Air Force NTP

mobro · Dec 24, 2009

i haven't been able to find any of that out either! but i do remember reading somewhere that it's like a residency and you follow a preceptor. but i didn't see if you have classes or anything else.

i also want to know where we live during that 11 week (it's 11 weeks long, right?) interim and if we're supposed to pack everything we need for it when we go to COT?? aren't we told to take about 3 days worth of civilian clothes to COT? surely we need more than that over NTP and potentially for very different weather!

nursemel09 · Dec 24, 2009

I have been wondering the exact same things! I am pretty sure the NTP is you following a preceptor one on one. My recruiter gave me the impression that we will rotate through different area similar to a residency program. Could be wrong though...

Looking forward to getting my official orders so I can figure all the living arrangements out as well. My NTP base is different from my permanent station and they are both out west (I'm in TN). Trying to figure out all the logistics is a nightmare!

midinphx, BSN · Dec 25, 2009

Even without having NTP, the logistics are a nightmare! lol. When do we go to housing and travel and all that?! When would I move my whole home, before COT or after? You know there is just so much to figure out. And until we know something, there is absolutely nothing more that I can do to organize it. And I'm an over organizer, so it's hard to cope.

Just forget it all for the holidays and try to enjoy. Merry Christmas. I'm off to work....

mid

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Dec 25, 2009

OK - here's the lowdown.

1. You will contact TMO (Traffic Management Office - these are the folks who assist you in organizing your move) before you leave for COT. Once you get your orders, talk to your recruiter to find the nearest TMO office (everyone has one - even if it's two states over and a different branch of service - moves are actually paid for by the DOD, not just each branch independently, and the process is now a lot smoother than it was when I was in before). Your stuff will be moved before you leave unless you give someone power of attorney to be responsible for dealing with the moving company while you're at COT. If it reaches your base before you do (and it probably will), it will be stored at the government's expense at a storage facility for thirty days.

You will want to contact TMO ASAP after getting your orders so you can pick a move date that's good for you and not just good for the feds, so to speak. The DOD moves more people in the warmer months and especially in the summer (they try to move families in the summer for obvious reasons, and also, they'd rather pay to ship folks to places like Alaska and northern Japan when it's warmer!) so the contracted moving companies tend to get busier the warmer it gets.

2. Once you find out where you're going, contact that base's (called your "gaining installation" or "gaining station") housing office if you want on-base housing to see if there's a waiting list and if you can be put on it before you go to COT. Sometimes you can. Don't worry about travel vouchers; save all your receipts en route to and from COT - you will file for that reimbursement once you get to your base.

3. When you do get to your base, you will be given eight to ten days of what's called "permissive TDY" - househunting. During this time you will stay on base in something called TLF or billeting (depends on if you have dependents or not - TLF is like a small apartment and billeting is like a hotel room). If lodging on base is full, you will be given permission to obtain a hotel room. You will have to pay for both of these up front, but you will be reimbursed for up to ten days by the Feds. If you are put somewhere without a kitchen, they will reimburse you a specific amount for meals. If you get TLF - it will have a kitchen - your BAS (Basic Allowance for Subsistence) is expected to cover your costs.

4. I'm fairly Type A, but I'm also a Navy brat and prior enlisted Air Force, so when I say this I speak from many years of experience. You cannot organize this - to a great extent it will be organized for you and it will NOT be organized to your standards, trust me. Unfortunately, that's how it works and you have to just sort of go with the flow. I can be quite high strung - which means I'm better off in the more controlled environment of the military because you just have to shrug and say, oh well, and you have to do that much more often than you'd like to.

