Army Nurses: Please Give Me Your Guidance

kjwestm6 · Mar 14, 2012

Hello Healthcare student!,

I am in the Army reserves, as an LPN. Which means i am enlisted and not a commisioned officer. Yet I have worked with army nurse corps for my 5 years of being in.

*I joined at first for school. I went through the army's LPN program (so I had free housing and a paycheck the whole time in school!), It was the best desision I ever made to join.

* Experiance is somthing you can never get from being a civillian nurse. I would never have learned so much in a hospital setting, also my military experiance helps me every single day in my civillian nursing career.

* I have been deployed, I spent a total of 400 day on orders (the usuall for reserves) wich included training and 10 months in afghanistan

* As a reserve nurse your duties depend on what type of unit you are in. I have never been in a CASH (combat support hospital) yet, have worked alongside many RN's who have and the describe it as hospital with a wider scope of practice and patients. I am on a Forward Surgical Team ( which i highly recomend) we are a small 15-20 personel team who performs life-saving surgery for patients who can not make it to a CASH. I work in triage, trauma, OR and ICU (since we are small everyone does every job)

* Drill is one weekend per month, the 2 week training is usually in june or july and can range from 2 weeks of classes to 2 weeks in the field (not as bad as it sounds!)

* School is 100% possible, and usually the ARMY pays your tuition or they will send you (and pay you) to attend one of there programs to specialize (ie. ICU,ER,OR)

* Do it all over again? No question, I love this nursing, the experiance and i hope I can stay in and retire

* When talking to a recruiter ask what bonuses you could be eligabl for, student loan repayment, schools (army) and do your reserch on what type of unit you want to be in (like a surgical team or CASH) also see what is close to you so you are not driving hours on your drill weekeds. Recruiters can place you in a unit if a space is open. And before you sign make sure everything you were promised is in the conract and never lose that contract!

Please if you have any more questions I will be glad to help! just let me know :)

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Mar 18, 2012

Should be CSH vs. CASH (combat support hospital)

Agree with most of what KJwest wrote. When I recieived my reserve commission I had a ADN and completed my BSN while in the reserves which proves that it is possible to go to school while you are serving. One thing in the reserves is that when you are at drill there can be alot of down time since it is hard to get all the training that is needed. A common response by many in the reserves is that we are warm bodies ready to go. I enjoyed my time in the reserves before I went on active. In ordere to join the reserves you need 6 months of experience and 24 months to go active; this can be with a ADN. When I switched over 3 years ago it was not an issue going from reserves to active but from what I have heard it is not easy anymore. So if you want to go active get your experience in and then join.

New1LT · Mar 19, 2012

I went in the Reserves first as well as an ADN finishing my BSN the first 5 mo of being commissioned. Just because you're in the Reserves does not guarantee you a slot on Active duty. You have to re-board again and cross your fingers that you get selected. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 50 that were selected in 2010. It was a heck of a roller coaster getting the paperwork together to actually switch once selected too. I didn't get to my first duty station for 7 mo after being selected. Right now you still have to have 2 years experience. They're now trying to say you have to have 2 years experience as a BSN nurse (all two years). They're also stating that they're going to change the Reserves to require a BSN. Not sure if this is in affect yet. Seeing that the Active Army is going back to being a competitive Army it's all about how you measure up to the rest of the people boarding. Good luck with your decision!

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Mar 20, 2012

The Army Reserves will only accept BSN's at this time even if the web site is still saying they all you need is a ADN.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Mar 21, 2012

I think they've updated the website ... it no longer says ADNs for Reserves that I can see.

kjwestm6 · Mar 22, 2012

GOOD CATCH JECKRN!, It is CSH not CASH. Guess I was having a brain fart lol. I totally agree with you about the down time during drill. Somtimes it is frustrating because you feel like you are not doing a thing! (good study time though :)). As far as going active, it is very difficult right now. A new recruit has no issue to intially go active, while prior service are often turned down due to slot openings . Even after deployment no one from my unit was eligible to go active (in the past you were given the oportunity), many continue to find a route to head to active duty but retention just aint what it use to be!

baxgilter · Apr 2, 2012

Good luck, whatever you choose.

aliaysonfire · Apr 2, 2012

Thank you for posting this because I have been wondering much of the same.