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Discussion

RN heading to the Air Force

Hello to All,

I am new to this site. I am glad to see such a strong presence of nursing and eagerness to help each other. I am writing this thread to see if I can recieve some insight to any of your experiences and advice to some of my questions. First off, I am a husband and father. I chose nursing 8 years ago and have worked in the ED pretty much the entire time. Recently, I graduated with my RN-BSN. With this, I am eagerly awaiting acceptance into the USAF. I have a MEPS date in one week. What a process to get to this point! My recruiter is responsible for such a large section of the South East ( Louisianna/Alabama/ Florida). I understand that their workload is heavy. But, as I said, I am eager to join. All of my paper work is complete and have felt that joining would never happen. So, now that it seems the ball is finally rolling, I am getting some jitters. Not enough to walk away but, I do want to see if anyone has had similar experiences of waiting for accession to the AF and what it was like for them when the process began.

My wife and I have discussed this topic for the last 12 months. With all the pro's and con's weighed, we still are excited to join. The one area that weighs on us is the probability of deployment.

So, without getting anymore long-winded...

Is anyone else in the situation where they are weighing joining the military?

Does anyone else have a MEPS date?

Does anyone have anything to share regarding COT?

What is family life like for military families?

I am expected to join as 1st Lt/ possibly captain? What are the expectations for these positions? Job description?

What is the Chief Nurse interview like?

I suppose this is a long enough thread. Thank you for taking the time to read it and reply.

Jake

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    • Featured Replies

    I can speak as an RN that has experienced the enlisted side of the Air Force. Out of all the different branches of the military, you'll have the highest standard of living. From what I've heard from fellow airmen who've gone through COT, it's pretty lax as compared to Basic Military Training.

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    Im bookmarking this because I am rolling this idea in my head as well. Except I would love to be deployed!

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    Sorry (and congrats to those who love it) deployment is 100% part of the package. Absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder, it kills weak marriages. If your mrs. isn’t a rock solid person willing to see that your chosen career is very different from our civilian counterparts - you might want to look elsewhere. If you both are up for some great adventure and see the hardships as just part of the job and "that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger" - then we have a job for you.

    As for rank, if you have 8 years of licensed RN time – you will enter as a Captain. Constructive Grade Credit is ½ of you licensed time. It takes 2 years as a 2Lt to make 1Lt and 2 years as a 1Lt to make Captain. ½ of your 8 years is 4.

    Your ED experience opens up many opportunities that your NTP counterparts won’t get. I personally think it’s a great place to start in the USAF if you already have experience, but personal bias is involved there. Folks fresh out of college need a couple of years of Med Surg. I worked in many setting and none of them Med Surg. I don’t care who did what or when; kids fresh out of college need a strong foundation on what normal sick looks like before they specialize in something.

    The ER background opens up Flight Nurse, CCAT, ER of course, CRNA, ACNP, & FNP (the one you should really do). Get CEN and keep up all of the ACLS, PALS, NRP, ENCP, etc and you will be rewarded.

    Don’t waffle – use that list of Pros and Cons and have a family meeting. Commit to something and get it done. I’ll see you in Al Udeid.

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    • Author

    crf250xpert

    thanks for that. great info.

    as for deployment, we are preparred for this and accept that for us when i join. the pro's list is very long for both of us and we both have excitement. we just happen to share the one same "con"....having to be seperate with tdy possibly in the time served in the af.

    and i am definetly looking to climb higher like fnp.

    i/we think this will be an awesome step (af) for our family.

    thank you for you info.

    jake

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