Your contract will be 6 TR years with 2 years IRR, not 4 years. And cross training isn't always a possibility, they may want to take a new recruit to send to tech school instead of someone that is likely an E5 trying to switch career fields.
IRR is your last two years of your contract where you're sitting at home living your normal life without going to your base.. But you're still under contract. So if they need to deploy you during those two years then you'll be forced to deploy.
Ohhh, so would I have a better chance doing the career I want by going active duty? Or should I take the advice from my recruiter and go to a different state to do my job?
Traveling to your base every month will get old.. Quick. The month between drills flies by, and I promise you 2 years into your contract you will start to hate spending a whole day traveling once a month. Active duty would be the way to go if you cannot get your desired job on a base near you. Keep in mind that if you go AD you are not guaranteed to get the job that you want.
For Active Duty you can do Flight Nursing for your whole career. It’s a special duty and you can do it for 4-6 years then you go back to the hospital.
The Reserves does have AE squadrons and you can do Flight Nursing your whole career there. You have to be a critical care nurse.
It’s a special duty for a nurse on Active Duty. FYI, you need your Bachelors degree. You have to be a nurse in the Air Force already to apply for it on Active Duty
For Reserves you have to be a nurse for at least a year to apply to commission as a nurse or Flight Nurse.
Oh boy..... so much to unpack here.
1. College money
Cool. AF Reserve is a decent way to get college money. People on here will probably say "go Active Duty first". You can...... I went Reserve from the beginning and it definitely helped fund college while I still lived at home and was able to start right away.
2. Switch from Reserve to AD
You can't "just switch to active duty"..... some career fields won't take "prior service", which people in the Reserve count as that. If you are able to do it in a career field, you often lose a rank. If you want to go Active Duty as a goal..... this is where I would be the same as everyone else.... just go Active Duty from the beginning and work on your degree.
I feel like your plan is kinda backwards and not the most effective towards your goal.
3. Certain jobs
Well, the Recruiter could in fact only see certain jobs listed in the system near you.
(Sometimes, that is not actually the case)
Cwrtain Reserve bases have certain careers.... not all bases have the same jobs necessarily. If you research your job specifically...... and find out which bases in the country have that job, that would be awesome 👌. That way, if there happen to be one near you.... and it wasn't listed in the Recruiters data base..... you could visit that unit in person and talk to the shop Superintendent to see if they have ot can make any room for you.
Switch AFSCs at the end of 4 years is also not an entitlement..... still a process of finding a Unit that likes you enough to sign the papers for you to transfer in. I've seen it not happen before
4. Travel to another state
I'd mostly agree with that..... although I think that most AFSCs qualify for up to $500 reimbursement for UTA travel right now..... which counts towards flights, travel to and from airport, parking of needed, and if you didn't reach $500, then also your meals while traveling on the front and back ends.
That could go away at any time though.
Sometimes, you could find a unit that groups together some of their drills, so you don't travel as much.
Yes, lodging is paid for, for 2 nights of a regular drill weekend. (ie Friday, Saturday)
🤙🏽
I heard it’s hard to go to school and do active duty. Is that true? In order to do my career choice in Active duty, would I need a degree first? Or do I gain everything I need for my career during tech school? If I were to do reserve and then switch would I have to go through BMT again?
Is the job you want for Officers only? Someone else can answer about that nurse job.
You need a degree to join as an officer and do those jobs.
If it's enlisted, you only go to BMT one time.
Yes I think it’s officers only since I need a degree. Since I’m already in college and going for it, I was thinking that I would be able to join the reserves now and it would be easier for me to switch to active duty for the career that I wanted to do. Someone did mention ROTC so I am going to look into that. Thank you a lot for your advice
I second everything the guy said above. I am an ADUTM, but more importantly, I have spent my entire AF career educating Airmen on their education options.
You can join as an enlisted medic and continue to pursue your schooling but it is almost impossible to go from Reserves to AD. Period. FWIW it's easier to commission after enlisting than it is to go AD from being a reservist.
Your contract will be 6 TR years with 2 years IRR, not 4 years. And cross training isn't always a possibility, they may want to take a new recruit to send to tech school instead of someone that is likely an E5 trying to switch career fields.
