Air Force Reserves for Psychiatric RN

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Hello everyone,

My husband and I are both Psychiatric/Behavioral Health nurses with 5+ years of experience. My husband has been talking about joining the Air Force Reserves and I am wondering what the pros and cons are. My dad was in the AF for many years but he was active duty and did not work in healthcare, so he hasn't been able to answer many of our questions. I would really appreciate any information possible about the need for Psychiatric RN's in the AF reserves, what is expected of them, how often they go on deployment, and so on. Any information would be helpful! I support my husband's choice either way, I just want to make sure he knows as much as possible before meeting with a recruiter. Thank you all in advance!

Sarah :)

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I can't tell you much about reserves. I can tell you that psych nursing (which works inpatient psych units in the AF) is a pretty small community in the AF. To my knowledge, psych nurses really aren't used in the outpatient setting in the AF. Anchorage, Fairfield (CA), and San Antonio are the only AF hospitals with inpatient psych. If you aren't located in those areas, you might be forced to accept a general 'clinical nurse' slot; that's kind of a 'catch all' position for med-surg, outpatient clinics, and day surgery areas.

Deployments are generally on an 'every two year' cycle for 3-6 months for guard and reserves. You don't necessarily go every time though. L&D, NICU, and psych nurses often deployed as med-surg nurses.

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Thank you for the information! :)

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