Hi all, I posted here a few months back with questions on enlisting with intentions of getting my nursing license while on active duty. I have talked to recruiters from Air Force, Army, and Navy today and am feeling thoroughly confused and seem to be getting conflicting information so I wanted to ask questions of those who are living it.
The Army is the only one who can guarantee I will even go in under a medical field MOS (68W). The Army Sergeant stated that he may even be able to get the M6 as part of my contract at MEPS through some connections he has at the base here in TX all Army medical personnel train at. I was skeptical of this but he said if they can't offer it to me at MEPS, then don't swear in or sign anything and come home and he'll work on it. So by the end of the day I was leaning towards Army. However an old friend of mine who is an AF recruiter, not the one I dealt with today, just told me to be very careful with the Army. That just because I am guaranteed the training doesn't mean I will have that job at the end of the day. For example when I get to my field station they could say they had to many medics and they want me to be an artillery mechanic until a medic spot opens up. Because (according to him) with Army you are a soldier first, then your job. So any army medics or nurses is there any truth to this? Both what my friend is telling me and also the possibility of being guaranteed a M6 education on enlistment?
As for Air Force, badly conflicting info. The recruiter today tells me that they will send me to school as my full time job for nursing but I have to be enlisted for 3 years before I can apply for that. I believe he said it was OCS but I'm not certain because my brain is mush at this point. I am certain he said 3 years though. He says they can't guarantee a medical MOS either. My AF recruiter friend says he must be new because you only have to be at your first duty station to apply for the nursing program or for officer. So to my Air Force nurses, which is it? I am hesitant to enlist with either AF or Navy if I won't know my job until I'm in and could wind up pushing papers for the next 4 years. I asked to talk to a medical recruiter for better and more definite info but was told they are only for those applicants with a medical degree already. Hmph.
And last but not least, Navy. This recruiter didn't tell me much. Said they also can't guarantee a medical MOS and I wouldn't know until I was in whether I would be a corpsman or a paper pusher. He stated I could apply for a Seaman to Admiral program with recommendation. Navy nurses how difficult is this to get into and are there any other routes for someone starting from scratch. My guy didn't seem to have a lot of info.
Thanks guys and I really really appreciate any responses. I'm trying to make the best well informed choice I can.
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