Army Nurse Corps

[Watanabe_Joey]

In the Army Nurse Corps do you ever get trained to handle weapons? If so, are you ever able to go out onto the field and help in combat as a nurse, not as a 68W (Health Care Specialist)?

[Jarnaes]

Yes, you will get weapons training as an Army nurse. You are a soldier first, nurse second. You learn how to handle both the M-16 and the 9 mm. We do weapons qualification at least once per year.

As a brand new nurse you will most likely get assigned to a fixed facility hospital to develop your clinical skills, but after that it is recommended that you take on various assignments to field units.

So, depending on which unit you are assigned to and where they are located/deployed you may be on site when a mortar comes in, an IED goes off or in a convoy that comes under fire. In todays Army the nurses are in the mix of things, you have to be ready for anything.

Every unit has a 68W, not all units have a nurse. There is a lot more 68W than nurses, so they are the most likely candidate to be the first responder during combat and they are well trained to handle this task.

[Watanabe_Joey]

Thank you soo much for the information. Now im just wondering, would I be able to be attached with a flight unit such as MEDEVAC or ground troups?

[Jarnaes]

The MEDEVAC units have 68W's with medevac training aka. flight medics. The male 68W combat medics are the ones directly assigned to infantry and other combat units. If you want to be directly with the combat units then your best bet is to become a 68W or a Physician's Assistant. These are the guys who run the aid stations.

In Iraq we sometimes used the ER nurses, ICU nurses or CRNA's in medevac ops if the patient was very unstable. This was just to bring a patient via helicopter from the combat support hospital to the Air Force base for transport back to Germany or the states.

The Air Force has an awesome flight nursing program. So, if you want to be a flight nurse, the Air Force is your best option. The Army mainly uses medics for medevac.

[Watanabe_Joey]

Airforce has flight nurses ? Awesome ! Soo if i were to go into the airforce as a flight nurse, would i basically be doing MEDEVAC?

[Jarnaes]

Yes. Army uses helicopters with medics- short distance transport, Air Force uses planes with nurses-world wide transport.

[Watanabe_Joey]

-_- awe man. I am interested in doing nursing in helicopters, not fixed wing air units. Do you know of anything in the military that has nurses in helicopters?