joining to help pay for FNP/DNP school as a officer

[tknrosales]

Hello, I am considering trying to join the navy/airforce as a commissioned officer to help me cover the cost of my advanced practice degree. I am already an RN with a BSN degree, and I'm currently taking classes for my FNP degree. I don't mean to sound naive, but I don't know what basic officer training would look like if it would be possible to manage while I am in school and what the navy/airforce would expect of me. When commissioned RN officers get deployed are they expected to fight, or are they just going in a medical capacity?

My problem is I have a 16 and 2 year old to think of, and I am already 35. If anyone can provide guidance, information on what to expect, ect that would be great. Medical recruiters are very hard to get ahold of! Should I be looking into reserves instead of commissioned officer? I'm so confused lol please help!

I already owe an arm and leg in student loans, and need options or I'll never reach my DNP

[jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA]

You can direct commission as an RN. However, it will be difficult to serve full-time and work on FNP clinical rotations (active duty). I believe the Air Force (no idea about the Navy) still offers $40,000 in loan repayment and a $20,000 sign-on bonus for 6 years of commitment for the loans you currently have. AFIT (military pays you to go back to school full-time while on active duty) is an option for you after the first 2 years in terms of getting that DNP. You may have to serve 4 or more to truly be competitive. Active duty is an option for this if you don't mind waiting a while to attain the DNP.

You are serving as a nurse and aren't a true combatant. However, you aren't exempt for bodily hard when deployed either. Deployments for nurses in the AF are currently up to 6 months every 18 months; it's not always that frequent though.