Age Waiver and other questions not answered

[dgoody123]

I've been reading for hours and can't find some of the answers to my questions. These questions are specific to the USN.

Please feel free to chime in on any of these that you have an answer or opinion to -- you don't have to try and answer them all!

Any help is much appreciated!

1. HSPS program says age at time of commission 40, and HSCP 42 (from crnc.mil website).

I am 39 and will be finished with my pre-reqs in 18 months. By the time I finish med school I may very well be 45. Is this age waiverable?

Yes, I know I am older, but some of us don't find our calling until much later in life!

2. I have 5 years prior service 1987-1992 with honorable discharge. Can this time in service help with the age limit?

3. Does the Navy limit its members to the number of children they can have? I have 5.

4. Can anyone speak about DOD schools for children? We have recently read that DOD schools are "one of the nation's best kept secrets??" I would have never imagined that.

Also, in regards to children, how do your children feel about being in the military?

Have you been able to teach your children about what it means to serve and sacrifice? Did you find the military made them better young people? Do they have a fondness for the military or despise the military?

5. My wife will be a nurse shortly -- is it easy to find employment on the base as a nurse? What is the pay/benefits like? Did your spouse enjoy working on base, or would they have preferred a civilian hospital?

Lastly, the idea of going back to the Navy some 18 years after I left it, recently came up while looking for places to attend medical school. I was thinking of where I would like to raise my kids and what I would like to do once I become a doctor and thought about the Navy again.

I loved serving my country, loved being deployed, loved seeing the world and traveling for my vacation time. I loved the people I met and the friendships that formed.

I understand that the military won't pay enough, that the facilities probably won't compare to a civilian hospital, but there is a part of me that still wants to serve again.

If I can serve, and give my children a unique experience that they will be thankful for one day, then I am definitely interested.

Thanks in advance.

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[NavyFP]

1) Yes, age waivers are possible. The law states you must be able to complete 20 years of active service prior to age 62.

2) Yes, 5 years prior should push your entry age back to 43 (start med school)

3) No, no limit.

4) DoD schools are hit and miss. In general I have heard good things about them. My kids have never attended them though.

5) Nurses are needed everywhere. Whether or not there are positions open on base is variable.

 

[dgoody123]

Thank you for your response.

 

[dgoody123]

I can't speak much to your first couple questions, since I'm not older, and my daughter doesn't go to the DOD schools for a variety of reasons I won't bother to detail here. However:



My wife is a civilian nurse. She has had no difficulty finding work in either of the two duty stations we have been at so far. Just note that the pay differential between the major metropolitan areas and smaller towns/cities is pretty freakin' substantial (she went from $45/hr to $26/hr with our most recent move).

To get hired as a civilian nurse in a military hospital, you have to go through USAJobs, which is the online federal hiring system. So far my wife has passed on it, since anecdotally we have been told that the time it takes to get hired is substantially longer in the federal/military system than it is in the civilian world.

However, the big benefit of getting hired as a civlian in the military/federal system is that the GS system provides substantial benefits, nice retirement package if you stay long enough, it's nearly impossible to get fired, and at least theoretically, once you're hired in you can transfer from one facility to another while maintaining your "time in service" as a GS. I have met a number of former military nurses who went this route, and they all love it (once they actually get hired).

Thank you for answering about the nursing job. My wife is interested in what you had to say and is going to research this a bit more.

As far as the kids education, did you want to send me an email privately on that?? ; )

I really am curious what people have to say about the educational system on base. The only reason I am so concerned is for those cases where we are outside CONUS.

 

[IgD]

Once I came across a Sailor who volunteered to go on unaccompanied tours and deployments to avoid his family responsibilities. You will undoubtedly be required to do the same thing and there won't be a choice in the matter. At first you'll hesitate but after a couple deployments you'll realize the benefits of dumping your family responsibilities onto your poor wife

 

[IgD]

Here is a recent article on the impact of military life on families:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5idrOXaTrQ_rAV0Sx5mOz9FRY_6jQD9216PMG0

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Far from the combat zones, the strains and separations of no-end-in-sight wars are taking an ever-growing toll on military families despite the armed services' earnest efforts to help.

Divorce lawyers see it in the breakup of youthful marriages as long, multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan fuel alienation and mistrust. Domestic violence experts see it in the scuffles that often precede a soldier's departure or sour a briefly joyous homecoming.

Teresa Moss, a counselor at Fort Campbell's Lincoln Elementary School, hears it in the voices of deployed soldiers' children as they meet in groups to share accounts of nightmares, bedwetting and heartache.

"They listen to each other. They hear that they aren't the only ones not able to sleep, having their teachers yell at them," Moss said.

Even for Army spouses with solid marriages, the repeated separations are an ordeal.

"Three deployments in, I still have days when I want to hide under the bed and cry," said Jessica Leonard, who is raising two small children and teaching a "family team building" class to other wives at Fort Campbell. Her husband, Capt. Lance Leonard, is in Iraq...

 

[edmadison]

Correct me please if I'm worng, but I though DOD schools were almost exclusively for oversees. I was under then impression that in the US, the local school district runs the on-post schools. That's how it has been at both of my duty assignments.

Ed

 

[LauraDO]

Just to give some insight from the perspective of a child growing up in a military environment, living on base, ect.....

I was an Army brat and loved every minute of it, I loved living on base, I loved moving around, I loved the whole environment. I believe that it made me more responsible and mature at an early age. I am very outgoing, extroverted and comfortable in new or different situations and I owe all of this to my military upbringing and having to deal with moves.

I was also an only child so I lived in a 'adult' world a good bit of the time, which also helped maturity levels. I would be so biased to say that, on the whole, military people are good, well meaning people and base life is a nice community atmosphere for a child to grow up in. I grew to respect those who serve and now that I have joined feel a deep sense of honor and pride for the institution that I am a member of.

As for my parents, they both say that the separation, moving and other military crap they endured only made their relationship stronger....and 40 years later they still have one of the best relationships I have ever encountered

**IMPORTANT** I am in no ways saying that this is everyones experience in the military or that it is a perfect life style, and I have NO experience in military medicine, simply giving my perspective as a child growing up in a military family

 

[dgoody123]

Just to give some insight from the perspective of a child growing up in a military environment, living on base, ect.....

I was an Army brat and loved every minute of it, I loved living on base, I loved moving around, I loved the whole environment. I believe that it made me more responsible and mature at an early age. I am very outgoing, extroverted and comfortable in new or different situations and I owe all of this to my military upbringing and having to deal with moves.

I was also an only child so I lived in a 'adult' world a good bit of the time, which also helped maturity levels. I would be so biased to say that, on the whole, military people are good, well meaning people and base life is a nice community atmosphere for a child to grow up in. I grew to respect those who serve and now that I have joined feel a deep sense of honor and pride for the institution that I am a member of.

As for my parents, they both say that the separation, moving and other military crap they endured only made their relationship stronger....and 40 years later they still have one of the best relationships I have ever encountered

**IMPORTANT** I am in no ways saying that this is everyones experience in the military or that it is a perfect life style, and I have NO experience in military medicine, simply giving my perspective as a child growing up in a military family

Thanks so much for your perspective as a child growing up in the military.

You are right I'm sure -- not everyone will feel the same way, but you have given me some great insight as to what is possible for a child growing up this way. Can you offer any of your thoughts about going to DOD schools?

I find myself going back and forth - some days I worry that they will be bitter about moving so much, some days I think it will only make them stronger people.

If anyone has thoughts on what it's like living overseas as a Navy doctor, with kids, I would love to hear it.