Military as retirement option?

allnurses Guide · Jun 5, 2008

I have been considering military nursing, most likely Army for some time now. I am 35 and have 4 kids. I am considering resereves with going AD later when my kids are older I have 2 teens now.I have nothing saved for retirement at this time I am wondering if I did 20 years as AD I would recive a 50% pension of my highest pay? If I served additional time after that does the amount increase? Are there types of IRA's or 401K type of programs for service members that have extra benefits for military members? I think what I am really looking for is, what path will maximize my ability to save retirement money military or civilian. I am getting nervous now about beggining to save for fhose years.If anyone has any insight into this issue or has any types of financial retirement planning they would like to share it would be very appreciated.

Right now you get an extra 2.5% for every year past your 20 that you serve in the military up to 75%/30yrs. There has been talk of extending it up to 100% for people serving 40yrs. Military can also participate in the Thrift Saving Plan which is similar to an IRA account.

What you might want to consider is USPHS. It has the same benefits as the military, but you don't deploy, you don't have to move etc, and you can transfer to the military after your initial commitment is up if you don't like USPHS. Also, all your time in USPHS or the military would counts towards retirment.

Trauma Columnist · Jun 5, 2008

Hubby is retired from the Air Force - did his 23 years and retired at the age of 42 years. Best retirement going IMHO. The other excellent thing is Tricare for Life - which is solid healthcare insurance while you are AD and a great Medicare supplement when you get older...good luck...

nevb · Jun 6, 2008

'What you might want to consider is USPHS. It has the same benefits as the military, but you don't deploy, you don't have to move etc, and you can transfer to the military after your initial commitment is up if you don't like USPHS. Also, all your time in USPHS or the military would counts towards retirment.

Is the USPHS the same as the Careers in National Defense website that has jobs listed there. http://www.godefense.com/index.html

Or is this a seperate category all together. I have considered this as an option as well. How are these nurses regarded in a military setting? Is there bad feelings toward them as they are allowed to have more control over their careers? Are they allowed to eperience the same level of educational experiences or are they pushed to the side when the intersting cases come around?

allnurses Guide · Jun 6, 2008

'What you might want to consider is USPHS. It has the same benefits as the military, but you don't deploy, you don't have to move etc, and you can transfer to the military after your initial commitment is up if you don't like USPHS. Also, all your time in USPHS or the military would counts towards retirment.

Is the USPHS the same as the Careers in National Defense website that has jobs listed there. http://www.godefense.com/index.html

Or is this a seperate category all together. I have considered this as an option as well. How are these nurses regarded in a military setting? Is there bad feelings toward them as they are allowed to have more control over their careers? Are they allowed to eperience the same level of educational experiences or are they pushed to the side when the intersting cases come around?

http://www.usphs.gov/

There are numerous places to work in USPHS: NIH, CDC, US Marshalls, US Coast Guard, DIHS, Federal Prisons, Indian Health Service (the last 3 probably being the most common). The nice thing about joining USPHS 1st instead of waiting is that you could live in one place until your kids got older, all your time would count towards retiremtent, and when & if you decided to transfer to the military than you get take all your time/rank with you no starting all over.

JDCitizen · Jun 20, 2008

is the usphs the same as the careers in national defense website that has jobs listed there. http://www.godefense.com/index.html
or is this a seperate category all together. i have considered this as an option as well. how are these nurses regarded in a military setting? is there bad feelings toward them as they are allowed to have more control over their careers? are they allowed to eperience the same level of educational experiences or are they pushed to the side when the intersting cases come around?
http://www.usphs.gov/
there are numerous places to work in usphs: nih, cdc, us marshalls, us coast guard, dihs, federal prisons, indian health service (the last 3 probably being the most common). the nice thing about joining usphs 1st instead of waiting is that you could live in one place until your kids got older, all your time would count towards retiremtent, and when & if you decided to transfer to the military than you get take all your time/rank with you no starting all over.

but i would presume that there are all kinds of restrictions for getting to transfer into an active service (just as there are for going in from scratch)????? i mean this to be more of a question than a statement….

allnurses Guide · Jun 21, 2008

but i would presume that there are all kinds of restrictions for getting to transfer into an active service (just as there are for going in from scratch)????? i mean this to be more of a question than a statement....

i have met several officers that transfered from one service to another. it actually seems like an easier process than starting from scratch.

JDCitizen · Jun 21, 2008

I have met several officers that transfered from one service to another. It actually seems like an easier process than starting from scratch.

Actually what I meant was from USPHS into active service. Otherwise I would guess going from one military branch to another they would assume that you are already fit-to-fight so all those hurdles would be negated??

allnurses Guide · Jun 21, 2008

Actually what I meant was from USPHS into active service. Otherwise I would guess going from one military branch to another they would assume that you are already fit-to-fight so all those hurdles would be negated??

That is the way I took it...USPHS to Miitary. Since USPHS & the military branches are all uniformed services it is still an interservice transfer. I have personally known two officers that went from USPHS to military (one into the Navy and one into the AF) and I have talked to several that went from military to USPHS.

The AF didn't require anything extra of the one nurse that transfered from USPHS...no extra training, no COT etc....One day she was USPHS and the next she was USAF.

There is a lot more paperwork if you do a break in service and then want to come back into the military/uniformed services.

JDCitizen · Jun 22, 2008

That is the way I took it...USPHS to Miitary. Since USPHS & the military branches are all uniformed services it is still an interservice transfer. I have personally known two officers that went from USPHS to military (one into the Navy and one into the AF) and I have talked to several that went from military to USPHS.
The AF didn't require anything extra of the one nurse that transfered from USPHS...no extra training, no COT etc....One day she was USPHS and the next she was USAF.
There is a lot more paperwork if you do a break in service and then want to come back into the military/uniformed services.

WOW!!! No COT, no extra training...

I could have went Federal and crossed over. Right now I am taking care of prisoners but at a state level if I had known I would have done it at the federal (USPHS) level. Plus I may have avoided the crap I am going through with a medical DQ...