Need advice to join navy as green card holder

DanznRN, RN · Mar 24, 2006

Kelly-

Question #1:

In order to be a nurse in the military, you have to be an officer, they go together. There is not such thing as a non-officer nurse.

Question #2:

It is not completly impossible to become an officer from being enlisted. However, the programs in the military to do that are for people that do not already have their nursing degree. You already have your nursing degree. Because you have your nursing degree, they recruiter should not even attempt to get you into the military, it will cause problems.

There are programs for enlisted to get their citizenship through the military, but none exist for officers because you need to be citizen before you can be an officer. To me, the only way you could get to your goal of getting into the military would be to get your citizenship first. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm curious, what is driving you to get into the military? Do you have family that was/is in the military? There may be a loophole we haven't discussed. Let me know if I can be more help.

LT Dan

kelly302 · Mar 24, 2006

Lt. Dan,

Thank you for the reply. Now it makes more sense. One more thing, though. You said, the recruiter shouldn't even attempt to get me into the military since I have a degree already. What do you mean by that? Don't people who have BSN and have experience in nursing join the military later on? Or you are saying military nurses join the military program before they graduate and join after graduation? ( I know many people use this system)

Well, I have several reasons I wanted to join the military as RN.

1. Many people whom I look up to as nurses were (non-nurses, too) in the military in the past (or now). They have wide range of experience in nursing. They act in a professional way. I want to experience different fields of nursing like in the military because you never know what areas you may be assigned to.

2. I got an impression that nurses are treated more in a professional ways in the military. I have seen military docs who treat nurses as team members in a professional manner.

3. I want to advance my degree. The military usually has better education plans, in terms of out of pocket costs!

4. Last but not least, I want to have opportunity to work in different parts of world. I thought about travel nurse, too. But I'm not totally sure about it.

Anyway, I like the international atmosphere in the military. I experienced many situation where some people discriminate foreign born people. People in the military whom I met in the military treated me without prejudice.

Do you think my reasons to join the military are not so professional??

DanznRN, RN · Mar 25, 2006

Yes, people who have their BSN and experience come into the Navy. It is the citizenship thing that is the red flag. The recruiter should not be attempting to bring a nurse with a degree into the military because you are not a citizen. You have to be a citizen to be an officer in the Navy. Once you tell him that you are a nurse, but not a citizen, that is where the conversation should stop. If the recruiter trys to bring you on active duty, it will cause problems in the future.

#1 You never know where are going to work that is true. However, after about 4 years you do start to concentrate on one area. We receive sub-specialty codes in the Navy that are used to guide where we work.

#2 True, docs do treat nurses more professionally as a whole. It all depends on where you are stationed though.

#3 Yes, the military has education opportunities, but you have to compete for them. You submit a package of your experience and military performance and then you are compared to other nurses in the Navy and the best are picked. We had 81 positions open for advanced education this year, that was for about 3,000 nurses in the Navy, so it is very competative. I was one of those 81 this year, lucky me.

#4 Be careful what you wish for. Currently, military nurses are deploying very frequently to other parts of the world away from the states. If you have a family, you want to consider the impact it is going to have on them. I have 3 kids and my wife is also in the military, it is very challenging.

A few more questions for my own curiosity. What school did you go to? Did you get your degree through some foreign exchange program? Never heard of someone coming to the states just for their nursing degree, that's cool. Are there no nurses in the japanese military? Let me know if I can be more help.

LT Dan

kelly302 · Mar 25, 2006

Hi Trauma RUs,

Yokota base is not too far from where I live now. It takes no more than 2hours to get there. Actually I live closer to Atsugi base more than Yokota, though.

It is so great to hear you and your husband met in Japan, and your son was born here. I am curious about your impression of Japan. I see many military people here, and I wonder what they think of Japan. What was the biggest surprise? What did you wish Japanese people would have done in the situation you wanted to get some help? I am just curious how I can help them (if they need) because I know, from my experience, it is hard to live in a different country. :lol2:

kelly302 · Mar 26, 2006

Lt Dan,

Thanks for the great advice. I may still talk to a recruiter again, though. I know it is a tough road if I join as enlisted.

I don't want to give you a wrong impression, though. You may think that I join the military just for a citizenship or that I think it is cool to join. No. I do know that being a military is tough and challenging especially now during the war.

I do like the American ideology of democracy and freedom. I sometimes feel like the democracy and freedom are not exercised as much even in Japan, compared to them in the U.S.. I cannot imagine how people in the world live. I want to be a part to defend the people's rights.

Plus, I feel like America is my second home since I lived there for such a long time. When I went back to the States for the first time after getting a green card, an immigration officer said, "welcome home." I was so moved and just cried when I heard what he said.

Thanks for your advice, again. I may contact you when questions arise.

Kelly

Trauma Columnist · Mar 26, 2006

Kelly - I was in Japan from 79 to 82 and absolutely loved it. I was single when I went to Japan and actually dated a wonderful Japanese man who had received his education in Massachusetts. At least when I was in Japan, it was not uncommon to come to the states for an education and then return to Japan. For me, my experience in Japan was my first experience living outside the US. I was very excited but very scared about driving in Japan - learned to drive a manual shift mini-car in Tokyo traffic! lol Anyway, I always found the Japanese to be so very friendly and polite. I never had any problem at all. Yokota has been around for many years and I think it helped that our neighbors (we lived in Hachioji) had seen Americans before. I really enjoyed my time in Japan.

Lt Dan - you are right about the "birth abroad" paper. However, it does vary by country. Our oldest son who was born in 1980 in Japan at a US military hospital would have been eligible for Japanese citizenship had we not decided to do the paperwork. Our second son born in 1985 in Spain in a Spanish hospital would not have been eligible for Spanish citizenship since hubby and I were both American.

Great conversation.

DanznRN, RN · Mar 27, 2006

Kelly-

Sounds good. Good luck with whatever decision you make. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. In regards to the recruiter, keep your guard up and be aware of what they are trying to get you into.

Trauma-

We tried getting the Italian government to work with us so our son could be a dual citizen. My family is originally from Italy, but had come to the states years ago. In the end they said no, no big deal, we tried.

LT Dan