Navy Vs. Army Nursing?

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First of all I wanted to extend my greetings out to the allnurses.com forum I've been a member shortly and I have learned a great deal just reading these posts.

This is my first post and I've been having trouble on deciding which option or route I should take. I'm a junior level college student taking clinicals upon accepting my application in the fall and I'm not sure which branch of the military I should declare for. I know Army is more field work and I know Navy is more the role of the nurse practioner, But it still hasn't helped which option I should take. Anybody that can relate or has any opinions on this would be a great help.

Thanks

Pino

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.

LOL, when I read the title I had visions of a football game with all the players being military nurses. :smackingf

BTW, I would not consider the Army Nurse Corps mostly field work, nor is Navy nursing mostly Nurse Practioners. I'm certainly not meaning to give you a hard time here, and certainly glad to assist you in your interest.

Does your university have an Army, or Navy ROTC program? You enroll in Army ROTC the same time you enroll in college. Army ROTC courses may be taken at more than 800 colleges and universities. Army ROTC is offered at 272 schools. The remaining schools are those with partnership agreements. At a partnership school, you take your academic course work at the college at which you earn your degree. You take your ROTC work at a "host" institution nearby.

Here is a list of links that will keep you busy for awhile;

Army ROTC

If you are currently in college and would like to explore Army ROTC, there are several scholarship options available.

Army ROTC Nursing Program

Army Nurse Corps Specialties & Requirements

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
First of all I wanted to extend my greetings out to the allnurses.com forum I've been a member shortly and I have learned a great deal just reading these posts.

This is my first post and I've been having trouble on deciding which option or route I should take. I'm a junior level college student taking clinicals upon accepting my application in the fall and I'm not sure which branch of the military I should declare for. I know Army is more field work and I know Navy is more the role of the nurse practioner, But it still hasn't helped which option I should take. Anybody that can relate or has any opinions on this would be a great help.

Thanks

Pino

Aren't the Navy guys deployed up front with the Marines? Corvette Guy, eh? Plenty of field work there.

Z

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.
Aren't the Navy guys deployed up front with the Marines? Corvette Guy, eh? Plenty of field work there.

Z

Not the nurses...;)

Take care.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, US Navy.

Did someone forget about Shock Trauma Platoons? STPs for short. These are mobile trauma units that go where the fighting is, indeed up front with the Marines ;) . I should know, I'm a Navy nurse and was training for such a job. So before we start making digs at what each other does, lets get the facts straight. And I don't want to hear about "well when I was in Navy nurses, blah, blah ,blah..." I've heard plenty of that before about how Navy nurses sit on their butt and all that. Been a Navy nurse for almost 10 years and I don't sit on my butt. If you've been woth nurses who have, I apologize for them, but that's not what we're about. And yes, you did just _____ in my wheaties this morning. I have worked very hard to get where I am, all stereotypes aside, and when someone generalizes about my corps, I get a bit irritated!!

LT Dan

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.

It's "highly" unlikely that a Navy and/or Army Nurse would deploy with Marines that are actively in combat. Especially in the SOF community!

Take care.

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I can't believe how un-informed the general public is about how Navy Medicine takes care of and works with the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps falls under the Dept of the Navy. Hospital Corpsman, Nurses, Doctors, and Dental techs ALL go to war and work with Marines. The Fleet Hospital gets deployed with the Marines to set up shop and take care of the initial injuries. Go look it up. Also, there is a new book out called Ruffs War, by a retired Navy Nurse Corps officer who was deployed with FH as the start of the Iraq war.

http://www.dcmilitary.com/navy/journal/8_14/features/

Special forces use Hospital Corpsmen. They do the duty of nurse, doctor, and dentist all in one because they aren't limited by a license. (But it still doesnt pay as well as a Nurse...)

