Can I become an army nurse?

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Question for those who may know. I am a 40 year old man. I will finish my BSN in May. I have spoken to members of Army, Navy, and Air Force. I was strongly considering the Navy, but when I spoke to the recruiter she really seems to be looking for an excuse to exclude me. Eventually she noticed my elbow and asked about it. I have a mild case of psoriasis. She sent me an email a few days later saying that disqualifies me from Navy nursing and that there was no waiver . A couple days after that she sent another email asking for documentation from my doctor about it.

After evaluating everything in my life, etc, the Army reserve looks to be the best fit for me. My concerns:

1. I suck at running. I get bad shin splints. I've been working on it and am slowly getting better. Slowly!

2. I have two very minor arrest from 20 years ago. I was 18 and 19. Drunk and disorderly.

Any advice. I'm putting in the work to make this happen.

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What has the Army medical recruiter told you? That is the best source of current information.

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Specializes in EMT, ER, Homehealth, OR.

Your age and lack of experience will be your biggest road block. Today most services require 2 years experience. Talk with a healthcare recruiter from each service to find out what there requirements are. The age limit is 42 in order to have 20 years before you are 62. There are waivers but hard to get right now. There is nothing lost if you try but your answer will be no if you do not try.

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Talk to a lawyer and get your cases exsponged(sp? Sorry pressed for time) and get med clearance from a doc and you will be fine. I want to enlist too but dont have the bsn :(

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Officers, which includes all nurses, commission (O1, O2, etc). They do not enlist (E1-E9). If you enlist with a BSN, then you won't be practicing as a registered nurse in the military (even if you are licensed as an RN).

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Your age and lack of experience will be your biggest road block. Today most services require 2 years experience. Talk with a healthcare recruiter from each service to find out what there requirements are. The age limit is 42 in order to have 20 years before you are 62. There are waivers but hard to get right now. There is nothing lost if you try but your answer will be no if you do not try.

None of the services are requiring two years' experience. They're all terribly short manned.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

While many specialties are undermanned, that doesn't mean all the slots are fully funded. I can't find any references and don't have any army inside knowledge, but I've definitely seen many Army nurses on this site claim 2 years is required for direct accession recently. The Air Force definitely takes new grads. I have no idea about the Navy.

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Specializes in EMT, ER, Homehealth, OR.

I just retired from the Army and it is overmanned. It had a retention board last year for Captains and some where sent packing. The Army does require 2 years experience right now for direct acession. ROTC grads are not all being placed in active duty slots right now. The Army is filling some nursing slots with other AMEDD billets ie PA's PT's etc.

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I met with the Army recruiter yesterday. They have more than enough applicants already for the few open slots. Moreover, they are not offering any signing bonuses, neither active nor reserve. I'm bummed :( I wanted to serve.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Honestly, you'll probably have better quality of life in the AF or Navy any way (no offense). I feel confident that they are still taking some new grads.

Or, get a few years of experience in a high need area...especially OR and to a lesser extent ICU and ER, and apply again.

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I'm a critical care float in my hospital. I can do ICU and I work in ER once or twice a week. Is the Air Force offering any sort of bonuses though? It would be helpful in paying off some debt.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

You'd have to check with a healthcare recruiter. The latest cohort of new grads we got at our base (6 months ago) got $20K sign-on bonuses but loan repayment wasn't available. Google 'Air Force Recruiter.' In the recruiter finder drop down box, click 'healthcare student or professional.'

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