I looked into joining as an RN. I did extensive research and found some interesting things but it was a few years back and may have changed.
I found that you have to do a certain amount of officer training before and during your education. They fit it in around your studies. Then you do a big stint afterwards. I was told you still have to go to basic boot camp prior to going to officer training for the RAAF and they were doing it for the Army as well but were trying to change that.
Officer training for nurses in RAAF is at Point Cook. For Army it is Canberra. For nurses, they do their specialist training in Point Cook from memory. Although they are qualified as a nurse, they have to learn "The ADF way" including things like air retrieval and combat medicine. ADF specific stuff. It is worth noting that the officer training they receive is not as intense as the others get. I was told it is because they aren't expected to make the same officer decisions as other corps. From memory the Army is only 6 weeks at Duntroon (excluding the time at Kapooka). I think RAAF was longer.
Depending on which arm of the ADF you join depends on your starting rank.
The Army and RAAF have similar nursing experiences and opportunities. The ADF tends to pool its resources for nursing and medical. So just because you're RAAF you won't miss out on the tours.
MOST nursing and medical staff in the ADF are actually reservists. This is because they can maintain their clinical skills and education. Due to the demographic of fit and healthy members, they are often restricted in what they see and do unless deployed. Having said that, there are several military hospitals around where you get the post ops and minor stuff. Big stuff is done in major hospitals. Most of the military bases hire civilian nurses on contracts now.
The Army hires the most nurses and you will have more chance of getting sponsorship through them. I actually found that a few years ago they had stopped doing the sponsor thing for those wanting to go to Uni. Some were able to get it if they were in 3rd year. But it was getting harder to get sponsored. This had a lot to do with low retention rates.
The Navy hires the least amount of nurses and they have the least clinical roles. In 2005 they had less than 20 Nurses in the Navy. A good friend of mine is a Naval nurse.
With sponsorship you owe them the years it takes to do the training plus that again + 1. So if the course takes 3 years, you give them 3 years to do your training + 3 years on top of that + 1 year. Don't forget with nursing you have to do a Graduate year which gets tacked in to your service time. There were also some rules about how you get paid for your Grad year but I can't remember those. And when you're on Semester Break at Uni, you have to go do ADF stuff. You just get your standard 4 weeks a year off.
I highly recommend going to the Nursing Expo in your State. There will be an ADF display with nurses.
ETA: A lot of the ADF nurses still do a clinical shift in a local civilian hospital 1 or 2 a week to maintain their clinical skills. The ADF is supportive of this because of the skills maintenance. I spoke to lots and lots and lots of ADF nurses and staff - not just recruiting.
Will DH like military life? Just wondering if it might be beneficial to be in the reserves for a while before signing up? Or maybe that's a dumb idea...
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