ND_RN

I would try the department of defense civilian nursing. Lots of jobs for nurses overseas. If I didn't have a family I would be doing it right now! Just google department of defense civilian nurse and you should get to the sites.

Oh yeah, forgot to answer your other question. Committment is 3 years active reserve for sure, then 5 other years (either active or inactive) Also, if you have school loans to pay back, they have awesome loan repayment bonuses (up to $50,000 I think)...you need a longer committment of active, if you take that route. Depending on how much you need paid back. Have a good day.

You don't enlist, you would go in as a direct commissioned officer, with rank depending on experience years as a nurse. Also, there are some great incentive bonuses for reserve nurses, depending on your area of experience, but even general nursing gets one I believe. There are others on here that are great assets to the forum...and hopefully you will also hear from them. I am hoping to be Navy reserve in a few months, with a pretty good sign on bonus. $30,000 for ER experience. Just waiting for paperwork and the physical. The other difference is that, since you don't enlist you do direct commission (if you have a BSN) and you go to officer training school, which is about 2 weeks, and that's it. No other boot camp. Then your weekend drill committment and 2 weeks a year. Deployable sometime after you finish officer school. I have heard different times, most say about a year after officer school. Also, if you type in navy reserve in the search box, you will get a slug of good posts to read from. Good luck!

Hello...I was selected to interview this coming week for flight nurse out of the MNPLS unit. The LtCol who did an informal interview over the phone and set me up to go next week in person, told me the following: 2 months flight school in Texas Full Survival (SERE) school (17 days I believe) in WA I also thought she said 23 days or 4 weeks or so for COT training in Maxwell AFB in AL. If someone knows the correct length for COT please let me know. You can google air force survival school and get a hit for the website to see what that is all about. If you google air force reserve officer training, the Maxwell AFB site should come up and you can see about the officer training. Someone please let me know if you have experienced any different. She said that they have recently changed how they are doing things with the flight nurse/crew training. Also, if anyone has recently interviewed and has been selected to go, could you let me know how the process went...from time of selection to getting the ball rolling and being off to flight school. She made it sound like the instruction for these were not all in one block of time, but may be broken up due to timing and getting one in time slots. Any help would be appreciated. Have a good night. Rebecca

Hello...I am also looking heavily into the AF reserve. I am 35 years old (and not getting any younger, so I have decided it's now or never).. Now, I have been a nurse for over 12 years, with experience in ER, ICU/CCU, Recovery Room, LTC and psych. I am from ND and would have to drive to MNPLS, MN to the nearest medical unit. This is for the reserves, it's probably different for active AF. In the reserve, for this unit, I would be qualified (hopefully for sure, after an interview in a few weeks) for the flight nursing, which is a high need area. I would have a sign on bonus of $45,000 dollars. I would have to commit to "drilling" one weekend a month (plus a little more, due to a lot of training and upkeep on certificates, etc.) for at least 3 years of active drilling and another 5 of active if I choose or IRR. PLUS, I believe flight time at least every 60 days. So the committment is more for a flight nurse in the reserve, than for say a clinic reserve nurse. I believe the reserve flight nurses fly more than the active duty ones. I was told with this unit...all have been volunteer deployments at this point. These have been lasting anywhere from 3-4 months. The training for flight nursing is 5-6 months of active duty initially, and then you move into your reserve role. The training includes flight school in Texas, and then Officer training school, survival school and then time to be equipped and fitted with your unit and the plane you will be flying with. If anyone can tell me how the officer school is, the flight school is and the survival school is I would greatly appreciate that. Since I really have no idea what to expect there. I've heard process to get to that point is anywhere from 4 months to 9 months. I would also like to know if there are any books that one can get ahead of time to review and read before flight school, since I have a few months to do some reading before the ball even gets rolling with this. My dad was AF and my grandfather Navy, and other grandfather, plus uncles army. They all say the AF treated ("pampered") their people a little better. I would agree after talking to different Vets. I currently am a manager at the ND Veteran's home, so I only think it would be fitting and quite an honor to bring the younger generation of vet's home and take care of the older ones at the end of life. I hope I didn't bore you too much. Please forward me or drop me an email, if you hear any other information on AF, as I too noticed that there is not a lot of information on AF nursing. Have a good day! Rebecca

Hello...I am a RN from ND and I am looking into Air Force Reserve flight nursing...is there anyone active reserve right now, in flight nursing that I could contact via email with some questions...or if anyone has some comments..I have 12 years experience...geriatric, psych, ER, ICU, med-surg, PACU experience. I currently work full time at the State Veteran's Home in management. Still fill in at hospitals with my travel nursing per diem.I have my TNCC, ACLS, PALS and am looking to get the other certificates in ENPC, trauma nursing before the end of the year, while I wait to see if I meet the requirements, which I understand takes awhile to process. I would like some info on amount of time involved in regards to weekends, flight time, etc for the flight nursing...I am extremely excited to have a chance to do this...I finally feel like I have found what will make me feel like I am making a difference for this generation of soldiers. I have read conflicting amounts of time re: amount of time deployed (on average) anywhere from 60 to 120 days. Also...what is the officer training and flight training like? Is there a way to get some of the curriculum and read and study some of this before I go, since I will most likely not be able to have the green light to go, until next summer. Thought I would make good use of my time and read anything I can get my hands on. I am wondering how well this will fit with my job...which is currently Mon-Fri (but I am able to adjust hours to get 40 hours in 4 days, etc...) Any information is helpful...it has been helpful going back and reading all the old posts...Thanks for all the great information. Also...any Navy reserve nurses out there....currently, how long have your deployments been...and where (stateside, Germany, 6 months vs. 1 yr...etc)? How was the officer training school in Rhode Island? Is there anything specific you wish you would have been better prepared for when you went? Have a good day! Rebecca

Also...any Navy reserve nurses out there that can give me any feedback...I am pretty sure I am going to go with the Navy at this point...after talking to a recruiter today. Any stories or thoughts about Navy reserve as it is currently would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hello...I am a RN from ND and I am looking into Air Force Reserve flight nursing...is there anyone active reserve right now, in flight nursing that I could contact via email with some questions...or if anyone has some comments..I have 12 years experience...geriatric, psych, ER, ICU, med-surg, PACU experience. I currently work at the State Veteran's Home in management. Still fill in at hospitals with my travel nursing per diem.I have my TNCC, ACLS, PALS and am looking to get the other certificates in ENPC, trauma nursing before the end of the year, while I wait to see if I meet the requirements, which I understand takes awhile to process. I would like some info on amount of time involved...I am extremely excited to have a chance to do this...I finally feel like I have found what will make me feel like I am making a difference for this generation of soldiers. I currently work full time. I have read conflicting amounts of time re: amount of time deployed (on average) anywhere from 60 to 120 days. Also...what is the officer training and flight training like? Is there a way to get some of the cirriculum and read and study some of this before I go, since I will most likely not be able to have the green light to go, until next summer. Thought I would make good use of my time and read anything I can get my hands on. I am wondering how well this will fit with my job...they are a Vet's home, and I would hope would be supportive...I haven't discussed this with them yet, as I am trying to find out all the info I can before I talk to them. Any information is helpful...it has been helpful going back and reading all the old posts...Thanks.