Nursing.....Air Force or Navy??

[Allemse]

Hello, I've been lurking around here for some months know and have found lots of great information..but I still have questions.

I am currently enrolled in a 4 yr. BSN program and will graduate in 2 years. I am married and have 4 children between the ages of 13 & 6. I have been thinking about joining either the Air Force or the Navy and have found many sites with info for the Navy, but not a whole lot on the AF, so I guess right now, I'm leaning towards the Navy. My only question is my family situation. Is it a bad thing to already have a large family before getting in?? My husband and father are both former AF, so we are familiar with the military. Another thing is that my husband is on long-term disability due to a work injury..Is that a problem?? I have heard lots of great stories about how nurses are treated in the military by doctors, as oppose to how we are treated in the civilian world by some not so nice Drs.( I know not all are jerks).

From what I have read, once I'm done with school I would go to an commissioned officer training camp, and then to one of the big 3 naval hospitals. How long does one usually stay there?? What are my odds of going on a ship? And if I do go on a ship, for how long?? Another question is about housing, since we are a big family, do they have housing that can accommadate us?? What if the size of the house we need is not in my ranking area? I have found a website for naval housing and there are some enlisted houses that have more bedrooms than some officier housing, so woujld we go into the enlisted housing?? How often do you move?? When my dad was in the AF we moved just about every 2 years, where as my husband was stationed at Barksdale for all of his 6 years!

I would like to do the program that the Navy does for college students, where they pay you a stippend while in school and get a sign-on bonus, and from what I read I need to do this after I complete my first semester in nursing courses, which ould be the end of this semster, so I need to deceide what I'm going to do pretty soon!

Thanks for any input you can give

Sorry so long....just trying to make the right decision.

Feel free to email me if yoou want!

[Gennaver, MSN]

...Just talk to people, the Army just sucks soooo bad!! They are just (no offense) a lower group of people because the Army is not a technical Force like the Navy or Air Force, and they require tests to get in....since the jobs are higher tech, whereas the Army is marching, infantry.

Take care and God Bless!!

:)

Deb

Hello Deb,

While I'd like to suppose your *intent* is well meaning there really isn't any need to bash any branch of the Military. A MD that I know is currently Navy, yet he has been in both the Air Force and the Army. They are all *sister* services, right?

As a new Army Nurse I do not consider myself, nor my fellow Army Soldier Nurses to be "a lower group of people".

Gen

[Gennaver, MSN]

Whatever, I was not just bashing for the sake of bashing. ....

I was not on a bashing slam, just giving info. ...

Don't take it as a slam on the men/women who serve, not intended, but on the govt!! Just look at what happened at Walter Reed, no further comment needed.

God Bless all who serve!!!!-even us *lower group of people* too?

Deb

You do realize you are posting in the Miltary Nursing forum right?

You tell us that Army are a lower group...

Yeah, I just *feel* your support allright,

Gen

[Gennaver, MSN]

... I am just bored, so I thought I should/would go back to nursing school,

... my oldest son is pre-med, but I told him not with his grades, so I told him to check into nursing school...Take care,

Deb

Note to Original Poster,

The above comes from the person who is advising you on your Military career.

Hopefully my nurse, as a patient, didn't go for it merely because she/he was bored and had nothing better to do and thinks that nursing is for folks who do not have the grades for medical school

To the OP, good luck in making your own informed decision.

Gen

[dschueler]

Hey Gen,

I never said they were a lower class of people, you missed what I was saying. Read the other posts, I totally did not mean what you thought I said. I hate black/white posts.....they totally make what you are trying to put into words come out wrong, sorry.

Anywho, good for you, and you will do great. Also, I am not going into this for a whim, I posted my story on the other page (what is your story, and why are you becoming a nurse?)....I have wanted this for a long time, but finally can do it. I figured I couldn't do it at my age, but why not??

Anyway, Congrats to you, and no, nursing school is NOT for folks who do not have the grades for med school.....far from it......you totally did not read my other posts.

Blessings,

Deb

[dschueler]

Here is what I wrote: "I loved Landstuhl, but the base around it was the pits, Ramstein was much nicer. I had asked my hubby many times over the many years why were the army bases such dregs, and he was the one, with others, that said it was because so many years they neglected the people and put their money into the other stuff, and there are more people in the army overall, so harder to allocate funds to the softer services than the more important things. Also, its tougher to get into the Navy and AF because of the technical aspect, more mechanical things and high tech things than the army has....so that is why I had said that about the army, not meaning they were lesser or anything, just easier to get into the army than navy and af, nuke subs and such......that is what I meant by the higher tech stuff."

Other post....."Whatever, I was not just bashing for the sake of bashing. Just so happens that we lived at Army bases for many years and it is no secret that the Govt chose to put their money into guns/weapons and boats instead of their people services for many, many years.

I was not on a bashing slam, just giving info. She can do what she wants to do, but I was just offering her the info "I" know about, and nothing more. I prefer the AF and Coast Guard from all the installations I have been at. My grandparents lived in Columbus GA and it was a dive at Ft Benning, no secrets that the Army bases were once great bases, back in the glory days, everything was new and lush, but of all my travels to Ramstein, Landstuhl and Ft Stewart, Ft Carson, and many others, it is just sad the condition of their housing. I have to say that he Navy housing at Hickam and Pearl are getting re-vamped and the Navy is out-doing the AF in that area, but I was told the AF is going to re-do the housing at Hickam as well.

