Any retired Military around? Advice for a fellow retiree on Nursing career

[Tony1790, BSN, MSN, NP]

Howdy,

Any retired military or anyone else with a word of advice for a relatively recent retiree. I retired after 20 years military, still have 3 years GI bill college money to spend. I'm finishing up my BA in History this summer and I need advice.

1. Continue with a Masters in any field (doesn't have to be History)

2. Start over and seek a second degree in Health care

3. Forget going to school, get a job at the VA, County or state government and work at that until the ultimate retirement time roles around

I'm currently working as a Patient Care Tech (CNA) on a Cardiac Floor, not exactly glamorous (wiping butts, bedpans, etc). I put in for and am supposed to start LPN school in the fall, but I'm not 100% sold on Nursing.

Any thoughts, and or advice

Tony

(retired at 41 yo)

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Hi Tony and welcome. My husband retired in 1995 (age 42) from the Air Force after 23 years. If you want to stay in healthcare, go the BSN route or MSN. I would skip the LPN because their are more opportunities for LPNs. Depending on where you are in the country, there are many direct entry MSN programs for nurses. Only bad thing is, you have to lock into a specialty usually at the beginning of the program so you want to be sure what you want.

Good luck.