Navy nurse or corpsman?

DanznRN, RN · Nov 29, 2007

Socal-

There is a HUGE difference between corpsmen and nurses. Corpsmen are enlisted personnel and nurse are officers, not to mention a VAST difference in pay and responsibility. Bare in mind corpsmen have my utmost respect and are by far some of the smartest people in the Navy and that's an honest opinion. Oftne times they don't get credit where credit is do, but I try when I can to recognize them for their contributions. You are right, Navy only takes BSNs, so you need that first if you want to come in as a nurse. The GI Bill is great and it is a ton of moeny. As far as trying to attend school while active duty, that's become harder over the years with the increased operational tempo. So trying to come in as a corpsmen and then attending school to get your BSN is near impossible at present. Although there are programs with in the Navy that will send corpsmen to school to become BSNs, they are competitive as you can imagine. Also, if you plan on coming in as a corpsmen, i hope you like the sand and sun, because as your friend will tell you, corpsmen go where Marines go. So you need to consider that not as a possibility, but as a certainty for now at least, no longer a question of if, but when. Navy nurses do not attend "basic." We go to OIS, Officer Indoctrination School. It's a 5-week crash course about how to be a Naval Officer, not quite as tough as basic, but it's no slouch of a program either. you go with other professionals, like lawyers, pharmacists, etc.,. Hope this helps, good luck and keep the questions coming.

LCDR Dan

gerry79 · Nov 29, 2007

Dan is correct. There is a huge difference between an HM and an RN (pay and responsibility). I would see if the Navy has a program that would allow you to go from boot camp to HM school, or come in as an HM3 because of you LVN background. I just retired from the Coast Guard, which is similar to the Navy, and the Coast Guard allowed LVN's to come in as HS3's (Hospital Corpsman and Health Service Technicians are synonymous. The Coast Guard changed the rating's name about 25 years ago.) if the rating was hurting for bodies. I spent a year with the Navy at an advanced school and Dan is correct in the fact that a Navy HM with the Marines is basically a Marine. Good luck in which ever route you choose!

Gerry, HSC (Ret) Cardiac RN

kookinitreal · Nov 30, 2007

Hey! I have a few questions and I was hoping that there are some experienced nurses out there who can help me answer them.
I was talking to my best friend whos a Marine the other day. He was telling me that I would be a great Navy Corpsman. He was telling me all about the GI bill and how I could finish school without having to worry about money. So I went to the Navy's website and started looking around. I went to the part about nurses and saw how vast the difference is between military nurses and cilivian nurses.
Now, I'm pretty sure there is a huge difference between a corpsman and a nurse. I graduate LVN school in March and can sit for my boards in May. Through my research, I know that the Navy takes BSN, which is totally fine. I'm planning on getting that anyway. Do nurses have to go through basic? What about corpsman? Would it be better to be a corpsman and get the money for school? Or just go for my BSN and join after?
Thanks in advanced!

There's a huge difference b/w RN and corpsman. Depends on what you want to do. If you want to be a nurse don't join as a corpsman. You can easily get shafted into duty you won't like if your intention was to be a nurse and it can last longer than you ever imagined. If you want the GI bill that's one thing but it's not worth it if you become a nurse. Loan repayment and bonuses for new accessions is 4x as much money as GI bill pay if you're worried about money.

DanznRN, RN · Nov 30, 2007

I'm getting the theme from this that you can only get the GI bill if you become a corpsmen, not true. EVERYONE, is entitled to the Montgomery GI Bill. When I came in, I had to pay $100/ month for 12 months and that got me the GI Bill. Not sure what enlisted have to do. Just wanted to clear that up. Heck, I was going to use my GI Bill for graduate school. Since the Navy is paying for my Master's, might use it for something else, like learning to build hot rods, going to Wyotech when I retire. onder what the Mrs. thinks of Wyoming, HMMM???

LCDR Dan