You getting puckered up yet? You must be about ready to go...I knew a guy who retired as a major, he was a nurse-anethesist in the Air Force. Had a pretty interesting life. Do you have to go through basic training, or is it just right into the medical stuff? Look into the anethesia thing, too -- nurse anethesists are in big demand everywhere, both in and out of the military, and up to a point (major, I think) the promotions are pretty fast and automatic, because they want to keep you.
A woman I met in Wisconsin went through some kind of military medical training -- not nurses training, but some kind of technician thing -- and wound up as an EMT working out of the local hospital. That was a pretty nice situation, too, if a little high-stress.
And finally, my wife, after raising the kids, went back to dental school when she was 40, which is quite a bit older than you are, after getting a BA years ago in art. Took her five years, since she had to do some prerequisites, but after she got her dental degree she went into research, and onto a PhD in immunology. From where you're going now, it seems like there are a lot of pretty good options.
Good luck with it, and take your cameras where you can.
JC