Military Nursing Questions Answered

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Hello. I have seen many questions posted about the recruiting, the military, and future military experiences, I wanted to start a Q & A forum where you can ask questions related to the military from someone who is in the military.

- I am NOT a recruiter. I am fellow nurse who wants to inform others so they will be more informed than I was when I joined.

- I have been in the U.S. Navy for almost 3 years now. I have worked in the ICU for the same amount of time. I have also deployed as a Navy Nurse overseas. I am currently pursuing a masters in anesthesia degree.

- I will do my best to answer all questions. I will not lie to you about the military. If the subject is sensitive and possible jeopordize my career I will not answer you publicly about the issue but in a private email response.

Thanks and good luck.

Specializes in Telemetry.

This is an amazing post. I skimmed through all of it just now. But navyman7, I noticed that you had said that RNs in the navy reserve are deployed more often than active-duty nurses. I am more interested in the reserves b/c I assumed they were deployed LESS. I don't mind up to 3 months/year, but I'm sure you understand why I would prefer to limit time away from my family and full time job.

I know you are active-duty, but I wonder if you have any insight on how much time a nurse in the reserves could expect to be on active-duty.

Thanks so much in advance!

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Specializes in Critical Care Emergency Military Nursing.

Ginacat: sorry to say that my knowledge base is limited to AD nursing mostly. I only know a little about the reserves as I have encountered many reserve nurses while deployed and in the hospital while they do there "one weekend a month". So I am sorry to say that I can't answer those questions accurately. Do your best and try to speak to a reservist nurse. Remember a recruiter will give you some helpful info, but they may be withholding a lot more than you realize. I know this firsthand. Goodluck in your search.

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General Question: Which is better Army Nurse corp or Air force nurse? Do they generally offer the same benefits/ incentives as far as education, career, and personal?

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For those of you considering reserves for monetary reasons, let me share with you my experience with the military. You will have to earn every penny of it. You should plan on being deployed...which means that your high paying civilian job will be left (but not lost) for a job that pays less and is more demanding.

There is no way Uncle Sam is going to shell out $50,000 in bonuses, and a monthly paycheck, and only expect a few weeks a year of work in return. Negative. My advice is, if you are thinking about signing on the dotted line then you should be prepared for the VERY likely possibility that you will be deployed to some place you'd rather not be. And if you don't get deployed, there is a VERY likely chance you will get activated and sent to a duty station for an extended period of time. AND, if you are specialized in critical care, psych, or something else that is highly desire by the military...you are sooooo going to get deployed.

Long story short, if you are worried about being deployed or separated from your family...don't do it...it'll likely happen. I'm sure I'm coming off like a you-know-what but I've meet my share of ****** off reservists on active duty who did not plan on serving when they signed up. Just trying to give you ladies and gents the truth; however, cold it may seem.

Also, the Army is probably the worst branch to pick if you DON'T want to get deployed. And they tend to have the longest deployments, too. Pick the AF or the NAVY...still going get deployed, but they're not as demanding.

*Disclaimer: as always, for the most accurate military information, please contact your local recruiter*

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This forum is amazing. Thank you SO much for starting it. I, like everyone else here, need a little bit of guidance.

I am in the VERY beginning stages of this. I have been thinking about it for a while and called a recruiter today and am waiting for a call back. My background...

I am finishing my B.A in Communications in May and am working on being accepted to an advanced BSN program. It begins in January 2014 and I would be done in June of 2015 (scary, right?)

I am not from a military background, and I have no knowledge of the Navy at all. I LOVE the idea of serving those who served and being able to use a BSN and RN in order to serve a much greater good. That being said, I am a family person through and through. I am close with my parents and brother and I have a fiance that means the world to me. I love the idea of traveling and working all over the country, and overseas.

What I am wondering is this...can you still have a family, a real family life, while you do this? What are the chances of me being stationed in the states and not being deployed? What are the chances of me being stationed overseas, but not deployed per se? Can I bring my family? Are there long term assignments like that? What happens if/when I get pregnant? I guess I don't know anything, and am looking for some general info before I sit down with a recruiter all wide-eyed and excited ready to please people.

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- I'm not sure what your idea of a "real family" is. You may have to elaborate. Military families move around a lot and have to deal with periods of separation...it's just the way it is. If you make a career out of the military you will absolutely spend time away from your family at some point.

