army wife overseas

Published

  1. Should I

    • 0
      Try and get a job overseas on base
    • 0
      Stay in California
    • 1
      neither because it is extremely difficult to work in South Korea

1 member has participated

Hello, I will keep this post short and to the point. I finish school in December of 2017 and will most likely take my NCLEX in California shortly after (March at the latest). My husband is getting stationed in South Korea September of 2017 and I was curious if it would be difficult to get a job overseas on a military base as a civilian? My plan was to follow him out there once I finish school however I want a job. I have read that the pay wouldn't be as great overseas as it would be here in California however I honestly just want a career to keep me busy and actually use the degree I just spent 5 years trying to get. Let me know if you have any input on this situation. Thank you!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Hello, I will keep this post short and to the point. I finish school in December of 2017 and will most likely take my NCLEX in California shortly after (March at the latest). My husband is getting stationed in South Korea September of 2017 and I was curious if it would be difficult to get a job overseas on a military base as a civilian? My plan was to follow him out there once I finish school however I want a job. I have read that the pay wouldn't be as great overseas as it would be here in California however I honestly just want a career to keep me busy and actually use the degree I just spent 5 years trying to get. Let me know if you have any input on this situation. Thank you!
I passed on answering your post the first couple of times I scrolled by it because your poll is so off-putting. Your odds of getting a significant number of responses with people who are knowledgable enough to choose between options are somewhat low. I've been a military wife, although never been to South Korea. If you're curious about the difficulty of getting a job on a military base as a civilian, look into that. Does it matter, really, if the pay is as great overseas as it would be in California? If you're working overseas, the cost of living may not be as much as it is in California, and military housing would certainly be something to take into account there.

Which is more important . . . a job or your marriage? What does it say about your priorities if you don't go to South Korea to be with your husband? Is that something you and your husband have discussed and are comfortable with? Unless your husband is going to be in South Korea for six months or less, staying in California doesn't seem like a viable option to me. Now if you had a special needs kid and had no options for support in S. Korea as opposed to your large support network in California, that would be something else. If you were unable to leave the country because of some immigration issue, that would be something else. If you had to stay in California because Mom has dementia and you're trying to find her a safe living situation before you join your husband in South Korea, that would be something else. But I have to say that I don't find your commitment to your marriage very compelling.

Find out how difficult it is to get a job on a military base in South Korea. Apply. Ask someone who might know specifics rather than asking strangers on the internet. Discuss the situation with your husband and find out what he thinks, how he feels. Make a decision based on your goals for yourself, your marriage and your potential family.

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Hello, I will keep this post short and to the point. I finish school in December of 2017 and will most likely take my NCLEX in California shortly after (March at the latest). My husband is getting stationed in South Korea September of 2017 and I was curious if it would be difficult to get a job overseas on a military base as a civilian? My plan was to follow him out there once I finish school however I want a job. I have read that the pay wouldn't be as great overseas as it would be here in California however I honestly just want a career to keep me busy and actually use the degree I just spent 5 years trying to get. Let me know if you have any input on this situation. Thank you!

I am not an army wife and I am not familiar with how difficult it would be to get a civilian job in Korea.

I think you would have to ask somebody who is familiar with civilian jobs. I know from Army bases countries other than Korea, that they prefer job experience - but perhaps that is not true for Korea.

There are different things to consider.

Without a job after graduation it could be difficult later on to find a job - "stale new nurse" but there are certainly areas where the need is high and if you are not picky about where you work it might still work out ok - but it is a risk I think.

If your husband and you are usually moving together and this has been part of your marriage - and perhaps expected by your spouse - have you discussed ? There are couples who do just fine with a separation for a year while the other one is somewhere else but some couples are not and their marriage falls apart. It really depends on what you and your hubby decide.

Personally, I stayed on one continent while my husband did research on a different continent for half a year - it was not a problem at all because we are both busy and our marriage does not depend on being together all the time. My husbands travels regularly and I have no problems with it - it does not seem to affect our marriage in a negative way. But that is just me - your situation may be different.

