[jbrecon2]

does anyone know the process, or how easy it is to be deployed if you volunteer? i am attending reserve OBLC in August and already have the critical care designator 66h8a. i have heard they like you to have a year before you go, but i am prior service and was already deployed for enduring freedom from 2004-2005. i am currently IMA but am switching to the 344th CSH at Ft. Dix I think. any takers?

[olderthandirt2]

Have you checked the AKO website forums? On page two of the forum listings, there is a thread about "volunteering for deployment". I couldn't pull it up right now, or I would have given you the person's name.

Anyway, at least 3 people wrote in and said they were deployed within a month of volunteering (if I remember correctly).

good luck
cindy

[Itshamrtym]

Hello:

What is the difference between CSH and IMA and how did you guys decide what unit to join?? (I believe CSH is forward surgical team unit?)

JBRecon2::: Good luck to you and OLDerTD @ OBLC!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you can stay in touch a bit and let us know how you are doing....
I'm pretty sure they would welcome you to IRAQ quite soon....
TAKE CARE Thanks..

[athena55]

Hello
CSH= Combat Surgical Hospital
IMA= Individual Mobilization Augmentee
jbrecon2: well, once you come back after graduating from OBC {{have a ton of fun! I wish I could go back}} you will be in a better position to volunteer. You must complete and graduate from OBC before you will be considered for deployment. Having the 8A will give you a "heads up"
Since you are RC, as soon as you have that OBLC diploma in hand go to your TPU S1 and tell them you are looking to volunteer for Iraq and/or Afghanistan.
As OTD2 stated, look on your AKO account there is a tab to volunteer for the "current mission"
athena
Oh and sometimes the volunteering thing works, oftentimes it doesn't I know a few people who have volunteered [> 3 years now] and they are still waiting.....A lot of medical people would like to have that patch on their right shoulder, but the "needs of the Army" and all that.....

[jbrecon2]

thanks athena, your advice is always helpful and you are a wealth of knowledge. i truly appreciate it as do others i'm sure. well, i'm just concentrating on OBLC for now and will volunteer when the time comes. all i can do is everything they ask, an i can only go everywhere they tell me to go. being excited to get back in the mix, all i know is soldiers are my favorite people and i would love to be taking care of them....in the desert if possible.

[jbrecon2]

itsarythm: as athena said CSh is a combat support hospital. it would most likely be a reserve unit in which you drill once a month. the IMA or individual mobilization augmentee is just kind of a pool of available nurses from what i understand. they assign you to a medical facility here in the states in which you drill two weeks in the summer, and if they need you for assignment they mobilize you. whether it be here in the states or over seas. i chose this route because i was told it was my best chance to volunteer for deployment.

[Gennaver]

Originally Posted by jbrecon2

does anyone know the process, or how easy it is to be deployed if you volunteer? i am attending reserve OBLC in August and already have the critical care designator 66h8a. i have heard they like you to have a year before you go, but i am prior service and was already deployed for enduring freedom from 2004-2005. i am currently IMA but am switching to the 344th CSH at Ft. Dix I think. any takers?

Hello,
There are two routes to volunteering that I know, (and have utilized both, yet, after discussing it with my COC...ah hem, after the fact...was corrected into 'un' volunteering from the second larger system which you can pick a CSH or IMA).

Route one, through your own COC.

Route two, through the HRC website...once you select officer/active duty/health services/nurses, you will be brought to a new page each selection, finally you'll see a page that has a lower left hyperlink for volunteering...also a special choice for H8 qualifiers. Good luck,
Gen
p.s. make sure to first discuss with your chain of command before you choose the second route...lesson learned...thing is, if your COC knows you are interested, they can put you on the top of their own list and when they are asked for people, you will be prominant on the list...get it? So, cough, cough...communicate with THEM primarily.