Air Force Nursing 2013

Bayern78 · Mar 8, 2013

I am also a Med/Surg alternate and my recruiter told me I am an alternate. FFEMT what does a "96% selection rate for this board" mean? Did 96% of applicants get "selected"? For those of us who were made "alternates" to start in Oct 2014 what is the likelyhood of us getting in?

Oct 2014? My recruiter told me that I am a sure entry Oct 2013 being a first alternate.

carlily0513 · Mar 8, 2013

I am pretty sure it's Oct 2013, they will release the dates for COT for the new fiscal year mid summer. I would say for us alternates, we should plan on heading to COT in the begining to mid Oct. It only makes sense that those already selected, those from previous boards and all the ROTC graduates will take up these next 2 COT dates and us alternates will plan to go in Oct unless they have people drop out then we would fill those slots. Hope that makes sense. :-)

ffemt · Mar 8, 2013

I was also told Oct 2013 or before. The way my recruiter was talking was that 96% of the applicants were selects or alternates.

JillyRN · Mar 8, 2013

Sorry to hear about that. Have you ever thought about trying the other branches?

I think I would consider the Navy if the opportunity arose. The AF really just seemed a perfect fit for my goals and what I hoped for my future family. I still can't decide if I will continue to pursue a commission. The timing was right this year, with my husband separating from the Army and all of our prior commitments complete. Now, we hope to relocate to the mainland, he'll be starting school and I'd like to find a new position in a different department. So maybe in the future the timing will be right again.

Now I'm just more confused about what actually happened with the board and my application. My recruiter stuck by his word that packets were sent back and they cancelled the future boards. When I asked him to clarify if my packet was even reviewed or not, his answer was "No more clinical nurse slots available". So i'm still in the dark. He mentioned nothing of an alternate list. Oy vey. I'll likely be beating myself up about this for a couple weeks.

I'd love to see where everyone ends up once they start picking up the alternates! Please keep this board alive. :)

Bayern78 · Mar 9, 2013

I think I would consider the Navy if the opportunity arose. The AF really just seemed a perfect fit for my goals and what I hoped for my future family. I still can't decide if I will continue to pursue a commission. The timing was right this year, with my husband separating from the Army and all of our prior commitments complete. Now, we hope to relocate to the mainland, he'll be starting school and I'd like to find a new position in a different department. So maybe in the future the timing will be right again.
Now I'm just more confused about what actually happened with the board and my application. My recruiter stuck by his word that packets were sent back and they cancelled the future boards. When I asked him to clarify if my packet was even reviewed or not, his answer was "No more clinical nurse slots available". So i'm still in the dark. He mentioned nothing of an alternate list. Oy vey. I'll likely be beating myself up about this for a couple weeks.
I'd love to see where everyone ends up once they start picking up the alternates! Please keep this board alive. :)

I would consider applying to the Navy. Initially i had started working on the navy reserves application bc i had been accepted to start my acute care nurse practioner program here. I even met the recruiter for the navy. later on, i remember my old classmate who is in the air force as a nurse. we talked and read about air force..i liked what i was finding out- so i decided to go active duty with it. i requested the sch to defer my application and called the air force recruiter. i live in alabama and this guy is in mississippi. he sounded so supportive. he even drove from ms to alabama to come talk to me. he told me i can be accepted straight away or rejected or get in as alternate. so i knew my options. he told me they do not look at one thing or the other. i have worked for 2.5 yrs. not much compared to many people. i am a naturalized citizen. i got a wife and 2 little kids. though i also knew half of those 2.5 yrs were spent in cardiac special care. my gpa was good. i speak another language. my wife was army reserves, so she is familiar with military life. i would not think twice abt relocation and re-relocation. so it was a so/so. i do not think my interview with the chief nurse was the best but i think she saw the honesty in my answers. i like that she was straight to the point- but it was not a cozzy/dozzy type of conversation. all that to say..u can try again or apply to the navy but do not give up...give it ur best shot every time u try. i remember having a conversation with a job recruiter in north dakota...yes! we talked abt jobs there and then i told him, that job would be my 4th option. he asked me what the other 3 were- i told him...air force, reapplying to the air force or to the navy, job and masters in alabama and then nd. he told me he used to be in the air force and told me joining the military as an officer is the best think he ever did and would not even think abt offering a job if i got accepted in any branch. he told me if air force rejects ur application...then it might be something that your reapplication wont solve. sometimes u might be right but most of the time from his experience, it is something in ur experience, or medical report or classes or evaluations from ur boss or referrences that they just do not like and u cannot change that. so he told me to try the national guard and then the army and then the navy. but if i care about promotion, then the army would be his second option. nwzy J...dont give up and i am so glad u started this thing.