Trying to organize this is a waste of your energy. Use that to shorten your run time. :)

Also - for what it's worth - there's classroom work in NTP as well. I'm assuming you get a better "intro to the RN corps" and military nursing. I'll talk to some of the newest NTP grads here at Lackland and see what information I can dig up.

maverickemt · Dec 25, 2009

Hi - Can you also talk to your boss and find out how many applications have been submitted for the Jan 2010 boards. I still haven't interviewed and my recruiter is slow and keeps on taking leave at the worst times. I would like to wait to be submitted if there are not enough of applications for the Jan 2010 boards because I don't want to be submitted and not be selected. I am thinking of going

over to the navy because I found out that the Army nurse corps is full for med/surg - they shut down their boards and will hopefully reopen in October.

Thanks - maverickemt (Sachin)

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Dec 25, 2009

Unfortunately my boss would have no idea - she's the director of a cancer floor and has nothing to do with the Officer Accession Boards at Maxwell AFB, AL.

You are at the mercy of the boards. All of us who were accepted went through this and you cannot let it monopolize your life because you'll find yourself in bed sick as hell over it. If you're going to sign yourself over to the Air Force, you've got to understand you will be not only at her mercy but also at her beck and call to some extent - and you'll encounter many situations like this throughout your tenure with her.

You have to be patient.

mobro · Dec 25, 2009

thanks for the info carolinapooh! and anything else you can find out about NTP would also be very helpful! if we are going to NTP would we still move our stuff before we leave for COT and it would get stored at wherever we have NTP and then get moved again? that's what's confusing me...or would we just wait to move it until after NTP when we head to our final location??

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Dec 26, 2009

No - you will receive orders that cover COT, your NTP, and your final duty station. They'll come and get your stuff and store it for you. If you're TDY en route, you don't worry about storage charges - they're covered. My understanding is it gets moved once - to your gaining base - since you'll live in gov't quarters while you're at NTP if that's not your final destination.

Give me a week or so and I'll track down some recent grads to find out. They had an NTP class just graduate here at Lackland about a week ago and there are now a load of new NTP grads at Wilford Hall.

nursemel09 · Dec 27, 2009

Carolinapooh,

Thank you so much for all your awesome information! You have truly been a "mindsaver"...lol. We have some military friends that have had some not so good experiences with relocation and were thinking about doing a "dity" move. Any comment on that?

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Dec 27, 2009

The problem with a DITY move is you're responsible for everything. If you don't have a whole lot of stuff - and you have a big enough car to carry all of it (say you were still living at home or in the dorm when you went to COT) then it wouldn't be a big deal.

We moved a three bedroom house - including a king sized and a queen sized bed and a refrigerator. I can't imagine doing that by ourselves.

No, the military system isn't perfect and has an inherent amount of risk. But I'm also inherently lazy and wouldn't want to have done this!

The other thing is you'll have to have the money to do it yourself up front - and keep in mind it will take quite a while to get your travel voucher money back. I filed mine the Monday after I got here (I got here the day before Thanksgiving) and I still haven't been paid.

BUT - you can actually MAKE money on a DITY move because what you'll pay to do it and what the Feds are going to reimburse you for are usually different; I know lots of folks who do a partial DITY move and even then pocket a hundred bucks or so. Technically I could file a partial DITY move since I had stuff in my car when I came to COT, but it really wasn't enough to bother with the reimbursement since they deduct the weight of that stuff from the overall weight of your shipment and then pay you for it. Next PCS, though, I'll be doing it.

Just as a point of trivia, a second Lt with dependents is authorized 12,000 lbs - we had 9100 lbs! I had no idea we had that much stuff!

If you don't have a lot of stuff, I can see where it would be advantageous. But I've also heard from people who moved once with the Feds, had a bad experience, and then moved themselves the next PCS - and they've all SWORN they'll never do it again. But it's your decision, ultimately. With a DITY, you're responsible for the driving, the gas, the packing, the unpacking, getting rid of the boxes and packing material (and BELIEVE me, there's a lot - our two car garage here was FULL of boxes, literally) - I'd die if I had to do all that....

midinphx, BSN · Dec 29, 2009

Carolinapooh....in the COT supply list is mentions a rubbermaid box. What size? For what?