Flight Nursing in Air Force Reserves

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Hi everyone, I am an ICU RN in a liver transplant unit at USC with 1.5 years of critical care experience and half a year on a neuro DOU floor. I reached out to an air force reserve recruiter asking about flight nursing opportunities and according to him there is a shortage of flight nurses in the Air Force.

I sent him my resume and I am waiting on him to let me know if the CNO at March Air Force Base in California would like to pick me up for commission.

Are there any current flight nurses in the air force reserves that can share their experiences? I'd like to know what to expect in terms of the timeline between contacting recruiter and commissioning. Also, how long is COT, flight school, survival training, and approximately how much time do you serve per month? Is it possible to keep a full time position at a hospital?

Any thoughts and experiencs would help =)

On ‎9‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 2:35 PM, Devo19 said:

I think with 9years of experience, you should be coming in as O3. From what I've learned so far, a year of civilian experience is equivalent to 0.5 year of military experience. So, your 9 years of experience should be equivalent to 4.5 years of military experience that can be counted towards your rank.

Specializes in Cardiology Nurse Practitioner.
1 minute ago, softenny said:

I think with 9years of experience, you should be coming in as O3. From what I've learned so far, a year of civilian experience is equivalent to 0.5 year of military experience. So, your 9 years of experience should be equivalent to 4.5 years of military experience that can be counted towards your rank.

That is what I'm thinking also but I commissioned a month before my two years and I was a 2LT. At first it sucked but I plan on doing 20 years so gives me more time to make rank and complete 20+ years.

Specializes in Cardiology Nurse Practitioner.
11 minutes ago, softenny said:

Hi, I was wondering how your degree ended up improving your rank. I'm currently in the same situation, my previous recruiter told me to wait until I completed my Masters, also FNP before completing my scroll but then he retired and my new recruiter had no idea what I was talking about. I have 5 and a half years of RN experience and recently became FNP. Please advise

I have had a few ppl commission (one FNP and others a MSN) came in as captains automatically. Understandably, you need to think about the time commitment with the first year and a half of becoming a flight nurse and how that will impact finding a job as a FNP. Also, all that time you serve does add up and I was able to get my FNP half paid for plus books and housing.

3 minutes ago, Devo19 said:

I have had a few ppl commission (one FNP and others a MSN) came in as captains automatically. Understandably, you need to think about the time commitment with the first year and a half of becoming a flight nurse and how that will impact finding a job as a FNP. Also, all that time you serve does add up and I was able to get my FNP half paid for plus books and housing.

That was what my recruiter told me. There are no FNP slots in the Reserves as of now, and I don't want to go active anymore due to my kids' commitments, and I honestly do not mind Flight nursing at all, I think it will be fun

Specializes in Cardiology Nurse Practitioner.
2 minutes ago, softenny said:

That was what my recruiter told me. There are no FNP slots in the Reserves as of now, and I don't want to go active anymore due to my kids' commitments, and I honestly do not mind Flight nursing at all, I think it will be fun

Oh it is the best job in the world! I wont ever leave lol. I just like to warn everyone is about the length of time you could be away from home. I was on orders for 10 months! And since I live more than 50 miles away, I had to stay on base.

2 minutes ago, Devo19 said:

Oh it is the best job in the world! I wont ever leave lol. I just like to warn everyone is about the length of time you could be away from home. I was on orders for 10 months! And since I live more than 50 miles away, I had to stay on base.

I need to get with you to learn about your experiences, first I have to stop my active duty process and pick up where I left off with my flight nurse application

1 Votes
Specializes in ER.
6 hours ago, Devo19 said:

Oh it is the best job in the world! I wont ever leave lol. I just like to warn everyone is about the length of time you could be away from home. I was on orders for 10 months! And since I live more than 50 miles away, I had to stay on base.

So you are still a flight nurse? You say it’s the best job in the world? You really love it? I’m going back-and-forth between active duty and flight nursing and can’t decide!

Specializes in Cardiology Nurse Practitioner.
Just now, Rizzo02481 said:

So you are still a flight nurse? You say it’s the best job in the world? You really love it? I’m going back-and-forth between active duty and flight nursing and can’t decide!

I am. Commissioned in 2016, qualified in 2017 and deployed currently. They have active-duty flight nurses but you can't only stay in that position for a limited time compared to the reserves which is a career choice.

1 Votes
Specializes in ER.
1 minute ago, Devo19 said:

I am. Commissioned in 2016, qualified in 2017 and deployed currently. They have active-duty flight nurses but you can't only stay in that position for a limited time compared to the reserves which is a career choice.

I was thinking either active-duty Air Force or Navy, or the Air Force flight reserves. Having a hard time deciding.

14 hours ago, Rizzo02481 said:

I was thinking either active-duty Air Force or Navy, or the Air Force flight reserves. Having a hard time deciding.

Same here, but I really want to be a flight nurse in the Air Force and I remember mentioning that in my interview for AD

Specializes in Acute Care NP.

Good Afternoon,

I have received quite a bit of information for someone trying to enter the flight nursing reserve position. If anyone could address the deployment and time away from home part. I am aware that I will have time away from my kids but I am trying to just kind of plan and prepare of what the expectations / realization actually is.

From what I can decipher from the thread, it looks like the 1 st year is all about school / training and getting qualified - once that is completed its the 120 days of Flight time at the unit which I gather is AD time - Im trying to plan for the amount of time away from work and away from family. Any information is greatly appreciated.

There’s really no planning with the military, your time away from home can be all over the place. I commissioned January of this year, waited and waited to go to COT so I could go to flight school. I got two weeks notice of having to be in Alabama for 8 weeks this month. If you are a flyer it is way more than just one weekend a month.

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