Army Nurse

catamounts30, BSN, RN · Aug 22, 2019

On 6/29/2019 at 10:37 AM, Spring624 said:
Sign on bonuses are only available for certain specialties: ICU, OR, etc. Like everyone has mentioned, talk to a healthcare recruiter for your area. Good luck!

Hi Spring, I was interested in processing as a 66S Army Reserve RN, I'd love to pm you but unfortunately it will not allow me. One of my biggest questions I wanted to ask someone as yourself directly was if I joined as a Critical Care RN, and let's say in a year or 2 wanted to attend crna school full time, I would continue to drill etc, but was wondering if they would then accommodate a new contract for a crna in the reserves?

Spring624 · Aug 22, 2019

4 hours ago, catamounts30 said:
Hi Spring, I was interested in processing as a 66S Army Reserve RN, I'd love to pm you but unfortunately it will not allow me. One of my biggest questions I wanted to ask someone as yourself directly was if I joined as a Critical Care RN, and let's say in a year or 2 wanted to attend crna school full time, I would continue to drill etc, but was wondering if they would then accommodate a new contract for a crna in the reserves?

To be honest I don’t know. I’d recommend finding a good AMEDD recruiter & asking them or someone who has actually tried this. Where are you out of? If it’s OK or Texas I have a couple I could recommend.

Militarynursing, BSN · Apr 14, 2020

Hello, I will be a new grad nurse this May 2020, I’m 24, no prior service, and single. I plan to go the career track for as long as I’m able. My GPA is 3.10. I do have ADHD and will need a waiver, I had an Acute back injury in college cheer. I want to commission as an army nurse. I realize as a new grad I will have to start of in med surg (which is the bane of my existence, mostly because time management of 6 patients makes me want to die) but all in time. My end goal is to get trauma ED, ICU because that’s where my brain is awesome under stress I focus very well. I had my senior capstone in an ICU in a big MN hospital. I just want to sit face to face with the Bloomington MN healthcare recruiter so I can actualy ask questions. All I have is a phone number for the recruiter and an address. Am I supposed to write a letter? Is this the dark ages?

I want to ask questions Such as I’m currently 30 lbs over the weight for 5’9” female, I’m like 200 and I need to get down to 171. I’m not obese just after my back injury in cheer I put on weight fast but I also am a generally muscular woman. Can I got through MEPS regardless of that? Do I have to pass the fitness test now or do I have time at COT or BOLC or whatever they call it to reach the score? Can I start my ADHD waiver now because I’m told it will take an eon to process? What are the odds that after my year of new grad transition I will actualy get the specialty I want? Can I request placement at only large hospitals? (I don’t want to be the CCN that is in Timbuktu hospital with zero crit care patients and just mindlessly looking at continuing education videos). I want to deploy so what makes me competitive to do so? What training can I get in my contract? Can I still participate in humanitarian missions while active duty if I’m granted permission? (Humanitarian missions would be overseas) All over I see things like oh the army won’t direct commission unless you have two years experience! Is it true? With gyms closed and the cancelation of the new fitness test is it now back to sit ups push ups and the run? If I had an acute back injury from college cheer will that disqualify me? I don’t have school loans but I want to possibly continue to CRNA school can that be in my contract?

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Apr 16, 2020

You're late to the game. New grads really need to start the application process a year ahead of graduation. The application process takes that long from the time you contact a recruiter to the time you start officer basic training. Plus, last I heard the Army wasn't taking new grads (need 2 years of experience) who didn't do ROTC. Check with a recruiter, but I suspect you'll have to look at the Air Force and Navy instead. At this point, you should get a civilian job in ER or ICU and apply to the military as an ER/ICU nurse.

Everyone's contract is essentially the same. You're not going to be able to get special carve-outs just for you. Quite frankly, applying to military nursing is very competitive and there's no reason to give out many special incentives.

You get to submit a dream sheet for bases, but plenty of people get bases that weren't on their list.

You will need to get a medical waiver to be able to join with ADHD. Generally, you'll need to be good without meds for an extended period of time.

catamounts30, BSN, RN · Apr 16, 2020

CONGRATS on graduation. Army is one of the easier branches to get into; I would highly advise you also to consider Navy and Air Force just because the quality of nursing and life are a lot better; however If you are interested in Army definitely go for it ! Also don’t forget Reserves is also a pretty good option especially if you want to do Humanitarian missions. Military hospitals are pretty mundane and you don’t see much critical care or advanced cases so you may want to do civilian ICU and military reserve on the side. I’ll send you a pm with recruiting suggestions.

actually send me a message and I’ll tell you about the tuition assistance program they have through the reserves for CRNA school; I unfortunately can’t pm you.

Best regards and welcome aboard !

SoldierMurse, DNP, CRNA · Apr 17, 2020

What jfratian said is true, it will be extremely competitive likely next to impossible to join as a brand new nurse without experience in the Army. Even with ICU/ED background and certifications, it is still very competitive. If you want to join now I would look into the Air Force/Navy.

