HELP! Calling all military nurses

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Specializes in Cath lab, ICU.

Hello,

I would like to direct my questions to military nurses, no offense to my civilian peeps.

I am strongly considering joining the air force after 10 years of being a nurse in the civilian sector. I am currently working in the cath lab and also part of a STEMI team. Prior to that I worked ICU (respiratory, surgical/medical, telemetry, and cardiac). I have also worked in telemetry and med/surg unit and did some quality management. I have my TNCC and PCCN and planning on getting my CCRN. However, I would like to move from bedside to management or leadership and I have been wanting to join the air force for some time now. I went to see a recruiter last week and he did some calculation and told me that I would be going in as a captain with 7 years time in service due to my experience.

QUESTIONS:

1) Could anyone elaborate on that? Does that mean I only have 13 more years til retirement?

2) Could anyone PLEASE explain the difference between clinical nurse and med/surg nurse in the AF? Are they one in the same? I don't mind doing clinical but I really don't want to do med/surg. If I have to do bedside, I rather work in the ICU....no offense to my med/surg fellows but I rather have my one or two critically sick pts then 5 or 6.

3) Are there nursing to pt ratio in the AF?

4) Does any know the best place to go (it'll be my first assignment) for ICU or clinical nurse? I really like Japan. Thoughts?

5) Which position would help me move up faster to management? ICU or clinical?

6) Do nurses get paid extra for their extra certs? ie: PCCN, TNCC, CCRN.....?

7) Do you guys have staffing shortages as we do out here in the civilian hospitals?

8) Is there a high school on base? I have a 15-year-old son, who's going to be in a sophomore this fall.

9) Is the military going to help with moving? I have a house and lots of furniture and cars.

10) Would they give me enough time to downsize or sale my house?

I'm sorry I have so many questions. I just want to make sure I am making the right the decision and trying to get as much answers as possible especially when I'm taking a big pay cut.

Thank you in advance for ALL your time and inputs.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I moved your post to the Government/Military Nursing forum to ensure maximum responses. I am sure our Air Force members will be able to answer some of your questions.

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Ex-military here, tentative answers to some: Not necessarily a high school on base, not all duty stations have schools on base. You can probably set up your entry to give yourself enough time to deal with the house, etc. To be discussed with the recruiter. The military helps with moving, but there are monetary limits and I am not sure how it works with you going to your first duty station. Another thing to discuss with the recruiter. You will start at the paygrade of CPT with 7 years experience; you will be getting higher pay than you would have otherwise. It does not mean you will retire with full pension after only 13 years. HTH until someone can chime in with more specific info.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

When you get 7 years of credit for experience, you will still come in with 0 years towards retirement. You will have to serve 20 years to retire, which unfortunately puts you at a significant disadvantage for retiring. My guess is that you would have to promote to Lt Col (O-5) in order to retire, due to the military's up or out policy (if you get passed over twice for promotion you get kicked-out).

Clinical nurse is just a general term. It's for people who aren't OR, ER, or ICU. It basically means they can put you in med-surg, PACU/APU, or an outpatient clinic.

I think the best assignment depends on what you want. If you want sick patients with high acuity, then San Antonio, Travis, or Walter Reed are really the only places to go. If you want a good life after work, Kadena (Tokyo) or Landstuhl (Germany) are really good.

In my opinion, clinical nurse will likely put you in a position to do management faster. They will often have those people running a small clinic as a Captain. You certainly won't be doing any management before Major if you take ICU.

The military will move a lot of your stuff, but there are weight limits. There are also limits on the number of vehicles and toys (boats, planes, etc) they will move. I don't know the specifics though. They send a moving company to pack up everything so you basically do nothing for the stuff they will move.

You don't make money for your certs, except there is an up to $20K per year bonus available if you have a certification in a high need area. Outpatient clinic is a big NO. Medsurg still does get the bonus, as does ICU, ER, OR, and flight nursing. You can't get the bonus if you take a sign-on bonus or loan repayment.

There are always staffing shortages. In fact, I would say it can be worse sometimes. There is a lot of military red tape hiring contractors or civilians to fill jobs.

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Specializes in Cath lab, ICU.

Thank for shedding some lights on this matter. What a bummer. I knew it was too good to be true what he told me about the 7 years time in service..then what is he referring to, I wonder. I'll ask him next week for clarification cuz that might be a game changer for me.. if I go in, then it's probably likely clinical. Thanks again

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Thank for shedding some lights on this matter. What a bummer. I knew it was too good to be true what he told me about the 7 years time in service..then what is he referring to, I wonder. I'll ask him next week for clarification cuz that might be a game changer for me.. if I go in, then it's probably likely clinical. Thanks again

Your recruiter is referring to constructive credit that applies toward your initial rank — so that you don't come in as a 2LT newbie because technically, you have zero military experience. It's quite a bump in pay as well between 2LT and Captain.

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You can determine your pay rate by getting a military pay chart on the internet (Military Benefits News & Resources | Military.com, you need to join military dot com). According to that chart, an O-3 with over six years service (for pay purposes) starts at a base pay of $5657/month. Add to that your BAS, basic allowance for quarters, (should you decide to live off base). Take a look for yourself and you can see if you have any questions for the recruiter. (That link on the website has good info on military benefits.)

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Specializes in Cath lab, ICU.

Wow. $5657/month? That's $67,887/annually. Ouch! My recruiter told me I'd be making $95K/annually...OK hmmm......I have A LOT of contemplating to do because that's even a bigger financial adjustment if I decided to move forward. Thank you soooo much for all the valuable information.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Wow. $5657/month? That's $67,887/annually. Ouch! My recruiter told me I'd be making $95K/annually...OK hmmm......I have A LOT of contemplating to do because that's even a bigger financial adjustment if I decided to move forward. Thank you soooo much for all the valuable information.

That does NOT include your BAH (housing allowance). Here is a calculator, you can run a few numbers: BAH Calculator

BAH usually raises your annual income by about $18,000+ to $24,000+ depending on where you live. Plus you won't be paying for healthcare and you get a subsistence allowance (BAS — 2

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

The other issue that I see (and I'm former USN married to career-now-retired USAF) is your child. Are you absolutely SURE you are willing to sign him over to someone if you should get deployed from either stateside or overseas (you mention Japan)?

This was huge for me personally - we had no one as our parents were elderly and siblings were too busy with their own children. Look up Military Family Care Plan...

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Specializes in Cath lab, ICU.

My family is VERY supportive, so it is not an issue and I waited until my son is almost 18 to direct my attention to the AF. I have already thought it through and also have my son's blessing before even considering talking to the recruiter. We have family in the military so we are aware of the long deployments and we have a good and strong support system at home. To be honest, I think my son is a little bit more excited than me :-)

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