Military Nursing

[nursebeetea]

Hello,

I'm somewhat of a new grad with a BSN with zero I mean absolute zero experience ( besides nursing school). I have been thinking of going into the military to serve as an RN, and I'm so confused on which route to take ( Air Force, Navy, etc). I've researched that Air Force is the best option to take overall, but I'm not sure which offers the best opportunity for nursing. Also, I'm not sure how the service looks upon taking nurses without experience/new grads. If you have any insight on the topic it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

P.S: If there any nurses that are currently serving can you offer a little insight on the pros and cons of your experience, and what constraints the service puts on your personal life. I'm sort of an extrovert free spirit, and I've been told that personality wouldn't mesh with the military..lol

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

Government / Military Nursing

Start here.

As a new grad, the Army is out as they are not accepting RNs without experience. Even with Air Force or Navy, the competition is going to be stiff. We are drawing down and losing funding all at once, so the optempo tends to be pretty fast and loose. If you get in, expect to work a fair amount of overtime (uncompensated, of course) and understand that you will have extra duties in addition to nursing that will often bring you in on your days off.

It really depends on your perspective if you want to join now. If you're willing to serve and do whatever the military tells you, you'll probably be fine. If you want to have a life outside the service or you have other priorities (ex: family, friends), the military probably isn't for you.

Source: I'm an active duty Army Nurse for over 3 years.

[RunBabyRN]

From what I've seen, the Navy also requires experience. Former Navy corpsman with plenty of contacts still in, mostly officers.