Bayern78 · Mar 9, 2013

I would consider applying to the Navy. Initially i had started working on the navy reserves application bc i had been accepted to start my acute care nurse practioner program here. I even met the recruiter for the navy. later on, i remember my old classmate who is in the air force as a nurse. we talked and read about air force..i liked what i was finding out- so i decided to go active duty with it. i requested the sch to defer my application and called the air force recruiter. i live in alabama and this guy is in mississippi. he sounded so supportive. he even drove from ms to alabama to come talk to me. he told me i can be accepted straight away or rejected or get in as alternate. so i knew my options. he told me they do not look at one thing or the other. i have worked for 2.5 yrs. not much compared to many people. i am a naturalized citizen. i got a wife and 2 little kids. though i also knew half of those 2.5 yrs were spent in cardiac special care. my gpa was good. i speak another language. my wife was army reserves, so she is familiar with military life. i would not think twice abt relocation and re-relocation. so it was a so/so. i do not think my interview with the chief nurse was the best but i think she saw the honesty in my answers. i like that she was straight to the point- but it was not a cozzy/dozzy type of conversation. all that to say..u can try again or apply to the navy but do not give up...give it ur best shot every time u try. i remember having a conversation with a job recruiter in north dakota...yes! we talked abt jobs there and then i told him, that job would be my 4th option. he asked me what the other 3 were- i told him...air force, reapplying to the air force or to the navy, job and masters in alabama and then nd. he told me he used to be in the air force and told me joining the military as an officer is the best think he ever did and would not even think abt offering a job if i got accepted in any branch. he told me if air force rejects ur application...then it might be something that your reapplication wont solve. sometimes u might be right but most of the time from his experience, it is something in ur experience, or medical report or classes or evaluations from ur boss or referrences that they just do not like and u cannot change that. so he told me to try the national guard and then the army and then the navy. but if i care about promotion, then the army would be his second option. nwzy J...dont give up and i am
so glad u started this thing.

i hope i made sense i had just taken ambien

psycheab · Mar 11, 2013

I'm so sorry to hear that kdazzle. This just mean's there are other opportunities out there waiting for you. I'm still very confused now because I was supposed to meet with the recruiter in about an hour, but he just texted me to say that all Clinical nurse boards were cancelled through the end of this fiscal year? The next one would be in October. I'm wondering if this means I was a non-select as well?

Just looking for some clarification, as I'm still learning some of the jargon. By Clinical nurse boards, do you mean for those going in that already have some experience? I was looking to apply to go to NTP, would that be considered a separate group. Last I spoke with a recruiter, he said that a board would be meeting in June for NTP. Would you think that is still the case?

Oh, and if anyone has been following my posts, I finally did hear from a recruiter. I gave up on the one I initially contacted and found another one very near where we used to live. While he didn't respond to me personally, I'm assuming he forwarded my email to the proper recruiter and then THAT recruiter sent me the pre-qualification (?) questionnaire.

Have another question that is of a personal nature. I have some weight to lose. At what point will that make or break you? The initial physical? When you in-process at MEPS? I'm even wondering if maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself and should forget trying to get an application packet together for this June board (if it is even still meeting.)

