Commissioning with prior service ! HELP

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Soooo a little background on me... I am active duty Air Force E4 & will be separating soon . I will have 4 years of service once i separate. I'm going to apply for a BSN program & will complete the program in 2018.( I am not doing NCEP for multiple reasons) Upon completion, I am considering direct commissioning . How competitive is it to get in with prior service ???

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I'm considering the same thing except with the Army Reserves. I was enlisted active duty for 8 years and will be done with my BSN by 2018. I've missed the service ever since the day I separated but am also excited to join the workforce as an RN. So I think the Reserves is the best fit. As for competitiveness, I have no idea and just assume if I meet all requirements I will be considered. Good luck to you!

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That's cool, I haven't thought about the reserves but that's a good idea too! I'm definitely not assuming that if I apply, I will automatically get accepted. From what I've heard, it's very competitive. But I also haven't heard it directly from someone that has went through the process

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Right now all branches are competitive, prior service or not. Experienced nurses are in higher demand than new grads. But who knows what it will be like in 2018? Good luck with school! :)

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That's very true , thanks !

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Things right now are definitely competitive. GPA requirement for Air Force is 3.5 minimum, last year over 300 people applied for 40 spots across the country. So it is very competitive, you need to be the best of the best, and you need to be what the Air Force NEEDS. I applied last year and was no selected. I'm applying again this year and let me tell you, I bumped every aspect of my packet up to 500%. That's what it takes right now. Prior service may be beneficial, but ultimately it's not a given you'll be selected because of it. Trust me, there are plenty of star applicants without military experience. I'll be happy to give out advice after the decisions are out. Only because I won't know if I made good choices/changes unless they select me!! If they don't select me again, then my advice may not count for much lol

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Thanks for the advice ! Keep us updated on the results

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I am an active duty nurse and prior-enlisted so maybe I can give you some insight as to what my package looked like. I was selected among 300 applicants for NTP, I think they accepted 30 med surg and 10 OB my year which was 2013. I was active duty for 6 years with a 3 year break in service, keep in mind that you need 4 yrs and 1 day to have the E added to your pay grade. I had a 3.6 GPA and did not go above and beyond like most other candidates due to me having a family and working two jobs while in nursing school. I did have CNA/Med Tech experience and 6 months ER nurse experience but I do think being prior-enlisted helps. Don't feel discouraged by some others comments because the board is subjective and it just depends on what they deem important. One person may think GPA is important and rank packages based on that but when they rotate packages the next person might think prior-enlisted is more important and so forth. So just go for it!

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I am an active duty nurse and prior-enlisted so maybe I can give you some insight as to what my package looked like. I was selected among 300 applicants for NTP, I think they accepted 30 med surg and 10 OB my year which was 2013. I was active duty for 6 years with a 3 year break in service, keep in mind that you need 4 yrs and 1 day to have the E added to your pay grade. I had a 3.6 GPA and did not go above and beyond like most other candidates due to me having a family and working two jobs while in nursing school. I did have CNA/Med Tech experience and 6 months ER nurse experience but I do think being prior-enlisted helps. Don't feel discouraged by some others comments because the board is subjective and it just depends on what they deem important. One person may think GPA is important and rank packages based on that but when they rotate packages the next person might think prior-enlisted is more important and so forth. So just go for it!

Thanks for sharing your story! May I ask, were you in the medical field when you were enlisted? I ask because I was support, not medical. Is prior enlistmment a good thing or do they prefer fresh blood?

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Thank you . I have also been doing CNA work since 09 & I'm glad I know that I have to be In for 4 years & 1 day to get the E identifier ! I was planning on getting out a few months early so I can devote more time to my pre reqs. I'm definitely going to go for it !

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Not even close to medical….I was security forces! Which I wouldn't trade my experience for anything! Like I said the board is very subjective, let's say you have 300 applicants and 3 members on the board. They will each get 100 packages and rate those packages between 1-10 on what they think is important then they switch and re-rate the other packages and so forth based on their standards. When all packages have been rated they will say okay let's re-evaluate those packages who were 8 and above, so those 7 and below would be out and they would continue the process all over again until they have their selectees. I know a Col who sat on a nursing board once so I was able to pick her brain. She said being prior enlisted was always a plus for her but it could have changed being that she sat on a board a few years ago. I will say that they expect a lot more from you as an officer if you are prior-enlisted so sometimes I have to remind them like 'hey I'm still a new officer as well as a new nurse' just because being an officer is different than enlisted…at least I think so.

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I'm Security Forces too ! Our situations are so similar !

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