AF46N3E

Thanks so much everyone. I appreciate all of the time you have spent to give me your advice. Does anyone know how many shifts a week nurses are working down range...I am assuming its intense just wondering if anyone knows the deal?

I'll try this again, for some reason my first reply wasnt added....what you are asking about is correct and incorrect. Some ANG units do not accept ADN nurses...it is up to the commander and chief nurse. The unit's recruiting office knows whether their units accepts ADN nurses or not. The four years thing is not necessarily true. the ANG gives what they term contructive credit for your civilian nursing experience. I believe the credit is 1 week for every 2 you have been a nurse or something to that effect. Let me see if I can make this make sense in typing...ok take my case. I have been in the ANG since Feb 29, 2008 (I commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on that date). I however have been a civilian RN since May 2007. They did their little magical computation and gave me a date of rank (or competetive seniority date in more civilian terms) of OCt 21, 2007. This means that I will have to have my BSN by OCt 21, 2011 (when I am eligible for captain). If the 4 years thing was true across the board I would've had til Feb 29, 2012 to obtain my BSN. GEt my drift? Now with the constructive credit you can earn time and rank but since you are an ADN nurse you are not authorized rank past 1st Lieutenant. The ranks of 1st Lieutenant and Captain are basically (but not in all cases) automatic ranks and are awarded every 2 years based on date of rank. With all that being said...if you have the opportunity and truly have the time to obtain your BSN while holding 2 jobs (the ANG is not as part time as most people think, and is definitely a far cry from 1 weekend a month 2 weeks a year especially if your unit participates in CERF) then go for it....the ANG is a wonderful organization. I have enjoyed my time so far and have received lots of free training and nursing certifications, been to great places to train and to work, and met many wonderful people along the way. I have nothing but good things to say about the ANG, just keep in mind that it will take up some of your time. Case in point... I have had to work at one time 18 days straight between 3 days at my civilian job before leaving for a trip, 12 days gone for the ANG, and right back to work at my civilian job for another 3 days. This makes finding time for school work difficult at times, especially if you are away at a place that doesnt have internet access or you are in a school and need to use your down time to study for the military training.

Are the nurses in the hospital wearing ABU's or scrubs? Just trying to plan accordingly. Thanks to those of you who have responded to my questions. You have really made my life a lot easier at this point, just knowing what to expect makes a world of difference!

I agree, I truly enjoy the Air National Guard. Nursing slots in the Air National Guard can be hard to come by but it is definitely worth the search, especially if you are willing to drive or fly during drill weekends, etc. I have been in the Air National Guard for 1.5 years now and I absolutely love it. In my state when I was looking there were no avail nurse slots but the recruiter at the unit I called told me to just call around to various units and see if any within a distance I was willing to drive had a slot. After looking high and low I finally found one. We do have a state and federal mission which can require extra time away at times but we've had wonderful opportunities to hone our skills and learn in new places. In fact we just returned from our two week annual training time over seas in England. It was wonderful!

Hello, I actually work as a GS civilian in an Army hospital. I can tell you this...We do most everything the same as civilian hospital (we take report at the table etc) the only difference is that military hospitals tend to be more stringent than do the local civilian hospitals in their policies. This can make life working in a military hospital a little better than in a civilian hospital. The downside is that our active duty tend to work more hours than the civilian nurses, this is because there is no overtime paid to military nurses, no comp time, no nothing. If one of our civilian nurses calls out sick most definitely they will being a military nurse in before they pay overtime to another nurse to take the shift. In the military there is no calling out sick unless you go to sick call and get excused.

Hello all, I'm in the ANG and am soon to be headed to Bagram to work in the ICU... I was wondering if anyone out there can give me advice on essential items to bring, what the shifts in the hospital are like, what is the base like in general, and what the living conditions are like. I would appreciate any bit of useful advice as I have never deployed before and would like to arrive as prepared as possible. Thanks

K-Ron, I am serving with the Air National Guard and I absolutely love it. From what we're told at my unit at this time there are no mandatory overseas deployments for ANG nurses. Those are voluntary at this time and do not extend past 6 months. Understand though that ANG means serving both state and federal missions. In my state we have a CERF team which essentially is a disaster response medical team that all nurses are expected to participate in. The guard takes up a lot of time but it's worth every minute of it. I love it! MY husband by the way is active duty army and it is great to pick at him about the differences! If you have any questions please feel free to ask away!