Navy Nurse Reserves?

Specialties Government

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can someone give me the run down on being in the Navy Nurse Reserves? I am in nursing school and was considering it. I was looking for a non-biased opinion per say, not from a recruiter/the Navy website. can I work a normal job and things like that? and what type of circumstances would be needed for me to be deployed or needed in the military?

Specializes in CRITICAL CARE.

Good Afternoon,

I'm currently a Nurse Corps reservist. You'll need a BSN to be commissioned as an officer plus civilian experience of 1-2 years to be considered. When you are commissioned, they fill a billet whether it be med/surg, psych, or critical care. The application process takes 6 months to a year. The whole point of the Reserves is to be deployment ready so it's not a matter of "IF", its a matter of "WHEN". You'll also get a crash course in military life, bearing, leadership as a non-prior when you enter as a Reservist. You'll be working as a civilian nurse but your minimum obligation is 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year to your training unit. On top of that, there is great flexibility in what you can do. You can essentially sign up for different types of missions 1-2 weeks long, extend it for 30 days, go for 30-180 days, or volunteer for deployment out of the US. Your civilian job is protected by law from getting any repercussions for performing military duty for up to 5 years but you should still be amicable =) What you make your service is up to you. Good luck!

I was wondering about how often you would be deployed as a reserve nurse? I talked to a navy reserve recruiter who said that if you are deployed for a "conflict zone" that for every one month you're deployed, you won't redeploy for another 5 months. So if you serve 1 year you won't be redeployed for 5 years after that. However, what is the rule for non-conflict zone deployment? How often can you be deployed? The recruiter made it sound like you can pick your deployment from a job board and that most deployments are 6-12 months. Also anyone know how long your commitment for the navy nurse reserve? Minimum 4-6 years I presume?

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