Joining the military as a nurse

[jvacc]

I am 35 years old and will have my ASN in May. I am interested in joining the military reserves or quite possibly the military as a career. This is all very new to me and I have very little knowledge about what I am getting myself into. What I have found out so far is that I am past the age requirement to join without my nursing degree and the Air Force requires me to have my BSN but I can join up to age 46, although I would only receive a retirement from the military as long as I join before age 40. I am already shopping around for where to transition right into a program to get my BSN. Ultimately, I would like to get my masters in nursing. The reason I am interested in the military is that I need something more. I love nursing but everything I have experienced so far is somewhat boring and that's mostly due to the rural area that I live in and the hospitals that I have done clinicals in normally ship trauma patients to the big city hospitals. I also want to feel that sense of pride that comes with being a member of the US military, the best way I can describe it is that "I want more." My kids are soon to be 16 and 17 and my husband is fully on board with this so being deployed is not an issue. I don't have any prior military experience but do have some close friends whom have retired from the military that I can talk to about this but they went in the traditional way at a young age unlike what I am interested in. I got off to a late start because I started my family at a very young age. I got a business degree and worked as an engineers assistant for a year or so and decided that I needed more. I knew that I had more to offer and I needed to feel some sense of pride about what I was doing. Working on entering information into a database all day and working with China and Japan on production of our electrical units was not it. So, now here I am on my way to being a nurse and I still find myself wanting and needing more and I think the military is going to be the key to fulfilling that. So, what I am asking for is feedback from anyone that has any experience with what I am interested in and can give me some advice about different military branches and their own experiences. Thanks in advance!

[Dmendoza]

Hey camo-angel! Ive been trying to decide which branch to go thru..i spoke with an AF recruiter and he sent me a questionare to see if i would qualify..im trying to decide between the navy and the AF...im almost thru my packet for the navy but was wondering if i should try the AF..both recruiters have told me selection boards for the navy and AF meet this october..is there a reason you chose the AF? Also, what are the numbers looking like this fiscal year?

[Camo-angel]

Hello Dmendoza. I'm applying for the NTP which is new grads, but it sounds like maybe you're applying for FQ which is more than 6 months experience? I'm not sure about FQ numbers, but I know they take nurses in more fields, such as med-surg, critical care, OB, etc. Whereas NTP only offers med-surg or OB route.

For this year the board for NTP meets in June (unless there's a second board I'm unaware of) and I've been told they have 35 med-surg slots and maybe 9-10 OB. I'm going med-surg.

What pushed me towards the AF was all the options I would have. I really don't know much about Navy nursing, but I originally was thinking Army. I changed to Air Force because Army doesn't take new grads now, and I don't graduate until December this year. The Air Force has options for me to get my master's and become a Nurse Practitioner, either while serving active duty or once I'm out with a GI Bill. Overall I've heard positive feedback about being an AF nurse. My husband is currently active duty Army (he gets out soon though) and he was also thinking AF would be our best option!