Navy, Hospital Corpman transition to LVN/LPN?

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Hi, I'm 37, so I'm only eligible to join the Navy Reserves which I have been contemplating. I am also currently applying to acceptance into nursing school. From what I'm reading on these threads there is a chance if I joined and became a hospital corpsman I could transition with no schooling to LPN/LVN (i.e. California)?

I am really interested in being a Navy nurse for different reasons, is there a need in the Navy for nurses that they would accept an older recruit once I got out of nursing school if I wanted to go that route? I'm at an age where I don't have the flexibility of options open anymore as far as the Navy goes.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, US Navy.

Although true that as a corpsman you can transition to being an LPN/LVN, there is no active duty billet for such in the Navy. It is a perk of becoming a corpsman that you can do such a thing. Also there is a stipulation that you need to have 1-year of experience to do so, not sure how it is spelled out in California law, but just being a corpsmen is not enough. As Far as joining the Navy, active duty wise, the only nurses we use are Bachelor's prepared. There are age restrictions on becoming a nurse in the Navy and I believe with the appropriate waiver you can come on active duty up to age 44. So it truly depends on what your goal is, remember Reserve duty and active duty are different altogether.

LCDR(s) Dan

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Thanks for your help, that doesn't apply to every state though does it?

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, US Navy.

As far as the Corpsmen to LPN/LVN goes, there are only 3 states that I know that do it, CA, NY, and IL. There may be more, just have to check.

LCDR(s) Dan

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