii.

4. What is better civilian or military nursing? Pay wise, time wise, challenging wise?

5. I want to get my masters degree preferably right away after I get my BSN or a year or two after I graduate. Will this be possible and will the military pay for it (if so how much more commitment is there)?

6. How much do military nurses get paid compared to civilian nurses?

7. Do you get paid more mattering on what area you are in like doctors do?

8. How easy or difficult is it to have kids when both the mother and the father are military?

9. How likely is it that as a NICU or OB nurse I would have to go overseas (where there are no submarine bases-except Guam but they only have 2 subs there).

Thanks, I need to make my decision by August 20 so I can talk to the Air Force or Navy here to sign up.

And lastly,

I don't really want to join the Navy ROTC here because my fiance is in it and the majority of the midshipman in the battalion now who I am. They will think that I am doing it just because of my fiance and my fiance might think that I am invading his beloved turf. So I would like to avoid the NROTC at all costs. Thus the last three questions:

10. Do you think my theories about joining the NROTC are unfounded?

11. Is it possible to do the Navy Nurse Candidate Program at a school with ROTC?

12. Can you join either the AFROTC or NROTC when you are junior and going into nursing? So far I have only seen that you have to be a freshman or sophomore.

Hope that is not too much to answer and I really need to find all this stuff out, so if a few people could use some of their time to answer my questions I would be really grateful. Thanks.:)

[veteranRN]

I was a corpsman in the navy and grew up with a father who was career navy. That being said, I would recommend the Air Force for nursing because they seemed to be more conducive to family. I looked at it last year. But, I would recommend being in the same service as your husband. You only get transferred to a certain place if there is an opening so being transferred to the only two bases where there are air force and navy bases close together seems slim. I think if you were both in the same service, it would work better because the service would be more sympathetic to your situation and you wouldn't constantly be fighting two services.

Why are you set on being in the service (not that I am at all against it). The only problem with both of you being in the service is if one of you gets deployed somewhere, you will need to stay where you are assigned to fulfill your obligation. For instance, when I was in the navy, my husband and I were both stationed in So. California. He was deployed for 6 months to Japan and I had to stay in california and work 12 hour shifts with a newborn. I would have liked to go to my parents house for the 6 months but that wasn't an option.

My bottom line is this, If you are interested in the service, I would recommend being in the same service as your husband, no matter which one that is.

Best of luck

[jhawk07]

Well, it seems like everyone I talk to is saying the same thing. That AF is out of the question is my future husband is going to be Navy. So I guess I should address something else that has been on my mind.

My fiance is in the NROTC battalion here. Most of the midshipmen already know who I am. I am worried that if I join they won't accept me because they will think that I am doing it just because of my fiance. Will have to proove myself to them by working harder than everyone else? I am also worried that my fiance might think that I would be "invading his turf." I can't talk to him about this right now because he is in San Diego on training so I have to wait until he gets back in August. So I have a few options:

Join NROTC now as a sophomore.

Join NRTOC as a junior after I get accepted into nursing school.

Join the Navy and go to Officer Indoctrination School after I graduate.

or Join the Naval Reserve Nurse Corps after I get out of school.

I know in the end it is my decision. My relationship with my fiance is very strong and I don't want anything to ruin it. I know my joining might change it, but I hope not too much. I feel like I am a big quandry right now. Thanks.

P.S. I want to join the service because I think it is an opportunity that is right at my door step and that if I don't take it I will be missing out on some great experiences. I am tired of these people in our country who live here and feed off of our freedom but still say that they hate America. I love America and appreciate our soldiers in all careers. I want to serve because I want to experience life, I want to experience want so many people are afraid to experience. I crave challenges-and this is a challenge of a lifetime. I feel like I should give something back to America for all they have done for me and the ones I love and this is the best way. (Is that a good enough reason?)

[DawnEyes]

Only you can know what will be good for you, follow your heart! And talking with your fiance should hopefully help you come to a decision.

Coming from my perspective as a former dual-military marriage...I found that it actually strengthened us as opposed to weakening our connection. We both had a sense of what the other was going through, in regards to the military experience.

And as I said above, if joining the Navy is truly what you want to do, I'd say go for it (The advice you received about the AF would be correct...getting stationed together would be extremely difficult). If your relationship is strong, as you say, your fiance shouldn't have feelings of being "turfed." If he did, I would take a serious look at his reasoning and where it was coming from. Personally, I expect my husband to be fully supportive of the dreams I want to follow, just as I am fully supportive of him. To me it's a basic foundation of the partnership/relationship that a marriage entails.

In any case, good luck with whatever you choose to do! I hope all goes well for you.

Dawn