Air Force

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How does the AF base their retirement after 20 years? Is it a certain percentage of the last 3 years of income or something to that nature? Also if my husband went back in active duty and I was active duty would we both receive BAH and BAS or since we are both active duty do they only give that to one of us?

Thanks

Specializes in ICU.

Just-cause and wtbCRNA thanks a lot. That clears up some points of interest for me. What about specialty certifications? I have ACLS, ASLS, will set for CCRN in November and hopefully TNCC in January. Does having these make me more marketable/promotable if I choose USAF as a career long option?

(Not that it makes much difference. I know it makes me a better nurse to my patients, just curious about how military views these certs.)

Thanks again for your service. Serving our brave men and women in their greatest hour of need is motivation enough and a big part of my decission to join

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If you look at the nursing sub-specialties for any service, ie peds or icu those are the key requirements you need/want prior to entering if that specialty is your goal. The CCRN might help in that same respect..to substantiate to the admission boards that you meet that specialties requirements..

Aside from that your prior certs will not be beneficial to the point of making you fast-track or inhibit your promotion rate.... you will see that the promotion systems are generally established systems with fairly clear objectives...end point being that mostly you just do your job and do it for a given time.... and not 'screw up' and any bonus stuff you have is nice... and makes you a better officer, but not necessarily affect your promotion rate.

If I were in your shoes...... and i wanted to be a nurse in the AF in a acute... i'd get into an accelerated bsn or bsn program and enter directly... i'm jealous ;)

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Specializes in ICU.

Know I know who to contact should I have any more questions. Thanks for all your input. Now all I need to do is pass CCRN, TNCC, RN-BSN, join the air force, get my master's work my butt off for the next 20+years (I will be 35 when I join), then retire to the good life. Come to think of it, just_cause, I can see why you're jealous...;)

As a side note, I have heard they don't use the Baxter triple pumps and the RN's have to calculate gtt rates on their own? Is this is true? And if so, add brushing up on my dosage calcs to the list.

Well, I'm off to look at a house. In addition to battling the angle of death 36 hours a week, the hubby and I are buying a house. Good thing I'm SuperWoman and can handle "it all" or this post would have gotten me down:D

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
Just-cause and wtbCRNA thanks a lot. That clears up some points of interest for me. What about specialty certifications? I have ACLS, ASLS, will set for CCRN in November and hopefully TNCC in January. Does having these make me more marketable/promotable if I choose USAF as a career long option?

(Not that it makes much difference. I know it makes me a better nurse to my patients, just curious about how military views these certs.)

Thanks again for your service. Serving our brave men and women in their greatest hour of need is motivation enough and a big part of my decission to join

Most AF ICU nurses carry ACLS, TNCC, and a higher than average percentage also obtain their CCRN compared to civilian RNs. Saying all that once you get your CCRN you will be given an additional identifier (once you do all the necessary paperwork..lol) that promotion boards/supervisors will see that show that you have passed your CCRN.

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After going active is there a time frame they won't let you go back to school? I would like to get a post-masters in acute care....

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
After going active is there a time frame they won't let you go back to school? I would like to get a post-masters in acute care....

As an officer you can go back to school at anytime as long as it is on your off duty time. AFIT is totally different story.

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