Army Nurse

Editorial Team / Moderator · May 11, 2020

On 4/19/2020 at 6:08 AM, ReconMedic said:
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.

That is what I did after I came home from Afghanistan - I worked PRN in the ER at a local Level 1 trauma center. I missed my trauma! LOL

ReconMedic, BSN, RN, EMT-B · May 12, 2020

19 hours ago, Pixie.RN said:
That is what I did after I came home from Afghanistan - I worked PRN in the ER at a local Level 1 trauma center. I missed my trauma! LOL

Did you have to get this approved by your command?

jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA · May 13, 2020

Technically yes, but it's a total pain in the ***. It's weeks of emails and routing paperwork. Plus, you usually have to turn in regular logs tracking your work hours.

As long as you show up to work when you're supposed to, no one is going to care.

Editorial Team / Moderator · May 22, 2020

On 5/12/2020 at 2:16 PM, ReconMedic said:
Did you have to get this approved by your command?

Yes, I did. I had to write a memo to the Deputy Commander for Nursing (DCN - basically our CNO) asking for permission and demonstrating how this would enhance my role as an Army nurse while not detracting from my military commitment. I also had to submit a log of the hours that I worked there.

MikeyD, DNP, CRNA · Aug 21, 2020

On 8/22/2019 at 1:41 AM, 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?

You can either apply for the army’s active duty CRNA school (usagpan) or transition to the strap program for the reserves.

MikeyD, DNP, CRNA · Aug 21, 2020

On 4/18/2020 at 11:19 PM, Militarynursing 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?

Hey good morning. You would only be able to direct access with experience. 1 year of ICU, Or ER (active duty). No med surg this year at all. They probably aren’t very vested in you because they will be gone before you would be eligible. Don’t lose hope! The Army has been a great career for me.

also it is illegal to not put adhd on the form. If you have been off medication you will likely get a waiver after giving some medical documentation (pharmacy records, a physicians note etc).

FYI I am a nurse and a recruiter (one of only a few). If you have questions let me know I’ve been active duty for 8 years. I’m in my last few months of recruiting.

MikeyD, DNP, CRNA · Aug 21, 2020

On 4/19/2020 at 12:01 AM, Militarynursing said:
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!

The Air Force does do en route care aboard flights. The Army does flight nursing exclusive (rotary wing/helicopters). This has become a huge focus for the Army I have a ton of friends who deployed and were flight nurses.