VA/Military vs. California corrections.

[tirzo13]

Hello, i'm a LVN, just finished RN school waiting to take NCLEX.

I work now as an agency LVN for the California prisons.

My question is who has the best benifits?

I was in the army for 3 years, so i guess that would count towards federal retirement.

as a california state prison RN, next year starting pay will be 100,000.

we get vested after 5 years at 2.5% each year, so no matter what after 5 years i will collect something when i turn 55.

so at 5 years i get 12.5% of my salary.

10 years 25%.

20 years 50%.

i'm thinking of doing 10-15 years.

can someone tell me a range for starting RN pay for a VA hospital in california.

what the retirement package is?

what a civilian nurse at a military hospital makes?

can i add my military service time into my VA time?

are they vested?

thanks for your time.

[Gennaver, MSN]

Hello, i'm a LVN, just finished RN school waiting to take NCLEX.

I work now as an agency LVN for the California prisons.

My question is who has the best benifits?

I was in the army for 3 years, so i guess that would count towards federal retirement.

as a california state prison RN, next year starting pay will be 100,000.

we get vested after 5 years at 2.5% each year, so no matter what after 5 years i will collect something when i turn 55.

so at 5 years i get 12.5% of my salary.

10 years 25%.

20 years 50%.

i'm thinking of doing 10-15 years.

can someone tell me a range for starting RN pay for a VA hospital in california.

what the retirement package is?

what a civilian nurse at a military hospital makes?

can i add my military service time into my VA time?

are they vested?

thanks for your time.

Hello there,

It seems that you are only asking about monetary salary. I think there are far more factors that contribute to which career would be more beneficial.

At 40 years old and having many wonderful classmates I am so grateful to be surrounded by future nurses who are not, the so called "appliance or refridgerator Nurses" who are merely working for the salary. If a salary is the only benefit one is seeking you can get that anywhere, in my opinion. Nursing has positives and negatives and if your main drive is salary then the negatives may wear you down and make your career life miserable.

Then again, maybe your post was only meant to compare salary, which is definately a wise choice yet, not the only benefit worthy of comparing. There is much more to it than the salary. How about the work day, work demands, coporate support encouragment, cohort, respect, autonomy, interdependence among peers, ability for growth and potential for change and so on.

Gen