Posts tagged Anybody

Question: Does Anybody have any information on being a Flight Nurse in the Air Force?
I need to know information on training an also on becoming a flight nurse. If anybody is a flight nurse or knows somebody that is a flight nurse i would appreciate it if i could email back and forth to learn some of the things i need to know. This would be way easier than talking to a recruiter, because well…. we all know recruiters will say anything to get you to sign the contract. Thanks.
flight nurse

Best answer:

Answer by John
I did twenty-three years in Strat and Tactical aeromed so I guess I know a few flight nurses and a few things about aeromed. First you have to be a nurse and have at least two years of service as an Air Force nurse in order to apply for the flight nurse program if you are talking active duty. You also have to have passed a flight physical (except for the altitude chamber). If selected then they schedule you for the chamber and once you pass that you are then accepted into the program and go to tech school to become a flight nurse. You will by this time will have already been commissioned and in the Air Force for at least three years and it is very competitive and difficult to get into. More training follows when you get to your first active duty aeromed unit which includes ground school training, additional flight training and then your check rides and once you pass those you are a flight qualified flight nurse.

The Reserves because of the way it recruits and fills unit vacancies has a little bit different approach to this. If you have at least a three year BSN then you can be recruited directly into a position in an aeromed unit and once you pass your flight physical and chamber you then are scheduled and go to tech school (the same one but as a Reservist on active duty) and then when you finish that come back to your unit and attend ground school and all the rest and become a flight qualified flight nurse in the Air Force Reserve. Aeromed is the second highest active and deployed group in the Air Force Reserves with security forces carrying the highest chance of activation and deployment. Most aeromed in the Reserves are on active duty three to four times more than your average reservist because of the ops tempo, flight currency requirements and all the recurring training that is required. You may or may not want to consider the Reserve program if you already have your BSN or MSN and you would contact a Reserve recruiter for that.

For either the active program or Reserve program SERE school is required and at some point will also be scheduled along with some other types of specialized type training. It can be a rewarding and challenging career and most of the flight nurses I know love their job and the travel and challenges that come with it.