Considering air force nursing

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Specializes in maternity as a personal care tech.

Hello everyone,

This is the first time I have posted anything and here it goes;

I am a Senior nursing student in a BSN program and will graduate in May. It's a scary time realizing how many opportunities are out there (what if I choose the wrong one?!). One of the things I am considering is Air Force Nursing. I have done some research but I guess what I am looking for is a more personalized point of view. I am contemplating the decision because I am not much of a risk taker but at the same time I don't want to look back and have regrets. I am very close to my family and fear I will join and shortly after realize it's not for me but be stuck. Has anyone been in a similar situation and then made the jump and been thrilled or disappointed?? I would really appreciate any advice or personal stories.

Thanks!

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I went through the same thing. I live about an hour away from a huge air force base with a hospital that employs nearly 2,000. My brother is in army, so I have a bit of familiarity with military.

I spoke to a recruiter a few times, and here is what I can tell you:

Nurses enter as an officer - they are never enlisted.

Officer pay begins around 35,000 dollars (numbers are posted online). This seems low comparatively. HOWEVER, what you have to keep in mind is this:

-They fully pay all medical/dental for you and your family.

-They pay for your housing and part of your groceries if you live on base.

-For three to five years of active service, they pay off all your school loans, as well as paying for further education (including a nursing practioner and/or nurse anesthetist)

But you also have to consider:

-There is no reserves. You are active duty in air force, which means you are liable to be deployed at any time.

-You don't pick your base. Although they said they would try to work with me on the basis that my father is chronically ill to put me in a base close to home, there was no guarantee.

Those two things alone were enough to make me back off. I care too much for my father and would hate to be far away from my family (much less deployed!). In the future, it may be something I look at again. I hope this helped.

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Specializes in maternity as a personal care tech.

That does help, thank you!

You mentioned being deployed at anytime. Does this include an extended period after your contract/commitment is over? I remember reading somewhere that the military retains the right to call you back to service 8 years following your duty (it might have been in a forum on this site, actually)...?

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That might be the case, I never asked (would have been a good question of me to ask, too!). It might depend on age and all as well, but for it's part, the recruiter told me the Air Force is far better staffed than the majority of the military branches and don't suddenly deploy soldiers who weren't already expecting it.

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Specializes in maternity as a personal care tech.

Okay, I assumed it would be like that. Thanks for all of the information!

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My father is a retired AF LTC. I was a USAF officer. If I could have stayed in, I would have! I loved the AF!

I did a short stint called "Project 3rd Lt" when I was a cadet. The position was biomedical engineering so I worked in a hospital. The first thing the CPT shared with me is that although you are in the AF and you do have rank, it doesn't show up as much in the hospital environment.

Deployment is always a possibility. When I was AD, the AF was really keen on not stationing women in areas of the world where being female is not respected (can we say the middle east?!). Not sure if that has changed, but it has been over 20 yrs.

One point not mentioned above is that much of your pay in not taxed, so the civilian equivalent is much higher. Then you look at your promotion potential....and how much that pays. Last time I looked, a LTC brings home about $9K per month....not too many nursing jobs out there that pay that much! LOL! But realize also that the AF (actually all military services) expect you to increase your education and promote into management. With hospital admin experience you can then get a wonderful high paying civilian job after you retire. (If you graduate college at 22, you can retire at 42....while that seems old now, it won't then!)

Good luck in your decision.

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Specializes in maternity as a personal care tech.

Great! Thank you for all your advice!! It's greatly appreciated :)

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Specializes in Student LPN.

Are u sure about the no reserves part? My MIL's BF is in the reserves, he went to boot camp & tech training school just like you would if fully enlisted and he only serves 2 weekends a month. He's primary job is corrections officer.

I'm pretty sure they have reserves, cause I even remember seeing info online on there website about reserves.

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There IS an AF Reserve. Whether they need that AFSC or not is the key. When I left AD, they had no need for a Satellite Operations Officer. I asked if I could serve as an EE and was told NO because I didn't have that AFSC when I was AD. Sounded like crap, but it is what it is.

(My point being.....they may not NEED nurses.) If you don't believe me, just call a FL ANG (Florida Army Nat'l Guard)....I did. They accept ADNs in the Guard(age doesn't matter.). When I queried, they told me that they have too many and that if I could get myself accepted to a PA school, I *could* do that! For the Army or AF, you need a BSN....same for the Reserves.

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