making sense of it all

1st and foremost thanks to you and your generous service to our country and our troops. That being said, to your original question if I am reading it correctly--what is the best way for you to prepare for Nclex?

Get an Nclex study guide, Saunders is probably the preferred book mentioned on this board. I myself liked Davis, I also used Saunders/Mosby and Kaplans.

The key to passing Nclex is to practice the Nclex style of questions. All of the books have a disk in the back so you can practice the questions just like Nclex will throw at you. I read all of the rationals for all of the options given even if I got the question correct.

Nclex covers 4 categories Peds/Med Surg/OB and Psych. I only had a handful of pharm questions on my test, I also had a few simple math, kg/mg/dose questions.

Best of luck!!!! and again, Thank You.

Order off half.com. especially this time of year(end of semester and people have passed boards) you can find great deals and pay a fraction of the price, but make sure they have the disk included. Some good ones I used were Saunders, Davis. Kaplans, Hurst or Mosby.

A Big Thank You!!!
to you and all the rest of our troops for your service to our country.

Definitely order used NCLEX practice books and be sure they come with the CD.

Also other students I know were pleased with taking a Kaplan NCLEX prep course.

What is the criteria for challenging the boards. I am not finding any written info for challenging the boards. Is it because you are an LPN candidate that you can challenge the boards. I am not familiar with what you mean by being an LPN candidate but I suppose it has something to do with your Army Medic training courses. Do the courses you take for Army Medic closely correlate with the courses required for an LPN?
I did find that one can challenge the CNA if you are so far along in nursing school and a current nursing student. I am sure this is probably different in different states. But I have not seen info for challenging nursing boards.
Best of Luck to You!!!

I want to thank you too for your service for our country!

I am just wondering, because I don't know, are there BSN completion programs for medics with your kind of experience? Like, you could enroll in a BSN (or ADN) program and finish it up within a year? That might be the best solution in the long run as you'd be prepared for NCLEX and could work as an RN anywhere, and apply for graduate programs (NP, PA) if you wanted to. Do you get gov't funded education for your time served? (If not you SHOULD!!)