- Your first duty station will be inside the US. They don't typically send new nurses overseas for their first assignment...unless you are a prior HM (if you have to ask, you're not one). After your first duty station (typically 2-3 years), you may have the opportunity to get an overseas duty station like Italy, Guam, HI, Japan, etc.

- Yes, you can bring your family with you. By family, I mean your spouse and children...not your parents, siblings, cousins, etc (Unless they are considered your "Dependant"). You said you didn't know anything about the military, so I figured I'd make that clear.

- The length of assignments vary by where you are stationed. Overseas assignments tend to be shorter, strenuous assignments are shorter, and state-side assignments are a bit long. The average is around 2-3 years. Length of deployments depend on where the deployment is to, your job, and your branch of service (Army tends to be the longest).

- Having a baby in the military is a lot like having a baby as a civilian. I don't know the specifics, though, since my wife and I don't have kids. Typically, women work up until it's time to have the baby, and then they'll get about 6 weeks of maternity leave afterwards. You will NOT be deployed if you are pregnant, so don't worry about that. A lot of bases have day cares and stuff, too.

My advice is to start asking your recruiter questions now, so that when it comes time to apply you'll be ready for it. You can start putting together your package once you get your acceptance letter for nursing school...should take around 1-2 months to complete. The trick is to start as soon as you have the opportunity to because spots fill up quickly.

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Thank you for responding. "Real" family wasn't a good way of putting that, sorry if I offended anyone. I just mean being able to spend time together, see your kids grow up etc. I do realize that there is a lot of travel involved, and that is part of why it appeals to me. I really appreciate you answering, I had heard that recruiters are sometimes more concerned with "selling" than they are with your concerns.

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Specializes in Critical Care Emergency Military Nursing.

Sarahmay:

If family is the most important thing to you, like it is me, then don't join. The Navy ALWAYS takes priority. They will tell you that they will work with you and all that, but for the most part they fall way short. (I would be willing to chat offline about this in more detail if you would like, send me a PM). I always tell people if I was single the Navy would be great and I could put up with all that the Navy makes me do. However being married and with kids, I wouldn't do this again. Many, many of my married with kids friends (who haven't been in for 10+ years feel the same).

As for recruiters, BEWARE! Like I have said over and over here, they are very helpful and will give you tons of info, but often times they leave out the important details that make a HUGE difference. If you are wanting to care for those who have served, you can always work as a civilian in a military facility or the VA. Both are great places to work. I have done both. Good luck.

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NavyMan7: I would love to chat more about this. I am getting a lot of different feedback and I am really interested in your take. I think I "friended" you, but I don't know how to PM. Let me know if you can figure it out.

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I am graduating from nursing school this May and looking to get into either the Air Force or the Navy. I was wondering if you had any incite into the major differences. Also I don't want to stay and do the standard nursing in a standard hospital, I understand I have to pay my dues but and was wondering how one would become a part of a FRSS. One of my good friends was a corpsman, just got out after serving 6 years and says he thinks it's what I'd love. I'm really just starting looking into all of this, I just feel like I want to do more for my country and the soldiers who serve it. Any input would be greatly appreciated I feel very naive and when reading a lot of these posts it almost feels like they are in a different language. I want to try to get an accurate picture of what I'd be signing up for.

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Specializes in Critical Care Emergency Military Nursing.

KR681683-

Take a look at some of the earlier posts posted in this forum. Someone has asked about the FRSS here and there are some answers already.

I can understand your apprehension regarding everything that the military is. If you could post some of your questions here then we can help clear some things up. I can't speak about the Air Force, but read through these posts and it should give you some info regarding the Navy.

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Hi Navyman7,

I just got off the phone with a Navy recruiter. I gave some general information (height, weight, what school I graduated from, etc.). I didn't know if I was supposed to ask any other questions. He gave me the phone numbers to an HMC and another Commander. Do I contact them today? Or should I give it another day? The recruiter told me he would be forwarding my information to someone and he took my cell phone number. Do I just wait for now?

Sorry if these sound like silly questions, but I'm very new to all this. I just want to do what's best & most professional to increase my chances of getting enlisted.

Currently, I do meet the requirements they have listed online, but my understanding is that it is very competitive to get in. My GPA was a 3.31, not horrible but not the best either. Wondering if that would hinder me... I'm extremely interesting in Critical Care and Emergency medicine.

Thanks very much in advance.

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