Joining the Air Force While in College?

Polkusa
Mon, 20 Nov 2017 01:26:00 +0000

I am a Navy veteran, physician, and mom. I enlisted in the Navy Reserves after one semester to both help pay for school, but also out of a strong desire to serve (raised in a military family). Boot camp and training made me miss a year of college. Navy boot camp was not awful, lasted about 8 1/2 weeks and not too bad if you are in halfway decent shape. I did boot camp in Orlando (closed in the early 90’s - now all Navy boot camp is near Chicago).

I had a GI bill (late 80’s) but it was small as I was in the Reserves (weekend drills and summer training). If you go active duty, rather than reserves, you will likely do much better with the post 9/11 GI bill. This current GI bill is great - all tuition paid for in state school and possibly by private schools (yellow ribbon program), along with a generous monthly housing allowance. For instance, we were able to pass our GI bill 2 years ago to our oldest daughter, and her entire tuition bill was paid for (top 15 US news private university - tuition almost $50,000), along with a housing allowance of almost $2,000 a month.

I later went to medical school on a Navy (HPSP) scholarship and served on active duty as a Navy physician. You are right, no one I knows regrets serving. My husband is still on active duty and loves it. But you are right, you need to be ready to deploy - more than half the docs I was stationed with got deployed to the Middle East unexpectedly. The Coast Guard is an option, less overseas deployments but still lots of time away on cutters, etc. My part time job is doing entrance physicals for those joining the military so I know what it takes to enlist. You contact a recruiter and they interview you, you take a test (ASVAB) and your score on this test and the job openings available will determine your job. (what you want to do may not be available - like Hospital Corpsman in the Navy is oversaturated and you will wait if you want that). Your recruiter arranges for you to go to MEPS (military entrance processing station) where you get a physical, do some exercises like a duck walk, get interviewed, and then process/swear in. Only about 60-70% of people who arrive at MEPS are found to be qualified to join the military. If you are disqualified (physical or mental reasons), there is a 50-50 chance or so you can still join, if that service decides to provide you a waiver. Most common reasons you are disqualified by the doctor at MEPS are previous orthopedics problems, psychiatric (depression, anxiety, self cutting etc), asthma, eczema, ADHD, etc.

In summary, I am so glad I joined the Navy and would do it all over again!