Air Force Reserve Nursing and Deployment

[AKRN907]

I'm very interested in AF Reserve nursing and am wondering how often Reservists deploy and for generally how long. I am not against the idea of deploying, it actually is very exciting to me and I originally thought that deployment was only for AD. So if you have any input, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

[Spencer2002]

This is how I understand it for active duty AF for example. On my base I’m replacing a nurse that was sent recently to an Al-Qaeda / Taliban prison in Afghanistan for about 6 months. When deployed you are not attached to any units. It’s individual for nurses. We are on a list somewhere and chosen by our qualifications at the moment of need. The nurse before that went to Honduras tto a Army base and did humanitarian work. Hope this helps?

[rghbsn, BSN, RN]

It also depends on what job you hold in the reserves. If you're a flight nurse, for example, you will deploy differently. The AFR does between 75-85% of all transports for the AF. The units are on a rotating schedule so that new missions are filled by one unit for a year, then they have 2 years off. When a new mission comes up, the deployable RN's and support staff volunteer...if they don't get enough volunteers to fulfill the mission, they will offer the mission to other units as well. If there are still not enough volunteers, then there will be qualified members of the primary unit given orders to go. Very easy, but very different than many other branches of the military reserves.

[AKRN907]

Thank you for the reply, any and all info is much appreciated. Are you in the AFR? I have a lot of questions that I would like to ask someone who is actually in, because I know the recruiter can only tell me so much. When you deploy is it only one transport here, one transport there or is it a depolyment to a different locations for say 4 months or so? I am very interested in the flight nursing aspect of the Reserves...is that the most competative to get into? Can you volunteer to go as often as you want? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just excited to learn as much as I can about the whole process. Thanks again!

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

I'm in the process of joining the 187 in Cheyenne as a flight nurse. I know three nurses who work there and all love it. They do deployments every 20 months for about 4 months. You can volunteer more often, but I don't know any more details. The unit is being deployed in November but I won't have my flight status yet. Of my three friends one is going to Kandahar, one to Germany, and one to Washington for their deployments. I don't know how often they will be flying. Hope that helps.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

I'll bet the one going to Kandahar is secretly annoyed about Germany and Washington... :)

[Esh570]

So is it pretty easy to come back active Air Force after being in the Reserve?

[rghbsn, BSN, RN]

I don't think so. I think there are a few ways back to active duty, but I wouldn't call it "easy" and it's definitely not quick.