Army; flight nursing

ald11 · Feb 28, 2011

There are no nurses in Army flight units; MEDEVAC uses flight medics. JECC is a course that nurses (and doctors, etc) can take to provide car during transfers of certain critical patients. This will never put you in a flight unit however; at least in the Army at this time. There was a similar thread a few days back here:

https://allnurses.com/government-military-nursing/questions-about-intra-532376.html

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Mar 1, 2011

I've read of PAs (besides MDs & DOs obviously) becoming flight surgeons. You could get some flight time that way. That may be something to investigate if army, flight, and healthcare are your career objectives.

athena55, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2011

There are no nurses in Army flight units; MEDEVAC uses flight medics. JECC is a course that nurses (and doctors, etc) can take to provide car during transfers of certain critical patients. This will never put you in a flight unit however; at least in the Army at this time. There was a similar thread a few days back here:
https://allnurses.com/government-military-nursing/questions-about-intra-532376.html

I might have misunderstood what you had said about "MEDEVAC uses flight medics". That is true, but MEDEVAC flights also incorporate 66H8A and 66H5M during MEDEVAC missions especially downrange.

I was on many a flight from Baghdad to Balad with critically ill/multiple trauma Soldiers OIF 09-11

athena 66H8A

NursesLeadTheWay · Mar 8, 2011

I might have misunderstood what you had said about "MEDEVAC uses flight medics". That is true, but MEDEVAC flights also incorporate 66H8A and 66H5M during MEDEVAC missions especially downrange.
I was on many a flight from Baghdad to Balad with critically ill/multiple trauma Soldiers OIF 09-11
athena 66H8A

Thank you. This gives me hope! I want to get into a bird SO bad.

ally59 · Mar 10, 2011

Hi Athena55,

I am new to allnurses so i'm still trying to figure out how this all works. I am 52 y/o in Denver and have been out of nursing for 19 years raising my teens. I'm trying to get back into nursing and I am regreting not following my heart to go military a long time ago. With my age as well as being out of nursing so long, do I even have a prayer of getting into the army nurse corp? How are people selected? Is it like applying to a job and they pick the RNs with the best resume/qualifications etc? Is there any hope at this time as it seems from reading a lot of these posts, that the military/army is not taking a lot of nurses right now? Help!!! Thanks!!!

ally59

flyingsteak · Dec 13, 2011

I just completed a TNATC course with about 10 army ICU nurses going to afghanistan to be the second group of rotor army flight nurses since WWII. Very exciting. They were all ICU nurses and once their deployment is over my impression was that they would be going back to the ICU. The program is in its infancy and it will be interesting to see where it will go.

NursesLeadTheWay · Dec 13, 2011

Thats awesome. Thank you for the post. This thread has been dead for a while. Its really good to hear that Army Nurses still have some hope to get airborne. I recently read in a briefing by General Horohoe, the US Army Deputy Surgeon General and the Army Nurse Corps Chief, that the Army is definitely looking to reinstate the flight nurse position. Furthermore, I read that evidence shows nurses really make a difference in the medevac setting due to their training. However, I also heard that it is possible that medics, who are usually running the medevac missions in the Army, will receive more training so that nurses aren't needed in flight. Nonetheless, its always good to hear from those actually doing it. Or in this case, of those that have trained with them. Thank you.

By the way, what is TNATC?

flyingsteak · Dec 13, 2011

Transport nurse advanced trauma course

NursesLeadTheWay · Dec 13, 2011

Cool. thanks. Do you know about JECC? If so, how is this different from JECC?