Just the fact that the Army never invested or renovated as fast as it counterpoints and if I HAD the choice of a branch, I would prefer to go where they seem to treat their people better, and besides that point, just because one base looks good, the next assignment no matter what branch of the Armed Forces, could be totally different.

Anyway, I think you totally took what I was saying as an attack. I above anyone should know and respect and thank EVERY soldier and pilot and seaman for their sacrifices and the torture their families endure while they are gone overseas or on training. I could never ever imagine my spouse being on a ship for 6 months, although he was gone for 2 tours of 3 months each to Germany and Iraq, so that was hard, but I made it.

Just food for thought, visit a bunch of bases, it just so happened that when we were at Hickam last week for vacation, we were talking about the housing situation and met friends and that turned out to be the topic of conversation, why the other armed forces never kept up with the AF for the ammenities on the bases and housing and such ....it made me angry to tell you the truth. We went to the commissary at Ft Stewart, and it was pitiful and just disgraceful that they allow the buildings and hospitals and such to get in such terrible conditions and don't seem to care about the families as much........that is just my observation, nothing on the people, this is not people's fault, its the goverment's fault for not putting more $$ into our troops, who VERY much deserve it.

Don't take it as a slam on the men/women who serve, not intended, but on the govt!! Just look at what happened at Walter Reed, no further comment needed."

Just wanted to make sure you saw I was NOT bashing the ARMY, but the people who fund the ARMY....because its not the ARMY's fault they have more problems with funding....its the Govt's fault!!! That is what I had said or tried to say, but people see the bad and do not read the full post and jumped the gun....

Also, I was talking about my son who is not doing well enough to get into Med School....not with C's and B's, so I advised him he better look elsewhere, like nursing or something else, where he can have a better chance if he wants to work in medicine..... doesn't mean he is stupid...far from it, but he just has never applied himself. I am talking about my son, not you or anyone else.

So, just thought I would help you see better what I was saying, since you obviously did not read what I wrote.

Take care,

Deb

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

Deb,

Don't get discouraged about getting into nursing school, as short as we are on nurses in the U.S. we are even shorter on nursing instructors/programs. I started out as a CNA, then LVN, then BSN, and now the AF is sending back to school for my MSN. It can be done and doesn't matter about your age.

By the way the reason I think the military will integrate its' medical services is because we are slowly doing it right now. Lackland and BAMC will be integrating, DC area will be integrating services, Army is taking over command of all military medical research, all enlisted medical tech training is supposed to be done at BAMC sometime in the future...the list goes on. We came close this last year to integrating, but the AF SG just wouldn't go for it.

[DanznRN, RN]

Just talk to people, the Army just sucks soooo bad!! They are just (no offense) a lower group of people because the Army is not a technical Force like the Navy or Air Force, and they require tests to get in....since the jobs are higher tech, whereas the Army is marching, infantry.

Take care and God Bless!!

:)

Deb

Did I miss something? I believe this is what you said, right? As for bashing, yes you are bashing different services, it's uncalled for. The Air Force is SO much better, that's why your husband was gone a lot, right that's better. Not sure what the purpose of your post is, but intentionally putting down another service is not what we're here for. Oh, by the way you're welcome for having the ability and the right to make such a post, oh that's right, only the Air Force does that for you, not any of the other 3 services. I'd reconsider the next time you want to bash another service, regardless of what your intentions were. Remember people are reading words, not your tone or demeanor.

LCDR(s) Dan

Navy nurse since 1997

[Cherish]

Did I miss something? I believe this is what you said, right? As for bashing, yes you are bashing different services, it's uncalled for. The Air Force is SO much better, that's why your husband was gone a lot, right that's better. Not sure what the purpose of your post is, but intentionally putting down another service is not what we're here for. Oh, by the way you're welcome for having the ability and the right to make such a post, oh that's right, only the Air Force does that for you, not any of the other 3 services. I'd reconsider the next time you want to bash another service, regardless of what your intentions were. Remember people are reading words, not your tone or demeanor.

LCDR(s) Dan

Navy nurse since 1997

:yeahthat: ...guess I'm not worthy at all...I'm just a lowly Army Vet. :trout:

[Gennaver, MSN]

Hey Gen,

I never said they were a lower class of people, you missed what I was saying. Read the other posts, I totally did not mean what you thought I said. I hate black/white posts.....they totally make what you are trying to put into words come out wrong, sorry.

Anywho, good for you, and you will do great. Also, I am not going into this for a whim, I posted my story on the other page (what is your story, and why are you becoming a nurse?)....I have wanted this for a long time, but finally can do it. I figured I couldn't do it at my age, but why not??

Anyway, Congrats to you, and no, nursing school is NOT for folks who do not have the grades for med school.....far from it......you totally did not read my other posts.

Blessings,

Deb

Many congratulations to you as well Deb,

You are correct, this medium is risky. Had I read your other posts then I clearly would not have taken your statement that you went into this because you were bored, at face value. I would've already read your longer post.

It took me quite a bit to figure out how to avoid posting liek this myself, still working on it.

Gen

edit: just read your post now where you tell me that I didn't read what you wrote...yes, that is indeed what I did, now I am reading your new words where you admit that you had not fully explained...your words now where you say that you never said this and never meant that, why not just apologize for your harsh statement about the Army sucking and being a lower class of "people"? I understand that there is a learning curve on the posting medium, no body language, no ability to hear laughter or see a wink and a nod and so on...but, apologies are welcomed, defensiveness seems like too much protesting and implies initial mistooken attempt as the intent, imho