Air Force ROTC nursing student

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Hello,

I will start my senior year as an ROTC cadet next semester. I am a nursing student that will graduate in December 2013, but will not commission until May 2014 because I need the 4 semester after field training. It has been a while that a nursing student has graduated from my detachment, and there are really no information that they are able to give me. I qualified for the age waiver, which means that I do not qualify for any scholarships. I was wondering if I am still able to qualify for the accession bonus? How long will it take from my commissioning to my TDY for NTP? Will I have a choice of what NTP program I go to? Will I be able to choose my first duty station? I am also married to an enlisted Army soldier...What are the possibilities that we will get stationed together. His MOS is 91D, and recently one of his soldiers PCS'd to MacDill AFB, so I know that his MOS is offered at an Air Force Base. I am looking for whatever advise of information that I can get.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Moved to our Government / Military Nursing forum for best chance member advice.

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The only wisdom I can offer for this is be prepared to be separated. A lot. The USAF will do what it can, but since you're not married to an Air Force member they're under even less obligation to do so. I'm not trying to kill your hopes, but I am being blunt with the facts.

I will say this: officer assignments are not like enlisted assignments. You will have more flexibility and a bit more 'say' in where you go and what you do. Notice I said 'a bit' - initially you'll have very little beyond what's on your 'dream sheet'.

If you have no experience, chances are very very good you're either coming to Texas where I am, or you're going to another 'large' USAF medical facility (I'm thinking Wright-Pat and Travis in particular; I know there are one or two others).

I can ask a couple of our RNs about NTP and how it worked. I know one of them has kept up with one of her commanders so she might have some insight.

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Capt. Carolina,

I know as a line officer they pretty much move around every 2-3 years. As a nurse, will I move around that often, or will there be an opportunity for me to be stable for a while? When picking my Duty stations, should I stick to the joint bases? Will this increase the possibilities of me and my husband staying together?

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Hi! I'm currently in the Cincinnati NTP and it's a lot of fun. We have a few ROTC grads here and from what I've been told none of them received the bonus, but they were on scholarship. They send new grads to the big military hospitals, some of the ones I've heard people going to are Elemendorf, Travis, Nellis, Eglin, Langley, Wright-pat, Keesler, and Lackland (SAMMC I think is the hospital). This is because your first year as a nurse (from the date you enter active duty) you're in a "nurse residency program" which is more orientation and making sure you learn your job well before you're up for deployment.

They are all in civilian hospitals except the one in Texas. The other three will be Cincinnati, OH, Scottsdale, AZ, and Tampa, FL. It's 9 weeks total and here at the university hospital we go through different rotations to hone in our "med surg" skills including some exciting days in the ED. Even those going the OB nursing route will complete NTP.

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long day, double post

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So when do you know where your first duty station will be? Exactly how long are the days? Do you still do PT in the mornings? When do you know what nursing area you will work in when your finished with NTP, is that all depending on where the Air Force places you? Will I be able to specify what AFSC I want, or will I just be assigned the general nurse AFSC?

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I found out the duty station I would be at when I was accepted into the Air Force. At NTP We do 12 hour shifts and shorter shifts depending on the area we are in. As a new grad you are limited to being an OB nurse or med/surg nurse. My AFSC is 46n1 as a new grad med/surg nurse, I'm not sure what the OB one is since it is a specialty.

Once you know your base and they know you are coming you should be contacted by a sponsor who will be able to tell you more about what you'll be doing at the hospital.

PT is on our own time and not regulated, at least here anyway.

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Recognized specialties get an identifier - 46N3G is, I think, the one for OB (I know NICU is F, ICU is E, and ED is J). 46N is the AFSC for clinical RN, the '3' means 'fully qualified', and the G is your identifier once you're a fully qualified OB RN (unless you come in with experience as a 46N3G).

I came in fully qualified, and came in as a 46N3 - the 46N just denotes "clinical nurse", not that you're specifically med-surg. Clinic RNs have the same identifier (or really, lack of one). The '1' becomes '3' when you finish NTP.

Yep - PT is on your own time. I was in when it wasn't and it was a pain the butt. Nothing sucks more than being dragged in on your day off for mandatory fun.

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Capt. Carolina,

I know as a line officer they pretty much move around every 2-3 years. As a nurse, will I move around that often, or will there be an opportunity for me to be stable for a while? When picking my Duty stations, should I stick to the joint bases? Will this increase the possibilities of me and my husband staying together?

The current trend is to move RNs every 4 years. "Homesteading" will eventually hurt your career. I've volunteered for four more years here, but I'm changing focus and selecting a qualifying specialty, so I will show career broadening and not stagnation. If I wanted to remain on the floor I'm on for four more years, I'd be advised against that.

The only reason I want to stay is this is the only Level III NICU staffed by USAF RNs. It would behoove me to stay if I can. I also threw in some blurb about budget; why pay to move someone who wants to stay here?

Overall, though, when they want to move you, you should go, unless you're in the situation I'm in. It's part of the beauty (and the bane!) of being at a big med center.

The arguement for picking so-called joint bases, from AFPC, would be 'they're all mostly joint now' (please, please do not get me started on this). If that makes you feel you'd have a better chance of being where you want to be, then I'd do it. It's a logical strategy, but as your DH will tell you, there's no logic to the Personnel office.

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The only wisdom I can offer for this is be prepared to be separated. A lot. The USAF will do what it can, but since you're not married to an Air Force member they're under even less obligation to do so. I'm not trying to kill your hopes, but I am being blunt with the facts.

I will say this: officer assignments are not like enlisted assignments. You will have more flexibility and a bit more 'say' in where you go and what you do. Notice I said 'a bit' - initially you'll have very little beyond what's on your 'dream sheet'.

If you have no experience, chances are very very good you're either coming to Texas where I am, or you're going to another 'large' USAF medical facility (I'm thinking Wright-Pat and Travis in particular; I know there are one or two others).

I can ask a couple of our RNs about NTP and how it worked. I know one of them has kept up with one of her commanders so she might have some insight.

I was a medic in the USAF, did my clinical a at Wright-Pat and LOVED that base. That was in 2000, so who knows now, but I loved it there.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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I was a medic in the USAF, did my clinical a at Wright-Pat and LOVED that base. That was in 2000, so who knows now, but I loved it there.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

I worked with a lot of RNs from W-P at my deployment. Most of them really liked it. I heard a lot of good things about the hospital there.

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