Any Air Force Reserve nurses married to service members of another branch?

[AKRN907]

Hi All,

I am just wondering if there is anyone out there in this situation and how hard it is? I have always desired to be an Air Force nurse and was very close to commissioning 3 years ago, but ended up getting married. I have never stopped wanting to be an Air Force nurse, but just didn't know if it would be feasible, because my husband is AD in another branch of the military so basically we would never be stationed together. However, I am now looking into the Reserves, which may be easier to work around, since "you serve where you live." Any thoughts on this? We don't have kids, so that won't be an issue. Is it difficult to change units in the Reserves if you move, say he gets transferred, etc. Is it damaging financially to go from a full-time civilian nurse to a Reservist? I would imagine I would still work civilian part-time, but is it a huge pay cut?

Another question:

I am really interested in flight nursing and see that it does require more time than the usual Reserve time...do you get paid more for this?

[jeckrn, BSN, RN]

From my experience it is not diffucult to change reserve units if your husband gets transfered. If you are in the reserves you still can work as a civilian nurse FT. I worked FT, went to school PT, volunteer (CAPT) FF/EMT while I was a reservist without any problems.. So there is no reason for you to go PT unless you want to. What might hurt your pay is having to start at a new employeer everytime your husband transfers.