Navy Nurse questions

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Apr 28, 2014

Nurses do not enlist...they commission. All nurses are officers. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Medical technicians, nurse aides, and LPNs enlist.

If you want to be a nurse in the military, the best route is to apply to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and do ROTC at the same time. I believe you can do ROTC as long as you have two years left in your program, and it sounds like you have a long way to go (don't quote me on the 2 years thing). There is a also direct commission route for nurses, but it is extremely competitive for new graduate nurses right now.

I personally see zero benefit it completing a bio degree if your goal is nursing. Take some chem/biochem to show-off maybe, but don't complete 120+ credits in a barely related field. I have many friends who completed bachelor's degrees in other fields, and none of them are any better off than me for doing it.

I don't know the ROTC route. I joined as an experienced nurse via direct commission in the Air Force (I was a civilian nurse first). My application was 6 months of paperwork, essays, physical, and an interview. I went to 5 weeks of commissioned officer training (very watered down officer training school) and went to my first base.

RunBabyRN · May 3, 2014

If you want to pursue physical therapy, become a physical therapist and then commission (different than enlisting). If you want to become an RN, pursue your BSN, pass the NCLEX, and then commission. I'm not sure what you think a degree in bio will do for you in the military, but unless you have a specific trade, it won't do you any good.

Joining the Navy now (which would likely be enlisting) does not guarantee you can commission as a nurse. You also would probably have difficulty going to nursing school unless you are accepted to the current program to go into nursing in the Navy (it's different now than it was when I was enlisted, and I don't know the name of the current program).

I can't speak to officer training, and boot camp has changed drastically since I went. They were just building the new "ships" (barracks) when I was there (I was in an old "ship"), and boot camp is shorter than when I went. A school, should you decide to enlist and become a corpsman, is across the street from boot camp, and was, when I went, 14 weeks. It was basically school all day, then you were free (including being able to wear civilian clothing). Most A-schools are NOT this free, and are more of a transition from boot camp. Corps school may now be this way; this was more than 10 years ago.

I would HIGHLY recommend commissioning over enlisting if possible. Be aware that the military is overstaffed at the moment, and they are NOT actively recruiting for the most part right now. They are hand picking who gets in, and they are kicking people out over smaller stuff than they used to.