airforce pharmacist

[Gunter]

I'm looking into airforce pharmacist, saw very good ratings via glassdoor. Just curious if anyone in this forum is an airforce pharmacist that can provide more insight on the position about the training, pay, benefits, daily job duties, and etc... would be much appreciated!

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[GradVantageRx]

Salaries should be publicly available for federal employees with a little googling.

You can likely find a lot of this info by searching for your questions along with airforce officer -- most people with college degrees will enter (at least the navy and army) as officers

 

[APN-59 rph]

You need to talk to a USAF officer recruiter....Most likely very few slots.....

 

[BC_89]

As for the pay, google will tell you based on rank what your pay will be:

2020 Military Pay Charts

2020 military pay charts based on the Dec. 12 announcement of a 3.1% pay increase by the Department of Defense.

militarybenefits.info

You would be going in as an O-3 rank with the associated cost. Based on your duty location, you will also be paid a tax exempt BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) that will hit your account along with your pay. This may vary from free housing on base to over $3k a month depending on cost of living for the location. Once you know your location, you can google BAH locator to get an idea of the cost you will be paid (yes, it depends on rank and dependents).

Something to keep in mind, the branches are doing some cut backs so if you're absolutely sure this is something you want, I would read up on the following and decide if this is a single obligation or a career marker you want to pursue:

More Than 17,000 Uniformed Medical Jobs Eyed for Elimination

I have worked with many Airforce pharmacists as well as navy and army. The day in and outs for each branch will be different, so I'll leave it with a current branch holder what their experience is like. In short, this is not a 9-5 job as you are training to be a leader / administrator as the ranks go your way. Personal bias aside I think it is a good career choice for those who have worked within a military family or enlisted side and know what they are getting themselves into. I will leave the perspective for Airforce to @dereku

 

[dereku]

I'm an active duty AF pharmacy officer (you can see my profile on SDN). As mentioned above, the salary changes with location, rank and time in grade. Plus, the one item that probably won't show up easily is a $15K/year special pay. When I came in, I believe my total income was around $90K. After 16 years, I am now around $165K.
Not to state the obvious, but there are many other aspects that come with active duty. Understand you are responsible for everything. Even things you have no control over. There are other aspects such as physical fitness, deployment, and a host of duties outside of pharmacy you will be expected to perform.
As you increase in rank, you get further away from the patient. You cannot/will not be able to spend your entire career in any particular setting (clinical, outpatient, inpatient, etc). Admin duties eventually overtake pharmacist duties.
With a PharmD, you enter as an O-3 (Captain). This is sometimes a disadvantage because those around you don't know you just came on duty. It is assumed you have 4-6 years of experience behind those Captains bars. If you have retail experience, you will come in with more credit (not more rank). This is definitely a disadvantage because you will meet your promotion board for Major (O-4) sooner. However, you will not have enough evaluations reports to make you competitive. And in today's environment, being passed over for promotion is a killer. Not an issue if you commission right after graduation.
I am prior-Army, so I did not go through the AF initial training. However, I have been told it is five weeks long and is not much more than learning how to put on your uniform and salute. It's called Commissioned Officer Training (COT) and if you Google it, you'll find a forum similar to this one, with tons of information.
I could go on for hours, but I'll end here and see what specific questions you may have at this point..