One the note of "to join Army or Navy..." you have to also look at the service and their traditions and attitudes and what you find appealing and important. I for one have a very hard time being around the Army due to their lack of pride in how they wear their uniform. They look sloppy, wear their Cammies out in public like its shorts and a t-shirt and they use any excuse to not wear their cover. Listen to the news and 9/10 people who say they don't believe in the war or President Bush, or anything else for that matter, and they are usually Army. Listen to the Marines and Navy, and you get a much more positive comment. Makes you wonder... And, there is just something about the Navy that is smart, proud, and clean. I don't doubt that there are some great things going on in Army medicine and great people, but for a job, I think you get a much more well-rounded experience as a Navy Nurse. I am getting doen with school as fast as I can to get back into that uniform and back around the people I miss. I adore the Navy. I wouldn't trade my job for anything.

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This one's gonna blow up big time....

Perhaps a first post should be a "Hello, Howdy, nice to meet you fellow servicemen/women and those with plans to serve" rather than saying bad things about one branch of service.

I am not in the service, so I know nothing of attitides and the sort.

Still the service men and women I have met heer have ben very nice. CorvetteGuy has always taken the time to answer my questions.He has posted pictures of himself and his son in their uniforms and they look very tidy and handsome to me. Lt Dan has been just as kind, even though I've bugged him with countless PM's. He spoke his mind in his previous post, but he was still cordial. I don't think he would agree with disparaging someone who choose to wear a different uniform.

Both have been very "officer-like"

I'd be proud to serve with either of these fellas in their respective nurse corps.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, US Navy.

SFGuy-

Once again, you have it wrong. Currently, I have at least 2 nurses that I know of deployed to both Afghanistan (22nd MEU, Marines) and Africa. If you don't know what's going on there, then that further explains how uninformed you really are. I will ask that until you do more research about what Navy/Army nurses do in the field, refrain from saying it is "highly" anything.

According to your bio it says you're in the IRR, apparently you've been in before, what have you got against Army/ Navy nurses? As far as the SOF community, you're right, generally we don't service SOF, normally not enough room for us nurses. However, explain to me why from DEC 26 - JAN 6 of 1999 I spent in support of the SEALS in South America? Can you explain it? Must have been "highly unlikely" then also. My family sure remembers it. So unless you've done it, don't bag on it!!!

For the rest, I apologize for me getting "up in arms" about this post. However, if you were in my shoes, you'd understand. Navy and Army nurses have a very storied history of our support of our combat forces. Not a day goes by that I am not proud of what I've done in the Navy and to have that picked apart, is UNSAT!! This should bare witness to how I feel about being a part of our armed services. I normally do not participate in such debates via the internet, but to say that nurse don't go in to combat is incorrect and misleading to others here, just trying to set the record straight. I hope the debate does not continue.:blushkiss :caduceus:

HOO-RAH!!!

LT Dan

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

i only have one thing to say:

go navy! beat army!!!

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.

Dan,

Ease up! I have a lil time in the Army; specifically the SOF community.

Nurses are assigned to combat "support" NOT directly with the frontline guys.

The possibility of a nurse being assigned to the frontline is there HOWEVER; they usually bring additional skillsets besides nursing.

Take care,

BTW...I just went into the IRR to attend nursing school after 18+ years of AD.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
Dan,

Ease up! I have a lil time in the Army; specifically the SOF community.

Nurses are assigned to combat "support" NOT directly with the frontline guys.

The possibility of a nurse being assigned to the frontline is there HOWEVER; they usually bring additional skillsets besides nursing.

Take care,

BTW...I just went into the IRR to attend nursing school after 18+ years of AD.

FYI, me thinks an O-3 out ranks a SNCO. ;) IMHO, you may want to stand down yourself, on the side of military courtesy.

No, an Army Nurse will most likely not go out on point with the Grunts [term of respect, btw]. However, a CSH Unit in the Sandbox is certainly not out of harms way. BTW, what about Medics at Batallion Aid Stations coming under fire?

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