Thoughts?

And JillyRN and kdazzle, I'm sorry to hear of your news. I was rooting for both of you!

ffemt · Mar 11, 2013

psycheab, I am glad that you finally found the right recruiter. I too had to lose weight to join. I have lost close to 40lbs. My recruiter got all my paperwork ready but we couldn't really start any of it until I lost the weight. Once I was 5-10lbs below weight, MEPS was scheduled and paperwork started. My recruiter wouldn't even schedule MEPS until I was within weight otherwise MEPS would have disqualified me if I was over weight. I lost the weight by calorie counting and a lot of exercise. About 1/2hr in the morning and 1 hr at night daily. If you are really consistent with your weight loss program, you could make a June board. My recruiter told me that all nursing boards were canceled for the end of the military fiscal year. I am not sure when that is. I hope this helps.

psycheab · Mar 11, 2013

psycheab, I am glad that you finally found the right recruiter. I too had to lose weight to join. I have lost close to 40lbs. My recruiter got all my paperwork ready but we couldn't really start any of it until I lost the weight. Once I was 5-10lbs below weight, MEPS was scheduled and paperwork started. My recruiter wouldn't even schedule MEPS until I was within weight otherwise MEPS would have disqualified me if I was over weight. I lost the weight by calorie counting and a lot of exercise. About 1/2hr in the morning and 1 hr at night daily. If you are really consistent with your weight loss program, you could make a June board. My recruiter told me that all nursing boards were canceled for the end of the military fiscal year. I am not sure when that is. I hope this helps.

Thank you for your response! I need to first lose about 25 lbs to "make weight" for my height and then I would want to do as you suggested, lose an additional 5-10 pounds just to be sure. I'm already down about 15 lbs and I know that I can do it, even though it does take some discipline. About 5 years ago, we had been TTC for close to 3 years with no luck (and no medical intervention, yet.) I was significantly overweight and I told myself that I was going to at least lose some weight before trying to get any medical help such as Clomid or IVF. In under 6 months, merely by watching calories (1200-1500) and working out at least 4 days a week, I dropped 50 lbs. Somewhere in those last 5 lbs I actually got pregnant :up: . So, again, I know what it takes -- I really appreciate your encouragement and I applaud your weight loss efforts! Great job! So, let me ask you another question. Would they schedule you an appt with MEPS before doing things such as the Chief Nurse interview? Or would it be one of the last things in preparing your packet/application? I'm just curious as to what kind of time frame I might be looking at (and how hard I'm going to need to push myself!) Thanks for any advice or just letting me know what your experience has been.

ffemt · Mar 11, 2013

Pyscheab, So the schedule of things for me was: Lose the weight and have paperwork ready to sign, MEPS and Sign paperwork, schedule CN interview. After the CN interview we submitted my packet. The reasoning that they gave for the MEPS being first is that it can be an automatic disqualification. So they wanted me to pass MEPS first prior to doing the CN interview. My recruiter was good about having everything ready for when I made weight. Once MEPS was done everything seemed to go very fast.

Bayern78 · Mar 11, 2013

When I went to MEPS, there was a guy that was over-weight in regards to BMI. They did body fat% on him. I am not sure if he made it or not but I would think that his recruiter would not have asked him to go to MEPS knowing he will not make it- as far as his weight was concerned.

JillyRN · Mar 11, 2013

Yes, clinical nurse would be a fully qualified slot, but not in any specialty. Because I have two years of experience in ambulatory care, I don't qualify to apply as an ICU or ER accession. I haven't heard anything about the NTP boards, if they are still having them or not.

I'm glad you finally heard from the recruiter! And as the other posters said, most recruiters will need you to make weight before they even send you to MEPs. I did my questionnaire first then he scheduled me for MEPs. After everything came back from MEPs okay, then he scheduled the CN interview. Hope this helps answer your question.