Air force nursing 2018

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As an applicant for the Air Force Nurse Corp 2018 I thought I would open a public thread for people to talk and ask questions. I was non-select in 2017 due to lack of time in a trauma center, but reapplying again for this FY2018 as ER/Trauma RN. This time I got some more certifications and experience under my belt and ready to move forward.

Hi everyone!

Some questions I have:

How long is the initial commitment to active duty?

How long are deployments?

What type of job would I have?

Can they deploy me in the reserves after being active duty?

Will I be relocated?

How do I obtain eligibility to retire?

Thank you!

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There is a huge OR nurse need. However, what this chief nurse isn't telling you is that they don't have a huge ability to train new OR nurses without experience. If you already had 1 year of OR experience, then you would be an absolute lock for being accepted. You would be applying in an entirely different pool of candidates...those able to start the job on day 1.

When I applied, I only got to apply for med/surg. I'm pretty sure you can only apply to one position, however your recruiter would know for sure.

Oh I see! Yes, I can understand getting training/experience in OR ahead of time will improve my chances at that position. I guess I will see what happens with this board and take it from there. I'll be 38 this year so I'd rather not keep waiting and would prefer to enter as soon as possible. But I do need to be in a position I could see myself in for many years.

I think this is a recent change, but the recruiter told me you can apply for 2 positions now. If I need to apply to the next board, I will definitely see about OR and clinic as my options.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

When I spoke to my recruiter, he had me list the top three specialties in order of preference that I would work. I'm not sure about applying for multiple positions thing, but it sounds like he'd review available positions for the upcoming year and see if there was space for me.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Comrade,

You typically have your choice of several initial active duty contracts. For me, I could have chosen a 3 years active and 5 years inactive ready reserve, a 4 years active and 4 years inactive ready reserve (for a $20K sign-on bonus OR $40K in loan repayment), and 6 years active and 2 years inactive ready reserve (for a the bonus AND the loan repayment). You have the option of drilling with a reserve unit 1 weekend a month and getting paid a little bit (active reserve) OR doing nothing and being on an activation list and not getting paid (inactive reserve). You can be deployed when on either list, however you are much less likely to deploy on the inactive list.

Deployment length varies by job and branch. In the AF, the vast majority of nurses deploy for 6 month stretches every 2 years.

I have no idea what your background is to tell you anything else. Are you a nurse? What kind of nurse?

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Comrade,

You typically have your choice of several initial active duty contracts. For me, I could have chosen a 3 years active and 5 years inactive ready reserve, a 4 years active and 4 years inactive ready reserve (for a $20K sign-on bonus OR $40K in loan repayment), and 6 years active and 2 years inactive ready reserve (for a the bonus AND the loan repayment). You have the option of drilling with a reserve unit 1 weekend a month and getting paid a little bit (active reserve) OR doing nothing and being on an activation list and not getting paid (inactive reserve). You can be deployed when on either list, however you are much less likely to deploy on the inactive list.

Deployment length varies by job and branch. In the AF, the vast majority of nurses deploy for 6 month stretches every 2 years.

I have no idea what your background is to tell you anything else. Are you a nurse? What kind of nurse?

Background: I'm currently a BSN student. I plan to become a flight nurse after I gain ICU and emergency medicine experience. Once I graduate I'll be pursuing a dual degree MBA-MSN while I work. I've always had a passion for the military and I want to give back to my country and our soldiers. I think it would be beneficial to have one tour of active duty (3 years active) and then finish my career with the reserves until I retire. I hope to join the Air Force because there is a base with a hospital close to where I live.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I would recommend you work as a civilian nurse for a year in the specialty of your choice prior to joining the AF. As a new grad, you have a very high chance of doing med-surg.

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So glad I came across this thread! My husband is an active duty officer and we've talked about me joining the reserves as an RN, but active duty is an option as well. I currently have 2 years and counting as an OR nurse as a civillan. What's the training like when you are active and are assigned the OR specialty?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

As an experienced OR nurse, you will not go to the OR training course. That course is a 3 month program geared to teach nurses who have never done OR nursing how to do the job. Whether you do active or reserves, you would only go to an abbreviated basic officer training for non-line officers called Commissioned Officer Training (COT); it's 5 weeks long in Montgomery, AL.

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Hello everyone, I am so excited to submit my packet for the June boards. It will be for the OR. This is pretty nerve racking the process, more the waiting part. But, patience can pay off.

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Hi there! I'm also going for the June boards as an OR nurse. I wanted to go for the April board but the recruiter bumped me to June because of some thyroid levels. UGH~! This process is soooo long!

Where do you hope to get stationed?

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Hello, me too, but due to me not being medically cleared from a recent surgery I had to wait. Therefore, June board it is. I am not sure about where I would like to be stationed yet. My husband is already in the Air Force and has been for 18 years. We really were thinking about Ohio, Florida, and Texas. We are now in South Carolina at Shaw AFB. Where are you located?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Does your husband have a job that allows him to be stationed most places? OR nurses have a limited number of possible bases. Joint spouse assignments are not guaranteed. Many people are forced to spend time apart.

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