Hello,

I am a 28 year old male who became an RN in november, (Miami Dade College anyone?). I was an LPN since 2011, and i have my AA; I'm set to begin my bachelors at MDC in august. I read the 20 pages of the "military nurse faq", but i couldn't find a definitive answer to my questions.

I wanted to join the navy to be a nurse there, but my questions are as follows:

- Does it present as a problem that I am already an RN?

- Does it present a problem that my main experience is wound care/ home Health?

- Since i'm joining a "civilian" program, does that interfere with navy requirements?

- Does having my AA help in any way towards my acceptance into the navy?

- Would it be better for me to seek a career in the VA system?

- Would it be better to join the reserve?

I am physically fit and can pass the PT without a problem, my GPA is 3.0, I have no issues with my licenses and have very good recommendations from ARNP's and MD's whom i've worked with. Thanks in advance for all your help.

Nursing Jobs: Navy.com

Already being an RN will not be a problem with the Navy Nurse Corps. However, you need a BSN from a CCNE or NLNAC-accredited school in order to go active duty. Until you get that, you may want to consider the VA.

Also moved this thread to the Military Nursing Forum.

Hopefully once you get your BSN military nursing will be easier to enter. For FY14 (active duty), the Army is only taking a handful of direct commission nurses. The Navy isn't taking any. The Air Force isn't quite as overmanned, but it took me applying twice to get in this past year. The services are looking to downsize right now, and even if you did ROTC it sounds like you would be in the reserves---not active duty. I don't know much about the reserves, but I would bet that's pretty difficult too right now. My advice to you is to get some inpatient experience, get that GPA up, and get some certs (ACLS, PALS, TNCC, ATLS/ATCN, NIHSS, etc).

The Navy is not taking direct commission right now? Iv had a Navy health care recruiter nearly beg me to go down to the office and sign up for the nurse candidate program. I know that's not direct commission but what's the reasoning behind such a massive push for the NCP and not direct commission? That doesn't make sense to me.

Admittedly, my Navy/Army info is hearsay from this site; I'm Air Force. I'll give you the links to the forums on this site and you can see for yourself. I will say that direct commission folks with experience usually come in with advanced rank (1Lt or Capt), while NCP folks are always 2Lts; that may be part of it.

https://allnurses.com/government-military-nursing/fy2014-navy-nurse-803310-page28.html

https://allnurses.com/government-military-nursing/army-nurse-corps-889993.html

Something else to think about is whether your recruiter is trying to get people to apply just so that he/she looks useful in a period of cutbacks; you don't need recruiters if there aren't applicants. Ask your recruiter what the projected goals are for RNs for FY 2014. They might try to tell you they don't have numbers, but they definitely have a rough idea.

The VA hasn't been hiring very many nurses lately, and depending on the location it's even tougher for a new grad BSN to find a position there. In many areas there are so many nurses are being laid off from civilian hospitals that they pretty much have "pick of the litter" of experienced nurses when a opening does occur. The old image of the VA as being the dumping ground for homeless, alcoholic vets is long gone. The patient population there now ranges from World War II vets to Iraq and Afghanistan, and their hospitals are often better equipped than their civilian counterparts.

On the bright side, they have one of the highest pay scales for nurses and some of the best benefits of any employer. For example, you earn 8 hours of vacation every bi-weekly pay period, or 26 8-hour vacation days per year.