Hello, I've been lurking around here for some months know and have found lots of great information..but I still have questions.
I am currently enrolled in a 4 yr. BSN program and will graduate in 2 years. I am married and have 4 children between the ages of 13 & 6. I have been thinking about joining either the Air Force or the Navy and have found many sites with info for the Navy, but not a whole lot on the AF, so I guess right now, I'm leaning towards the Navy. My only question is my family situation. Is it a bad thing to already have a large family before getting in?? My husband and father are both former AF, so we are familiar with the military. Another thing is that my husband is on long-term disability due to a work injury..Is that a problem?? I have heard lots of great stories about how nurses are treated in the military by doctors, as oppose to how we are treated in the civilian world by some not so nice Drs.( I know not all are jerks).
From what I have read, once I'm done with school I would go to an commissioned officer training camp, and then to one of the big 3 naval hospitals. How long does one usually stay there?? What are my odds of going on a ship? And if I do go on a ship, for how long?? Another question is about housing, since we are a big family, do they have housing that can accommadate us?? What if the size of the house we need is not in my ranking area? I have found a website for naval housing and there are some enlisted houses that have more bedrooms than some officier housing, so woujld we go into the enlisted housing?? How often do you move?? When my dad was in the AF we moved just about every 2 years, where as my husband was stationed at Barksdale for all of his 6 years!
I would like to do the program that the Navy does for college students, where they pay you a stippend while in school and get a sign-on bonus, and from what I read I need to do this after I complete my first semester in nursing courses, which ould be the end of this semster, so I need to deceide what I'm going to do pretty soon!
Thanks for any input you can give
Sorry so long....just trying to make the right decision.
Feel free to email me if yoou want!