Lost in choosing military careers and healthcare education (PA vs RN/NP)

I’m torn on what to do for my future and how to make this decision. I’m a current high school senior, and my current aspirations are to both serve in medicine and to serve in the military. But I’m struggling to figure out my how. I feel highly certain that I want to do something in the medical field as it has always been something interesting to me and very much aligns with my goals to help people in my career. Something that has always been in my mind is “I want to be able to help anyone in any way possible.” I mean this for both physically and mentally. I have an internship at a hospital through my school for my second semester of senior year lined up, but that won’t begin until around February, after college applications are sent out. I am also highly certain I would like to join the military (most likely Air Force) because it’s something different, I get to give service to my country, I want the experience, and I have the opportunity to travel and do things like humanitarian missions. I am also considering a full career (20+ years) in the military.

Firstly, I don’t know which part of the medical field I should join. I initially wanted to be a doctor because they had the final say in everything, knew the most and were the most nuanced in their specialty. (Don’t think I want to do that anymore, just provided for context). I then realized that PA fell better into my priorities because they have a better work life balance, more flexibility, from what I understand less liability (I’m starting to realize I may not want to be the sole one responsible for the decisions that could potentially end someone’s life), and less schooling, although still very rigorous with needing hundreds to thousands of patient care hours. I then started to look into nursing because they have less schooling and it would be an easier route to become an RN than PA with the potential to become an NP later, they have the same benefits of work life balance and direct patient care (something I highly prioritize), but I don’t know exactly how I feel about not being able to make diagnoses, as that’s also something I want to be able to do (although maybe a nurse can recognize something and be able to correctly predict what something is like a PA can?). I would just like to be able to see something, ask questions, and know what it is. If there’s anything I’m misunderstanding about these fields, which is probably more than likely, please let me know. I’ve been trying to get into volunteering and shadowing as well, but I’ve met many walls that have stopped me. The time to sign up for direct-entry PA programs is also usually by early November so that’s a factor in my stress too, as well as the fact of having to choose a major and it potentially being difficult to switch from a different degree to one in nursing (as obviously nursing programs are very competitive).

Secondly, I’m very split between doing military service before or after college. I am also looking into doing the air national guard during college, but that’s another whole thing that could be extraordinarily difficult to do for certain paths (for example PA, having to get all the PCE hours through jobs but also having the military commitment). I feel I would like to keep them separate but I am open to the idea of doing both at the same time. I am also considering a full career (20+ years as stated before) in the military. So with this I wonder, should I enlist first to see if I want to pursue it as a career for more than the 4-8 year contract? If I do this, I’ll miss out on the college experience of joining immediately after high school and won’t be able to relate to my friends. I’ll also be doing school later in life, which I worry I’ll feel like “I’m too old for this,” especially if I discover that PA is what I definitely want to do and HAVE to go to graduate school to become one, as compared to nursing where it’s only a 4 year degree with an optional graduate to become an NP. I also wonder how different college life is as an older student. On the other hand, I also worry that if I go to school first, then if I join the military and don’t like it, it’ll once again be the same story of “I’m too old for this.” I additionally feel that the enlistment experience is something important and something I’m afraid of missing out on. Also, would I even be able to choose my job in the sense of commissioning as a PA or RN, whichever one I end up choosing, if I go to college first?

There’s probably a lot that I’m misunderstanding as I’m still doing a lot of active research, but I feel very stuck and lost and I need to make a decision soon. I’m sorry for this being all over the place too, and if I made any inaccurate claims or assumptions, please let me know and I apologize. If I didn’t go into something in enough detail, ask any questions too.

TL;DR I want to join the military (most likely Air Force) and have a career in the medical field (potentially military for 20+ years as a medical professional), struggling between choosing what to do in the medical field (PA OR RN/NP) and don’t know if I should pursue college or enlistment first.