For All Air Force and Army Nurses

[GroupXZ]

I am about to take the pre-requisites for nursing and I'm contemplating signing up for AROTC. I was wondering what made you go Army or Air Force? I talked to the Army adviser and they currently have a nursing mission and he explained to me I would be able to get the nursing scholarship offered by the Army once I was in the program(nursing program). When he explained what they offered it was a huge incentive to lean that way. I also been told you would have longer stays at, lets say, Germany than you would in the Air Force( always wanted to see Japan in real life before I left this world). A little bit about me, I enjoy experiencing new things.. I just do not want to make a uninformed decisions about what branch to consider. I have heard quality of life is not that much different between AF and Army. On a side note I know no one that is in the military besides a cousin who just enlisted in the Army. I AM joining the military kicking or screaming and will be hoping to make a career out of it, so any information is appreciated.

Thank You

-GroupXZ

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

I am about to take the pre-requisites for nursing and I'm contemplating signing up for AROTC. I was wondering what made you go Army or Air Force? I talked to the Army adviser and they currently have a nursing mission and he explained to me I would be able to get the nursing scholarship offered by the Army once I was in the program(nursing program). When he explained what they offered it was a huge incentive to lean that way. I also been told you would have longer stays at, lets say, Germany than you would in the Air Force( always wanted to see Japan in real life before I left this world). A little bit about me, I enjoy experiencing new things.. I just do not want to make a uninformed decisions about what branch to consider. I have heard quality of life is not that much different between AF and Army. On a side note I know no one that is in the military besides a cousin who just enlisted in the Army. I AM joining the military kicking or screaming and will be hoping to make a career out of it, so any information is appreciated.

Thank You

-GroupXZ

I went the AF route. IMO the AF has a higher quality of life and treats people more as individuals than as numbers than the Army, but that is an subjective opinion.

I don't think the Army recruiter is right about being able to stay longer at duty stations longer in the than the AF. Each branch is doing longer tours at each base d/t moving costs. The AF does 4-5yrs at stateside/CONUS bases and 3 years at overseas/OCONUS bases, and depending on your command/speciality it is often easy to get an extension to stay and extra year or so.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Being in the Army now and having grown up a military brat around the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force, I can definitely support wtbcrna's comment that the AF provides a higher quality of life. With that being said, as an officer, your quality of life won't be bad in the Army, either. They have been moving us a little less frequently because it saves money, and that translates as longer stays in certain places, but friends of mine who are in Germany are still coming back after three years.

Good luck in your nursing program!

[Dranger]

Also note many OCONUS slots are drying up fast especially in places like Germany. Landstuhl isn't as hot of a place as it was during the early war year. There are only a handful of new nurse slots there, literally in the single digits.