Army Nursing

On the verge of deploying as an Army Nurse

By LunahRN - Back in January I looked at my phone and realized that I'd missed a call -- it was from our ER chief, my boss's boss. Uh-oh. Now what? I listened to the voicemail and just about dropped the phone: it was the news that there may be a tasker (deployment assignment) floating around out there with my name on it. I immediately texted my head nurse (my Officer in Charge, OIC), figuring he'd have details. He replied that he didn't really want to say anything because he didn't have much information... Read More →

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New Army Nurse Corps officers: first things first!

By LunahRN - I am speaking fondly to my direct commission brethren (and sistren?) who don't know their ORB from their iPERMS. Some of this will seem obvious to prior service folks, or people who have been in for a while ... as one of the Majors/PAs who works in my ER remarked recently, "Everyone knows that they need to get their transcripts uploaded to iPERMS when they come into the Army!" What? Everyone? I'm part of that "everyone," and I didn't know. I think they should have "Board File 101" at BOLC,... Read More →

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The Excelsior College Distance Learning ADN Program: Facts, Answers, and Links

By LunahRN - I thought I’d compile some basic information/answers to the questions we see here over and over. This is a work in progress. Please feel free to point out any errors. Thanks! 1. Excelsior College (EC) ADN grads are not eligible for licensure in all states, and some states have additional requirements before NCLEX: . Obtaining a BSN after your RN will not necessarily negate the issues in states that will not recognize EC's education; those states always consider the source of your RN, which... Read More →

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One Year in the Army Nurse Corps, DNA x 3, and Tinfoil Lining in my Patrol Cap

By LunahRN - In March I hit my one-year-in mark. Hooray! How are things going, you ask? Overall, not bad. I still work a lot of hours, and it's still probably too much (in others' opinions). The difference is that I have one employer instead of three, as I did in my civilian life. Are there days that are supremely annoying? Of course. Do I still love wearing this uniform? Absolutely. Funny story. Apparently no one took a DNA sample from me at my commissioning physical at Walter Reed, nor was one... Read More →

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The ER is the ER is the ER ...

By LunahRN - I really had no idea what to expect from working in an Army ER, but I suspected it wouldn't be much different than any other ER. I knew just from my experience with various ERs in the northern and northwestern Virginia area that most ERs had similar patient demographics and similar ... patient "challenges," shall we say? One thing that is markedly different from my old ER: the average age of my patients in the Army ER has dropped dramatically. One would also assume that because of the... Read More →

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And the Physical Training (PT) continues...

By LunahRN - PT, PT ... how I love and hate PT! I just completed my semi-annual Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) during the last week of October, and I was very happy to pass with a decent margin and score. I had been working hard on my sit-ups -- my Achilles heel to be sure! -- and I completed that portion of the PT test without too much pain or torture, and actually felt an improvement. This was the first APFT in which I wasn't too terribly worried about passing the whole enchilada, a nice change from my... Read More →

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Tapping into Army Tuition Reimbursement: Cha-Ching!

By LunahRN - During the process of orienting to the post, we had a presentation at the Army Education Center about using our Tuition Assistance (TA) dollars. I listened with interest because I knew I wanted to get started on my MSN as soon as I could. I learned that the Army has a website, GoArmyEd.com, that service members can access for tuition information, requesting access to TA, finding information about schools, etc. I asked my CNOIC about the process of getting access to my tuition dollars, but he... Read More →

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APEQS and SAFE ... more alphabet soup!

By LunahRN - My most excellent CNOIC (that’s Clinical Nurse Officer-in-Charge, AKA "Head Nurse") allotted a week for me to in-process to the hospital. I was so antsy to get back to working in an ER! So many levels of bureaucracy -- in-processing to the post, then the hospital. But both are necessary, so I tried to be patient (not one of my strengths, certainly). The first thing we tried to do was to get me logged into APEQS, which is the AMEDD Personnel Education and Quality System. This is the system that... Read More →

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Arriving at My First Duty Station

By LunahRN - It has been a while since I have blogged, and I apologize for that! You know how life gets away from you, especially with shift work -- those 12 hour blocks seem to make the weeks disappear even faster, and I'm not sure why that is. Anyway, enough of my excuses. I arrived at my first duty station in June. I decided I'd wait until after duty hours to sign in so that I could just wear civilian clothing -- I knew I'd be hot and tired from my 10-hour drive, and didn't want to try to find a place... Read More →

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101 Things I Wish I’d Known Before BOLC...

By LunahRN - Not sure how many things I'll actually come up with, and these are things I wish I'd known, or that other people probably wish they'd known that I actually did know, and I turned out to be right... 1. Do not count on getting paid for the first 30 days, although I got paid sooner than that. We started 23 March, and I didn't get paid until 15 April. This was during all the potential government shutdown shenanigans, so pay on 15 April was even tenuous! 2. You can take a $2500 cash advance,... Read More →

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BOLC Nurse Track: Yay Nurses!

By LunahRN - We transitioned right into Nurse Track the day after graduation. Tuesday we all wore our ASUs (dress uniforms) because we were scheduled to have a video teleconference with Major General Patricia Horoho, our most excellent Corps Chief, first thing on Tuesday morning. I had the fortune to meet MG Horoho at the 110th Anniversary of the Army Nurse Corps event in February, and she is such a dynamic and charismatic individual. It was clearly evident why she has attained her rank and position; after... Read More →

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BOLC Graduation!

By LunahRN - Wow, the last week is kind of a blur. We left very early last Monday for the field. It was a short field week for us anyway as we were scheduled to return on Thursday at noon, then do various administrative tasks on Friday. This was the field week many of us were anticipating because we would actually get a (simulated) taste of what it was like to receive casualties in various settings, from a Battalion Aid Station (BAS) to a Combat Support Hospital (CSH). Good times! I was lucky enough to get... Read More →

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BOLC Week Seven: Gas Gas Gas!

By LunahRN - GAS GAS GAS! Yep, that's right ... this week was the infamous gas chamber. For those of you who don't know what that entails, we were issued a gas mask (item M40), which, like the M16 rifle, is a "sensitive item" that becomes glued to your person whenever you leave the confines of your tent, even if you're headed to the latrines. (The latrines, by the way, had not been cleaned when we returned Monday, but that was corrected on Tuesday.) On Tuesday we road-marched a mere 1.5 miles to the NBC... Read More →

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BOLC Week Six: I Would Trade My Firstborn for a Shower...

By LunahRN - I'm kidding, I really wouldn't trade my firstborn for a shower ... but only because I'm not having children! When I last blogged, I was getting ready to take the final exam, and I'm happy to say I passed it easily. I am much more pleased with my 88% this week. Hooray! Monday afternoon we fell into formation and marched over to a building on post for weapons draw. It was so hot last week, and we stood in the sun and sweated all afternoon. We got our M16s, blank firing adapters, and... Read More →

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BOLC Weeks Four and Five: Mostly Great Stuff!

By LunahRN - My apologies for failing to blog last week ... it's been non-stop, and I've been stressed and tired. Lots of PT, lots of sit-ups! I will start with the good news: I passed my PT test today! Hooray!! I was so excited after passing my sit-ups that I jumped up, ran around like a maniac, and did a cartwheel. Haha. Then I realized I needed to make sure I didn't do anything stupid because I still had a two-mile run to complete for a PT pass, and I didn't need to twist an ankle in my moment of... Read More →

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