Becoming a nurse in the Air Force

[Jazmyn1028]

I am currently getting my prereques for nursing at a 2 year college. But I am wanting to go into the Air Force after my prereques are finished and before the nursing program. So my questions are

1) Do I need to speak with a health care recruiter or just a normal one?

2) Is it mandatory to have a bachelors for nursing in the AF, and if so can I get my Associates first then do the online courses to get my BSN?

Any advice you have to give outside of my question would be greatly appreciated!

[Silverdragon102, BSN]

Moved to the Government/Military forum

[jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA]

1. Health Care recruiter only

2. Bachelor's is needed at the time you join...must be properly accredited regionally and by a valid nursing accrediting body (each branch has their own requirements...check their websites)

[MSGrady]

Yeah you definitely want to get your BSN prior to joining the military. I just crossed over from the enlisted side to the officer side of the house through a nursing commissioning program the AF offers; however, there are a lot of hurdles to jump to get accepted into the program. From my understanding it has gotten harder to apply/accepted into the program. Plus when you go enlisted you have tech school, CDC's, and not to mention your daily job that takes up a lot of your time. Not saying you couldn't do it, but it would take a lot longer to get your BSN and work as nurse in the AF if you joined enlisted and tried to get your degree while in that tier of the military. My recommendation is to talk with whatever recruiter takes on nurses and explain to them that you are a student working towards your BSN and have a passion to join the AF. Also, when applying for a nursing school see if the campus has a AFROTC program. They may be able to get you sorted out as well. Feel free to send me a private message if you have any other questions. Most importantly GOOD LUCK!