i hear ya about the pay difference.. it probably is not too comparable. as for the best way to transition from the enlisted to officer.. well as a Nurse you have the ability to receive a direct commission. This is a ttype of commission which is limited to Doctors, nurses, chaplins, lawyers and other pretty hard to get people with specific training. You are commisioned and then attend an abreviated version of OTS called COTS (commissioned Officer Training school.) This is held at Maxwell AFB in AL and is a two week course which basically teaches you how to wear the uniform, basic military customs and court.. as well as a general indoc to the AF (or reserves). I am sure this will be extremely easy for yuo as you have already completed AF Basic training which is much more challanging.
After this, you would be assigned to an AF reserve unit and hopefully a flight slot. From there on, your on auto pilot.. as with all AF Officer careers, you may not fly the whole time, however unlike other rated positions which usualy only fly for a few years then get tracked into other roles, you will be able to stay flying longer due to the limited supply of RN's and the overwhelming demands..
Like i said, its a good way to get into a cool job.. That being said, as a civilian flight nurse with knowledge of the military medevac system, I am not impressed with the clinical preperation or the clinical abilitites of the flight nurses out there.. unless there civilian jobs are in critical care units or high volume trauma centers, u will probably be bored with the actual nursing.. That being said, even the "stable walking talkines" can develop problems at FL340 or so...
best of luck with this and hope it works well for ya..
fly safe
j