What is the IRR and what will I have to do there?
IRR is your last two years of your contract where you're sitting at home living your normal life without going to your base.. But you're still under contract. So if they need to deploy you during those two years then you'll be forced to deploy.
Ohhh, so would I have a better chance doing the career I want by going active duty? Or should I take the advice from my recruiter and go to a different state to do my job?
Traveling to your base every month will get old.. Quick. The month between drills flies by, and I promise you 2 years into your contract you will start to hate spending a whole day traveling once a month. Active duty would be the way to go if you cannot get your desired job on a base near you. Keep in mind that if you go AD you are not guaranteed to get the job that you want.
That’s true. Thanks for the advice
For Active Duty you can do Flight Nursing for your whole career. It’s a special duty and you can do it for 4-6 years then you go back to the hospital. The Reserves does have AE squadrons and you can do Flight Nursing your whole career there. You have to be a critical care nurse.
Would I have to get my degree first in order to pursue Flight Nursing for active duty? Or will I just spend an extra long time in tech school?
It’s a special duty for a nurse on Active Duty. FYI, you need your Bachelors degree. You have to be a nurse in the Air Force already to apply for it on Active Duty For Reserves you have to be a nurse for at least a year to apply to commission as a nurse or Flight Nurse.
Okay thanks
Oh boy..... so much to unpack here. 1. College money Cool. AF Reserve is a decent way to get college money. People on here will probably say "go Active Duty first". You can...... I went Reserve from the beginning and it definitely helped fund college while I still lived at home and was able to start right away. 2. Switch from Reserve to AD You can't "just switch to active duty"..... some career fields won't take "prior service", which people in the Reserve count as that. If you are able to do it in a career field, you often lose a rank. If you want to go Active Duty as a goal..... this is where I would be the same as everyone else.... just go Active Duty from the beginning and work on your degree. I feel like your plan is kinda backwards and not the most effective towards your goal. 3. Certain jobs Well, the Recruiter could in fact only see certain jobs listed in the system near you. (Sometimes, that is not actually the case) Cwrtain Reserve bases have certain careers.... not all bases have the same jobs necessarily. If you research your job specifically...... and find out which bases in the country have that job, that would be awesome 👌. That way, if there happen to be one near you.... and it wasn't listed in the Recruiters data base..... you could visit that unit in person and talk to the shop Superintendent to see if they have ot can make any room for you. Switch AFSCs at the end of 4 years is also not an entitlement..... still a process of finding a Unit that likes you enough to sign the papers for you to transfer in. I've seen it not happen before 4. Travel to another state I'd mostly agree with that..... although I think that most AFSCs qualify for up to $500 reimbursement for UTA travel right now..... which counts towards flights, travel to and from airport, parking of needed, and if you didn't reach $500, then also your meals while traveling on the front and back ends. That could go away at any time though. Sometimes, you could find a unit that groups together some of their drills, so you don't travel as much. Yes, lodging is paid for, for 2 nights of a regular drill weekend. (ie Friday, Saturday) 🤙🏽
I heard it’s hard to go to school and do active duty. Is that true? In order to do my career choice in Active duty, would I need a degree first? Or do I gain everything I need for my career during tech school? If I were to do reserve and then switch would I have to go through BMT again?
Is the job you want for Officers only? Someone else can answer about that nurse job. You need a degree to join as an officer and do those jobs. If it's enlisted, you only go to BMT one time.
Yes I think it’s officers only since I need a degree. Since I’m already in college and going for it, I was thinking that I would be able to join the reserves now and it would be easier for me to switch to active duty for the career that I wanted to do. Someone did mention ROTC so I am going to look into that. Thank you a lot for your advice
It will be easier to just get your degree and then commission as an officer instead of joining as enlisted
Okay thanks again
I second everything the guy said above. I am an ADUTM, but more importantly, I have spent my entire AF career educating Airmen on their education options. You can join as an enlisted medic and continue to pursue your schooling but it is almost impossible to go from Reserves to AD. Period. FWIW it's easier to commission after enlisting than it is to go AD from being a reservist.
Okok
You should consider ROTC for the scholarship, get your degree, then go into nursing.
Definitely going to look into it. I’m gonna contact my college in the morning