If you do decide on getting work experience first, I would say to work one year and after that re-unite with your hubby because with a year of experience it would be much easier to find something later on.

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Your comments were extremely rude. First off if you actually read my post I said I didn't care about the pay. Second there is a lot more detail behind my story but I was obviously trying to keep simple. For you to critique my marriage is absolutely ridiculous. I am on here asking for advice (FROM OTHER NURSES ON NURSING DEDICATED FORUM WEBSITE) in regards to my career not my relationship. I have looked into getting jobs on base however I was looking for advice from others who have been in the same situation and how it worked out for them.

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Hello, Thank you for your response. My main concern is I will graduate move to Korea and not have job for 2 years and then when I come back to the states employers are going to questions why I haven't had a job. I read that in Korea you need at least one year experience and clinical/schooling experience will not be sufficient. The big dilemma is he can go to Korea by himself for one year or if I go with him then we will have to stay for 2 years. Since I wouldn't finish until December, and he leaves in September he would have already been there 4 full months. Just trying to decide if I should stay here and wait for him or go there and wait to have a job. So stressful and I feel completely lost.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

To OP - sometimes it's very hard to understand really the deep meaning of someone's post. I didn't read into your post what RubyVee did.

And I've kept going back to read & re-read. But I can see how she may have seen what she did.

That's just a matter of my perception as versus hers. She tells it like she sees it but I think there might be a misunderstanding here. I've learned much from many of the 'senior' members here, who all offer their own views, albeit not always what was wanted by the OPs.

I do think your post was written lightly which may have given it an unwarranted cavalier attitude. Like I said, I had a different sense of your post than other PPs.

What I see you questioning is (1) availability of civilian nsg positions in foreign country military facilities; (2) concern re salaries differences between Cali & Korea.

Just to ask you - what degree will you have? It will make a HUGE difference WHEREVER you seek a job. And I hope you've read here on AN that Cali prob has THE MOST DIFFICULT job market for nsg grads while also having a high cost of living.

I understand your wanting to work ASAP but the reality may be that there might be a real delay.

Might you have a Plan B or even a Plan C since a lot of your future hinges 'on the future'?

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Hello, Thank you for your response. My main concern is I will graduate move to Korea and not have job for 2 years and then when I come back to the states employers are going to questions why I haven't had a job. I read that in Korea you need at least one year experience and clinical/schooling experience will not be sufficient. The big dilemma is he can go to Korea by himself for one year or if I go with him then we will have to stay for 2 years. Since I wouldn't finish until December, and he leaves in September he would have already been there 4 full months. Just trying to decide if I should stay here and wait for him or go there and wait to have a job. So stressful and I feel completely lost.

To be honest - with this additional information - if it was me I would not go to Korea in that case and ask my spouse to go for one year. In the meantime, I would get a job after graduation and at least start working.

I am a very independent person and would not do well with the uncertainty of job search after being oversees for more than a year. And you would be totally dependent on your spouse - not everybody likes that or wishes for that.

Just talk to him - perhaps he does not mind going by himself - and find out what the options are for remote contact like skype, email and such. You went through all the nursing education - you probably want to think about yourself as well although I know that this is not a popular thought among service member supporters...

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Your comments were extremely rude. First off if you actually read my post I said I didn't care about the pay. Second there is a lot more detail behind my story but I was obviously trying to keep simple. For you to critique my marriage is absolutely ridiculous. I am on here asking for advice (FROM OTHER NURSES ON NURSING DEDICATED FORUM WEBSITE) in regards to my career not my relationship. I have looked into getting jobs on base however I was looking for advice from others who have been in the same situation and how it worked out for them.
When you post on a forum like this, you get people responding to what you posted -- or to how they read what they posted. Your post read as though your marriage was not of high priority in your decision making.
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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Hello, Thank you for your response. My main concern is I will graduate move to Korea and not have job for 2 years and then when I come back to the states employers are going to questions why I haven't had a job. I read that in Korea you need at least one year experience and clinical/schooling experience will not be sufficient. The big dilemma is he can go to Korea by himself for one year or if I go with him then we will have to stay for 2 years. Since I wouldn't finish until December, and he leaves in September he would have already been there 4 full months. Just trying to decide if I should stay here and wait for him or go there and wait to have a job. So stressful and I feel completely lost.

