Moonlighting as a military nurse??????

[surething1]

I would appreciate any information anyone can provide in terms of moonlighting. Are Army & Navy nurses doing this to make extra money? If so, how much extra can you bring in per month or year? Is this common amongst Army/Navy nurses?

I read where a CRNA said he made 73k extra doing this. Thats the type of info. I was looking for. What can a BSN expect to bring in by moonlighting. I realize you need the chain of command to sign off on it. Is this still a common practice? Also, is moonlighting something you can only do on US tours?

Anyone having direct knowledge of this I would really appreciate some info. You can pm me if you want for privacy reasons.

I am really wanting to become an Army or Navy nurse and would just like to know realistically what are the chances I can augment my salary whle in the service.

I thank you for your time and service.

If you dont know anything about it directly, please dont hijack this thread with nonsense. This is very important to me. Not a deciding factor but still something would like to know to have a complete realistic picture of what I would be getting into. Thank you.

So, how much? how often? how? etc. etc.

[Jarnaes]

You can moonlight while on active duty, BUT you need to have official written permission from your chain of command. In most places they will limit you to 20 hours per week. Your part time place of employment also needs to be aware that your military job comes first. Subject to changes in schedule on very short notice.

Another restriction is that you cannot do agency work at a military facility. A lot of the military hospitals use various staffing agencies to fill positions, but as a military nurse you cannot work part time for them.

As far as how much extra money you can make, that all depends on the going rates for the area you are in.

I seriously doubt that you'll be able to work part time outside the USA, lots of variables on this one (languages, license recognition, host nation agreements, etc etc).

[DanznRN, RN]

Sure-

Jarnaes pretty much hit it on the head. I am Navy and while stationed in San Diego I moonlit while the Mrs. was in nursing school. I stuck to the 20 hrs. a week give or take for about a year and made $12,000. It wasn't too bad for the extra work I did. A lot does depend where you are stationed/ working. When in San Diego I made

between $30-$66/ hr. depending on time of year. When I was stationed in Chicago, $50/hr. here in WV I can make $44/ hr. Last year I made $2500 working during the Christmas holiday, paid for christmas. As for doing it in foreign countries, near impossible. Most countries have a SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) that strictly delineates what service members can and can not do in a foreign country and moonlighting is one of them. I say nearly impossible because on the tiny island of Guam they have very few experienced medical personnel, so service members can moonlight there to augment the civilian staff, but it's in the SOFA. Hope that helps.

LCDR Dan