Army vs. Navy

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Hi everyone!! I posted a thread previously about the Navy Nurse candidate Program and whether or not you will be able to go to grad school through the Navy. Someone replied saying you can, but it's not a definite thing, you have to apply, compete, and be accepted. I met someone this weekend who is a 2nd Lt. in the Army attended the Uniformed University of Health Sciences in Bethesda...she is a medical student though....and she gave me the general feeling that there's more room for professional development in the Army than in the Navy which is why she picked the Army. Apparently, you get promoted faster in the Army. Also, I was wondering if I would have better chances going on to grad school through the army?( I am very keen on doing NP or critical care nursing.) Also, could someone tell me the similarities/differences btw the deployment patterns in the Army/Navy??

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, US Navy.

Venice-

We may have discussed the grad school thing in the past. Not sure how the Army selects its folks, but I went to grad school with 3 of them and they led me to believe it was a similar process, I could be wrong though.

As for the deployment patterns. Most Navy deployments are 6 months, depending on how you are with they and the training required they could be more like 7 months, give or take. We have been augmenting the Army on some of their deployments because they don't have enough staff and those have been 12-18 months. I spoke to my Army friend and he stated that the Army is going to be going to a 6 month deployment cycle and started in late JAN/ Early FEB. He is due to deploy in JUN for 6 months. As far as my experience, this is what I can share. Hopefully an Army person will be able to shed some firsthand experience on this one. Good luck.

LCDR Dan

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Specializes in ICU-my whole life!!.

Hello Venice!

What are you up to these days? I am an Army Nurse and have been doing this for over 20 + years. I can tell you that the Army has more opportunities for advancement and work experiences. It may sound a bit biased, but hell, I have been wearing the uniform for a long time.

I believe the NP program is at the Bethesda campus, but regardless of what are you going for, the Army will pay it. I know of a friend that went to Duke, but she had to pay the difference since the Army had a cap for TA...

At any given time, there are like 200 nurses currently enrolled in a masters program paid by the Army. I might be off on the numbers but it is close...

If you are interested in critical care, the Army has a school where you go for about 3 months to learn nothing but critical care. I think the Navy has one too. Right now, the Army is catering to critical care nurses, OR, and ER. There are not too many of them in the rosters. Deployments are currently 6 months long, but if you are assigned to a deployable hospital, you are there for 12 minimum. That is the longest I've done on my last trip to the sandbox.

Hope this info helps clear some things for you. Good luck.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
Hi everyone!! I posted a thread previously about the Navy Nurse candidate Program and whether or not you will be able to go to grad school through the Navy. Someone replied saying you can, but it's not a definite thing, you have to apply, compete, and be accepted. I met someone this weekend who is a 2nd Lt. in the Army attended the Uniformed University of Health Sciences in Bethesda...she is a medical student though....and she gave me the general feeling that there's more room for professional development in the Army than in the Navy which is why she picked the Army. Apparently, you get promoted faster in the Army. Also, I was wondering if I would have better chances going on to grad school through the army?( I am very keen on doing NP or critical care nursing.) Also, could someone tell me the similarities/differences btw the deployment patterns in the Army/Navy??

I am currently going to USUHS right now. We have Army nurses in several programs: PCNS, nurse anesthesia, FNP, starting next semester psych NP, PhD nursing, & PhD in a variety of grad programs.

I would say that opportunities abound along with promotions in the Army, but did you ever stop to wonder why there is so many opportunities in the Army? The Army is probably the lowest staffed of any militrary branch there is. Their staffing is in direct relation to the long deployments and the Army way of doing things, if you don't mind 15+ month deployments and the mission is always first attitude the Army provides great opportunities.

There are pros and cons to each branch.. FYI: I wouldn't advise getting advice from med students or physicians about the nurse corps...the medical corps is so different that sometimes they might as well be their own branch of the service...

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Specializes in ICU-my whole life!!.

WTBCRNA has basically cleared the smoke. Stay away from med students since they get promoted differently and get more "candy" than nurses do.

Are you in the CRNA program right now? I need to touch base with you if that is what you are doing there.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
WTBCRNA has basically cleared the smoke. Stay away from med students since they get promoted differently and get more "candy" than nurses do.

Are you in the CRNA program right now? I need to touch base with you if that is what you are doing there.

I am finishing up my first year in the CRNA program at USUHS, but I am AF so I can't answer a lot detailed Army questions. Overall though, the 1st year is exactly the same for all branches at USUHS.

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Specializes in ICU-my whole life!!.

Cool, I will be sending you a PM. Got some ?s

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Thanks everyone for all the info!!! So, I was on the Army's website yesterday and read about the Health professions loan repayment program...where the army offers you (i think it was 114,000 dollars!) to pay off all your nursing school loans. It seems like there's a catch there because if that was the case, why would anyone in their right mind do the Nurse Candidate Program...it offers you much less money?? Any thoughts?

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Specializes in ICU-my whole life!!.

You need to talk to a medical recruiter. this recruiter must be an officer. do not let an enlisted recruiter talk to you. they only care to bring you in as a recruit and that is it.

The officer recruiter will be able to give you the specifics. Sure, everything in the military has a catch, but you must be willing to bargain. If you are that deep in loans, then this could be your route. Just make sure you get copies of everything and take home and read, read and read and then sign up if you like what you are getting.

You will probably come in for four years or perhaps 3. These will be done in your first duty station so make sure you get a nice place like Trippler, Madigan, BAMC or LRMC. I must warn you, if you go overseas, and you want to do a generic course option, you will need to sign off to waive it if you want to go overseas. You will eventually get to go to the generic course option once you return to the states. Good luck.

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So, if you're a participant in the Army's Nurse Candidate program, are you still eligible for ARMY NURSE ACCESSION BONUS or

ACTIVE DUTY HEALTH PROFESSIONS LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM (ADHPLRP)??

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They are all seperate programs. If you are part of the ANCP you are not eligible to recieve an accession bonus or loan repayment. I just signed my packet today to be sent for the april board and they have you sign what your getting and decline the other options. Such as in my case I declined the 20,000 and 30,000 dollar bonus and recieved the loan repayment.

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I am a BSN student at NYU. And am interested in the navy nurse corps..I have one question tho, if you get deployed as a navy nurse to lets say iraq, afgahn, japan etc...do you get hazard pay? oversea pay? combat pay?

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