Navy nursing - new nurse Pros and Cons

anchorRN, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN · Nov 18, 2016

Hi! I'm currently active duty in the Navy's Nurse Corps. I'm stationed on an Aircraft Carrier and my day to day life is here on the ship because we are underway. Expect to be away from family and long hours (and even months and months at a time) I definitely work more in the military as a nurse than i ever did as a civie. The pay is good, and the benefits are outstanding. there is truly nothing like the military's benefits when it comes to retirement (full medical and pension).

With that being said, you pay for it. In blood sweat and tears lol. Expect assignments you dont want (not everyone gets sunny San Diego), I'm looking at you LeMoore, CA and Twentynine Palms, CA - these areas are in the hellbasket of earth and yet... there are navy hospitals there that needs nurses. I was lucky and got San Diego and if you stay in the Navy for any long period of time you will most likely get there.

For deployments, if youre on a ship (pretty rare unless you are an ICU Nurse), they aren't too bad. You will never be stationed on a ship unless you are an ICU nurse (well except for the Mercy/Comfort but thats a vacation cruise). I also went to Afghanistan for 6 months. The Afghanistan deployments are winding down but we are still sending nurses over there. With the new Administration, that could obviously change.

Big cons for me are Duty and Collaterals. you have to stand duty. Duty duty duty duty. and you dont get paid for it. Duty is 24 hrs btw. Dont forget Collateral jobs! Collaterals Collaterals, collaterals.... they expect you to do a crap ton more work outside your regular job (oh dont forget no OT in the military!)

I cant comment on reserve but I think i would hate it.

MAKE SURE when you speak with a recruiter he or she is an OFFICER recruiter. DO NOT agree to enlist. There have been many people who have been told "all you have to do is enlist and then u can go nursing" LIES ALL LIES. DO NOT ENLIST. Make sure you are signing up for a direct commission.

Also the Fiscal Year starts in October of each year. Nursing quotas (for new nurses) fill up very fast and if you dont have your stuff submitted welllllll before the beginning of the fiscal year, you may find yourself on a waitlist til the next year. Get your stuff in NOW if you are even remotely close to finishing nursing school do not wait til the last minute because the spots will be gone.

Feel free to PM me, I'd be happy to answer more questions.

thomasianbella · Feb 3, 2017

Hello, Anchor Rn.

Im from the Philippines. Took the nclex last nov 2016and passed it. Still here in the Ph but deciding to move to US this March 2017. I am planning to apply in the Navy Nurse Corps and emailed one of the recruiters concerning navynurse corps. He has given me a file about the basic requirements. I met all the requirements except the schooling part. I graduated from the ph and got my bachelors here. In the pdf file he sent me, it states there that for foreign grad nurses, you might be given an award for BSN or MSN. I am a bit confused about that part. Do I need to take my BSN again or am I allowed to take my MSN already? But I dont have any clinical experience yet. I tried to send him again an email and still currently waiting for his response. Do you have any idea about this? Thank you so much for your time. í ½í¸€

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Feb 3, 2017

You'll need an MSN from a U.S. accredited nursing school since your BSN is foreign. You also need to be a U.S. Citizen. You will eventually have to renounce any other citizenships you might have.

thomasianbella · Feb 4, 2017

Thanks for that info jfratian!