Army Nursing & ROTC Questions!!

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Hello,

I'm almost a senior in high school and currently thinking about becoming an Army Nurse and doing ROTC in college. My parents are freaking out because they don't want me to make a commitment that I may not like, especially to the military. I have found some programs that I really like in Boston University and NYU. If I don't do ROTC in school, I still would want to become an Army Nurse once I graduate, but I've heard that you need 2 years of experience, so I'd rather just go right in after I graduate from ROTC. Is there anyone who can provide some insight to Army Nursing (what you do, where you can travel, if you have encountered sexism) and ROTC? I know that sometimes it's hard to balance schoolwork and ROTC, but I think it will be worth it. Any information will do! Thanks!!

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

There are a lot of posts about those very topics in this forum - do a little searching and you'll likely find your answers. Best of luck to you! :)

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What specific questions do you have? I did ROTC/nursing but there are many good threads already around here....

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What was your experience like? Do you think it is worth it compared to civilian?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I thought I would chime in, since I've done civilian and military nursing. I direct commissioned as an experienced nurse. I haven't heard of too many nurses who were both prior civilian nurses and did ROTC (maybe possible if they did ROTC during an MSN).

I personally like military nursing better. I find that there are more training, education, and career advancement opportunities in the military. I found it was like pulling teeth to take extra classes in the civilian world (like PALS for people who didn't need it). Plus, civilians tend to only care about showing up, doing their 12, and going home. The civilian world doesn't really care about graduate education, and only the managers and mid-levels even had MSNs.

I found that civlian career ladders were a joke. This was for my hospital in NC, but I find the story is pretty on-par with other hospitals. A clinical nurse 4 (highest) makes $4.50/hour more than me (~9k/year), but it takes 6 years minimum to get there; after that you get auto 50 cent/hr/year raises (~1k/year) if you show up and look pretty topping-out at ~$32/hr (not including differentials). Therefore you end up with horrible salary compression: a nurse of 6 years makes only a few thousand dollars less that a nurse of 20 years. The military is way better, because a Major (O4) of 12 years will make over double what a 2nd Lt (O1) nurse will make.

I also find that the workload is way more tolerable compared to the civilian world. I generally have 4 patients on a med-surg floor. Maybe 25% of the time it's 5 patients. We never do 6 unless it's a mass casualty emergency.

You do have what seems like 2-3x per month mandatory meetings (~2 hrs) no matter what shift you work. You are required to fill out safety forms for even kayaking or skiing. You have to submit itineraries in writing if you're under 26 for every vacation. You will be required to complete additional duties (coordinating the student nurse clinicals, coordinating the new nurse orientations, etc) that will take up 6-12 hours per week in addition to your 3 12-hour shifts. Finally, you can be deployed 6 months out of every 18 months as a med-surg nurse. Right now, not that many people are deploying. I find it worthwhile over all.

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Just what I needed to hear, thank you!

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

As an Army nurse who came from civilian nursing as a direct commission, I have to say Army facilities highly favor their civilian employees, to the detriment of its Army nurses. Our deployments are also a little different than what jfratian mentioned for Air Force - we go for 9 months. I have more than 3 years in at this point, and I will be going back to the civilian world next year. Army nursing isn't a bad gig, but I need a little more flexibility in my life about where I live, as I have had some life changes since commissioning.

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ROTC is totally doable with nursing, however there are a few stigmas with nursing students in ROTC. Many of the other cadets look down on the nurses because many simply are not up to par with Army skills party because they focus too much on nursing or if they weren't nurses they wouldn't have joined the Army anyway which makes their military intuition lackluster at best.

If you do decent in ROTC and nursing I can almost guarantee you will get active duty, previously everyone got active duty but with the cuts you have to be at least above average.

As for military vs civilian nursing I like the military better. Why? Here it is:

Military Pros

-They throw education and opportunities at you

-RESOURCES. Holy crap every time I work at a military hospital for my reserve job I can not believe the support they have whether it be unit secretaries, LPNs, medics, lab personnel, you name it! Civilian hospitals push you to the freaking limit with staffing and resources to the point you are almost overwhelmed.

-Patient population, everyone has insurance and generally a stable income meaning patient's USUALLY come in less sick or worse off than their civvy counterparts (excluding combat injuries obviously)

- Pay, the promotion rate and pay ladder is pretty dang good for most areas of the country

Military Cons

-PCSing or moving every 2-3 years

- IMO (no offense to any AD folks) I feel new civvy nurses in level 1/2 or even 3 hospitals get better patient exposure than military nurses. I have compared experiences with active duty friends (or seen with my own eyes) and the complexity of cases or general patient load is less than some new ICU nurse in a inner city hospital. I really think people in the .mil world who haven't seen patients on the outside are trapped in a bubble. The ICU at the MEDCEN I was at couldn't compare to the civilian one down the street.

TLDR: I think the military is the way to go, but a few years in civilian nursing will make you a better nurse IMO

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
-RESOURCES. Holy crap every time I work at a military hospital for my reserve job I can not believe the support they have whether it be unit secretaries, LPNs, medics, lab personnel, you name it! Civilian hospitals push you to the freaking limit with staffing and resources to the point you are almost overwhelmed.

Wow, I wanna go where you are. We are more bare bones than my civilian places ever were! Are you drilling at a MEDCEN?

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Wow, I wanna go where you are. We are more bare bones than my civilian places ever were! Are you drilling at a MEDCEN?

I have been to a few for AD orders and currently drill at a major MEDCEN

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