Ah yes. You like this response, so you are less rude and disrespectful to the poster. This post actually contains some useful information that would have put a whole new light on your original post. Can he go to Korea for one year unaccompanied or for two years accompanied? I was looking at a 6 month TDY vs. a four year PCOS. (It's been awhile since I was an Air Force wife.) This changes the question to: should he go unaccompanied for 1 year and let me stay in California for a year to start my career? (Which would be an eight month longer than planned separation and not a whole year since you would have been staying until December anyway.) Or should I join him in S. Korea (for a two year tour) after graduation and try to find a job in the military hospital on Base? Or should we go for two years and if I can't get a job, I'll get a job when I get back to the US?

Of course this is a decision for the two of you to make together. But here are some things to consider: The choice that jumps out at me is to send him to Korea unaccompanied. He'd be back in September 2018. When you graduate, take a couple of months and fly to Korea to see him, see the country, reward yourself for finishing school. As I understand it, and it may be different now, you'd have to pay to get yourself to Korea as opposed to the military sending him. Then go back to California, take your NCLEX and get a job. You'd have six months on your own. If you and your husband are both good with that, it seems like a great compromise. Or he goes to Korea "accompanied" and you join him after graduation, or after the NCLEX. (Or you join him, study, and fly back for the NCLEX). Try to get a civilian job in the military hospital -- it used to be that accompanying spouses got first dibs on the jobs that were available -- I'm not sure if that is still the case. If you cannot get a job in Korea, when you're back in the US and looking for that first job, while you're an "old" new grad, you've got the best explanation for why you haven't worked since nursing school -- you were unable to find a nursing job in a foreign country that you were living in because your spouse was serving in the military. If it were me, I'd pick the first option, but you've also got to consider what effect on your husband's career if he goes for one year or two, and whether or not that's important to him. Good luck figuring it out.

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I will be getting my BSN-RN. We have the opportunity to contract for 2 years with a local hospital so if I get that contract knowing I have a job straight out of school is extremely comforting. Pay is not a huge concern to me what is a concern is not working. I just want to have a job (using my degree) and be productive in life.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I spent 2 years in Korea as an Air Force wife. This quite a while ago (1988-1990). However, if he chooses an unaccompanied tour, does he have the option of a 1 year remote tour?

If he goes accompanied, its still 2 years correct?

We were stationed at Yongsan in Seoul. I will say it was the most miserable 2 years of the entire 23 years he served in the Air Force (and I was USN during a portion of this time too).

I was not a nurse when we were stationed there but I worked at the 121 Evac hospital (hospital made famous in the TV show MASH). However, because I was a veteran, I got vet preference - many American wives were not able to find work.

Believe me, your marriage can survive a 1 year separation. However, 2 years isn't that long if you decide to go to Korea either.

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BLUF.....MEDCOM requires one year of experience before they hire nurses. Just one of those things. Also, due to the hiring freeze.....it will be a while before you would be able to go through the process. The process takes up to 6-9 mons.

Sorry for the brevity, not trying to be rude. My recommendation is for you to stay home in CONUS, work your year at a facility to get experience, and then pay off all your bills during that one year. I promise the year will go by VERY fast.

During this time, start putting in your resume to usajobs.gov. Once you get into the GS system, you will be able to PCS with your spouse and work at the different hospitals (transfer to them).

Just my humble suggestions. Been there, done that, and have way too many T-shirts.

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