Enlisted Reservists applying to go active as a nurse

Specialties Government

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I was wondering if anyone knows much information about being enlisted in the Air Force reserves while applying to return to active duty as a nurse. That's the situation that i am going to be in when i apply and i hope that my choice to continue to serve my country while i go to school does not come back to haunt me later. Any info would be awsome. Again THANKS folks!!!

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Specializes in EMT, ER, Homehealth, OR.

Can speak from the Army side the process is somewhat the same. First you need to contact a healthcare recruiter. Once the paperwork starts you are going to need a conditional release from the reserves. What this is is that if you are picked up for AD they will allow you to go. Complete your package, graduate from school, pass your NCLEX and away you go to AD. You can apply 1 year from graduation and be picked up with a date for COT before you graduate. The only thing is that you will need to pass your NCLEX before you can go on AD. I have not heard of anyone having problems getting their conditional release signed for any unit, but it can happen. One issue you could have is being deployed while in school. If you do make sure you fill out the proper paperwork with the school and not just the School of Nursing. Good luck

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Specializes in LTAC/ ICU.

I can tell you all about it. I was AF traditional reservist and went to nursing school and decided to go AD. Are you currently in the reserves now? You can actually apply for a stipend that will guarantee you a slot in NTP once you complete nursing school. What questions do you have? What base are you currently attached?

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I'm stationed at Travis in California and i am an aircraft mechanic. if i apply for the stipend that will garuntee me a slot, does that affect my choice of possibly getting one of my bases on my dream sheet? Did you have an upper hand on other nurse applicants since you were actually in the reserves and had military experience when you applied? Were you able to get stationed at a base that was on your dream sheet? Also do you know anything about the reserve side of nursing? if i did go reserve for nursing i'd want to be placed on active orders. Have any info on that also? THANKS!!!

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Specializes in LTAC/ ICU.
I'm stationed at Travis in California and i am an aircraft mechanic. if i apply for the stipend that will garuntee me a slot, does that affect my choice of possibly getting one of my bases on my dream sheet? Did you have an upper hand on other nurse applicants since you were actually in the reserves and had military experience when you applied? Were you able to get stationed at a base that was on your dream sheet? Also do you know anything about the reserve side of nursing? if i did go reserve for nursing i'd want to be placed on active orders. Have any info on that also? THANKS!!!

What I can tell you is that I too was a mechanic and gave 5 years reserve time all the while attending nursing school. I applied for the stipend while I was in nursing school and I was still performing my monthly duties with my reserve unit. I initially was going to stay reserves and apply for a flight nurse position which limited the bases I could transfer to. I got married to an AD guy and decided to go IRR with the reserves and apply for AD. I had to pay back all of my stipend and had to go through the whole process just like everyone else. During my interview, the Chief Nurse told me that you do get a little bit of an edge being prior service........but I am not sure that always holds true. As far as the stipend...yes, if you are awarded the stipend you are guaranteed a reserve position upon graduation but I am not sure if it even applies to the AD side. As far as bases are concerned, my husband and I are now on the same set of orders since we are mil to mil and they have to place us at a base that offers both of us a position......so it is way more difficult and will be increasingly so based on any advancement we make in our careers. He has a specialty and I am an ICU nurse, so that limits us to only certain bases if we want to remain stationed together. I know some of the bigger hospitals have civil service jobs that you can take for a certain time frame(usually 2 year contracts).......usually when a unit is deployed, but they don't have the ART positions available like the reserve side has. I hope this helps a little.

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Yes your message does help. Thanks for the info!

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