You mentioned wanting to be a CRNA, currently, it is not as competitive to join the Army through USAGPAN and is something to consider if you want to be a CRNA in the Army. You would have to have ICU experience, at least a year or more and meet several other requirements before you could apply. If you Google USAGPAN the Baylor website comes up and contains information on the process, requirements as well as contact info. I've been in the Army for 17 years now 10 in the Nurse Corps and while it is challenging and difficult at times, it was the best decision I made as a young adult. Good luck in your future endeavors.

ReconMedic, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 18, 2020

Does anyone know who sits on the selection boards?

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Apr 18, 2020

Each branch does it a bit different. It's usually senior O-6s (Colonels) and the Corps chief (the General (O-7 or O-8) in charge of Nurse Corps). In the Air Force, we have a developmental team that consists of these sorts of people. They make decisions about who gets to go back to school (AFIT) and who direct commissions from the civilian sector.

Militarynursing, BSN · Apr 19, 2020

On 4/15/2020 at 9:49 PM, jfratian said:

Thank you soldiermurse, yes I realize that the army isn’t accepting new grads this year. I did get in touch last year and they basically said wait till you graduate and pass the NCLEX and get experience. My healthcare recruiter said I shouldn’t worry about ADHD as I was off of medications for all of my college years. She basically said don’t bring it up at MEPS. Yes I’m currently applying for critical care jobs in the civilian area so I can commission within my specialty. My recruter got back to me and was rather frank that it would be better to come in with experience in the specialty I want as its much more difficult to come in as say med surg general nurse and then switch. Yes I’ve seen it’s like an 11month process to get through everything.

Sometimes I feel like they aren’t taking me seriously. Is there something I’m doing wrong? I also feel it’s more difficult because communiqué is all digital thanks to COVID. Maybe I should call and ask to zoom instead? Anyone else have this experience? Any tips to move the process along?

Militarynursing, BSN · Apr 19, 2020

Catamounts30, thank you for the post. Somethings tech glitching right now I tried to PM you and a message popped up saying “you are only allowed to send 0 messages a day.” I will try to contact you later, not sure what the issue is.

My army buddy said it’s *** go air force (but he’s a chemical repair specialist so it doesn’t really transfer to nursing advice???). My friend who is a recent grad is in the air force and she likes it but for active duty she says that army has more bases more availability of positions and a better chance of active deploying unintended as well as a better chance of CRNA school down the road. (She was enlisted originally). Also I’d I did air force I think flight nursing transport would be my goal but then I have to pass flight requirement. I never looked into the navy but I understand they commission the fewest number of nurses. My grandfather was a West Point grad so army was always the go to. What do you mean by the quality of nursing life is better in the Air Force and Navy. I don’t plan on life being glamorous.

I have heard that the trade off as active duty ICU is there are not many crit care patients stateside that nurses spend shifts with one patient and sometimes no patients. That’s rough to hear. Like can you work on another floor then? I also enjoyed OR nursing.

Reserve side never occurred to me. I'm okay living on base as active duty or having a roommate as I am single. I never really considered reserves because I don’t feel like people are as connected and that it’s predominantly the civilian nursing? I’m not sure how reserves would work as a nurse planing to go the career track. Also a side question how do nurses get attached to active deploying units? From a army lecturer she just said work with the army 3 years and talk with recruiter about it. (Because that was such a helpful answer). Sorry for such a long post it’s just nice to finally have people who know the background of military nursing!

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · Apr 19, 2020

Low patient acuity is literally the bane of my existence as a military ICU nurse. Patients are lame and downright boring when not deployed. There are just not enough sub-specialty surgeons and internal med docs to bring in complex patients.

There are a few bases (San Antonio and Walter Reed) that offer decent acuity. Even those don't hold a candle to a major civilian university medical center (Duke, Baylor, etc). It's counter-intuitive but it's like that at every base in every branch of the military. There is absolutely no escaping that.

You get some good training on a variety of topics (chem warfare, weapons, field-craft, etc). Acuity sucks. Military nursing in a phrase: "hurry up and wait over in _________(insert war torn-country) for 6-9 months for a maybe." The maybe usually never comes.

All officer recruiters are like that. You have to convince them that you want to join. Just keep being persistent.

ReconMedic, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 19, 2020

2 hours ago, jfratian said:
Low patient acuity is literally the bane of my existence as a military ICU nurse. Patients are lame and downright boring when not deployed. There are just not enough sub-specialty surgeons and internal med docs to bring in complex patients.
There are a few bases (San Antonio and Walter Reed) that offer decent acuity. Even those don't hold a candle to a major civilian university medical center (Duke, Baylor, etc). It's counter-intuitive but it's like that at every base in every branch of the military. There is absolutely no escaping that.
You get some good training on a variety of topics (chem warfare, weapons, field-craft, etc). Acuity sucks. Military nursing in a phrase: "hurry up and wait over in _________(insert war torn-country) for 6-9 months for a maybe." The maybe usually never comes.
All officer recruiters are like that. You have to convince them that you want to join. Just keep being persistent.

Haha I have heard this before! I come from an ICU at BUMC and was considering doing moonlight shifts at a civilian hospital once a week just to keep my skills up.