Army Nurse vs. Navy Nurse ... ROTC and Job Description

[olivia.826]

Hi everyone!

I am a pre-nursing student who is looking heavily into the ROTC program at my college. My school offers both Navy ROTC and Army ROTC. However, I have a few questions--mostly about what my job will be when I am an actual RN for the US Military.

1. What are the major differences between the Navy Nurse Corps and the Army Nurse Corps?

2. Does either branch work with children more than the other branch? I understand that going into the military greatly decreases my chance of working in the pediatric ward in general, but are there any opportunities to work with children at all? Peds has always been my passion, so I am just curious.

3. Does the Navy or the Army offer more chances to further my degree? I've always held intentions of going the next step and becoming either a Nurse Practitioner or a Physicians Assistant. Are there any opportunities for either of these options in the Navy or Army? And if so, would this training take place after my 4 years of required active duty?

Thank you so much for your help everyone, I really appreciate it!

[rustynail]

I must have sent this message before but here it is again: Apply for both, NROTC and AROTC.

For AROTC, there is a great book on Army Nurse Corps called "Angel Walk". That should give a good introduction of what the jhob entails. As for NROTC, for non-nursing majors, it is very selective! I believe 85% of its students must be STEM majors (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math), or at the very least they must sign up for additional STEM curriculum. This probably doesn't apply to Nursing students, I would imagine.

Army, in my opinion, has the most opportunities out of all the branches (USAF, USN, USA). While Peds is not a military specialty, Maternal/Child nursing is. They train for this specialty in Hawaii and if you really want it, you will most likely get it :)