No AF Reserve on Mandatory Deployment?

aglages · Sep 25, 2009

... my wife and 1 month old baby are concerned about deployment time...

Just curious.....how did you determine that your "1 month old baby" was "concerned about deployment time"? :smokin:

djmsailor · Sep 25, 2009

she cries every time I bring it up.

aglages · Sep 25, 2009

:chuckle:yeah::chuckle

Jams95 · Sep 25, 2009

The best way to find out is get with the local recruiter and plan a site visit to the unit you'll be assigned to when commissioned. Ask deployment length and dwell time (at home time between deployments).

allnurses Guide · Sep 25, 2009

I was just told by someone on the 800 line for the Air Force that there are currently no Reserve Duty RNs that are on mandatory deployment only voluntary deployment. Can anyone confirm or debunk this? I am very interested in pursuing Reserve duty when I am done with school, but my wife and 1 month old baby are concerned about deployment time. Thanks in advance for any information.

True or not.....that kind of thing can change at any minute.

djmsailor · Sep 26, 2009

I understand that, I was just trying to get a gauge as to how reliable info coming from the 800 line is.

allnurses Guide · Sep 26, 2009

I understand that, I was just trying to get a gauge as to how reliable info coming from the 800 line is.

The only information that you can truly trust is what is in writing. Most recruiters don't have a clue what really goes on in the nurse corps. Saying all that you have to figure it is going to take you 9-12 months to even enter the af after you start your paperwork so any information like that is transitional at best. You and your family should be ready for you to deploy from day one of entering the service or you just shouldn't join. A lot of people do volunteer for deployments for various reasons but it is not something you can rely on. You could easily go years without deploying or be deployed within the first couple of months of joining the af depending on your speciality etc.

rghbsn, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2009

I don't know what you're looking to do in the AF Reserves, but I can tell you that it is different than the reserves in the other branches of the military. In the Army, NG, Marines...if your unit is activated, your going (with few exceptions). The Air Force likes to send an all-volunteer group to complete missions if at all possible. So, if a mission comes up it is offered to the people in the unit (they rotate which units are up for missions). If they have enough people that are deployable and volunteer, the mission goes. If not, they will ask for volunteers from other units that are deployable...if they fill the needed slots, the mission goes. If, after getting as many volunteers as possible, they are still not mission capable, they will fill the mission with deployable personel from the original unit that did not volunteer.

That's roughly (very roughly) how it works. Over simplified, but an idea.

That being said, wtbcrna is right, if you join the military, you should be prepared to serve when called upon to do so.

djmsailor · Oct 1, 2009

Thanks for the information. I actually have two more questions:

1. I live on Long Island, NY. The nearest AFB is McGuire in Southern Jersey. Would I have to drive there every month for the weekend, or do I meet with just my "group" more locally (like Northport VA) to do training or whatever.

2. How do the hospitals react to reservists? As a new grad I would expect that I am going to have to work weekends or nights at first. If I work at a hospital for 6 months for weekends, then suddenly tell them every 4th weekend I HAVE to be off for reserve service, do the HAVE to let me have the time off, or can they say that I can no longer fulfill my job requirements and fire me.

Thanks in advance.

rghbsn, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2009

Drill is going to be something you need to find out about sooner rather than later. I am a flight nurse, the closest AES (squadron) is in Fayetteville, NC (Pope AFB) and that is where I'm stationed. I have friends that I work with (in the same hospital as civilians) that drive 3 hours further away for drill to Charleston, SC because that's where their AES is. If I were to get a CCAT position (critical care air transport), then I would have to travel to the base I was stationed in (Dobbins in Atlanta is the closest). So that's what you need to find out, is the closest base that you can even possibly work at.

The hospital DOES have to let you go to drill and any deployment. That being said, you have to make sure you get dates and paperwork to them ASAP when you know something is going on. Technically, they can't fire you, but they just have to give you a job doing the same thing. Example: You work nights/weekends on a med/tele floor...you get deployed for 6 months (just and example), they need a nurse, so they hire one. When you get back, they have a job for you as an RN still, but now it's on a neuro floor, day shift. That type of thing. So, they didn't fire you, but they don't have to hold a spot for you in the same unit on the same shift. Most will, but they don't have to. AF Reserves are often deployed for shorter time periods than some women take off for maternity leave, so it really shouldn't be hard to keep the same postion on the same unit.

djmsailor · Oct 2, 2009

Thanks for your answers, but my question regarding the hospital is more towards the one weekend a month. If I work weekends at the hospital, but then get into the reserves, I can no longer work EVERY weekend, but only three out of four per month. Do hospitals allow that?