Combat Nursing responsibilities and risks

Specialties Government

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I am strongly considering joining the Navy to become a combat nurse. I want to help and assist our troops over seas. How do I go about becoming one? and what are some of your stories of being a Military/Combat Nurse?

Specializes in EMT, ER, Homehealth, OR.
Oh ok, I have an enlisted recruiter now pushing for me to go in now. And says the transition is easy, but I know it's their job to bend the truth.

But okay, I really wouldn't mind working in Med surg. I really didn't think it was that complicated.

5-7 years ago this might have been the truth. In 2002 I went from enlisted to officer in the reserves and in 2009 from reserves to active. Today it would be next to impossible to do either. The process is easy but getting picked up by the board is not.

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5-7 years ago this might have been the truth. In 2002 I went from enlisted to officer in the reserves and in 2009 from reserves to active. Today it would be next to impossible to do either. The process is easy but getting picked up by the board is not.

Wow, okay. I will take that into consideration!

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Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.
Wow, okay. I will take that into consideration!

It's economics.

Around 2002, I was finishing up another degree at my old alma mater, and recruiters were showing up to the nursing building with pizzas and freebies and an almost daily basis soliciting new grads. Now, a new grad is lucky to get a resume review at a career fair. When I went back later for nursing, I took the first nursing job, which coincidentally was the highest salary in the region so that may have masked the problem, but the first job offer isn't always the best. Remember, there are reasons why some institutions have recurring openings for the same position/shift/supervisor, etc. Just old dirty pearls of wisdom.

Around 2002, you could always find recruiters trying to entice grads to stop and enlist OR hit up OCS or OTS upon graduation. Times are changing, but everything is cyclical.

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Call me crazy but after two initial tours iraq and afg...I am still baffled as to why a person would want to do this.

Getting my 214 was the happiest day of my life lmao

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

If you're just starting school now, the employment landscape could be far better by the time you graduate. Eventually, there will be another conflict requiring military expansion; that's the time you want to apply. That's when they'll be handing out the insane sign-on bonuses, and it's also when you'll get the deployment experience you seem to want. I still think there is a general consensus in the healthcare industry that the demand for nursing services is on track to far exceed the supply in the next 10-20 years; that's going to really make it harder for the military to recruit too.

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Call me crazy but after two initial tours iraq and afg...I am still baffled as to why a person would want to do this.

Getting my 214 was the happiest day of my life lmao

What was your experience like ?

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If you're just starting school now, the employment landscape could be far better by the time you graduate. Eventually, there will be another conflict requiring military expansion; that's the time you want to apply. That's when they'll be handing out the insane sign-on bonuses, and it's also when you'll get the deployment experience you seem to want. I still think there is a general consensus in the healthcare industry that the demand for nursing services is on track to far exceed the supply in the next 10-20 years; that's going to really make it harder for the military to recruit too.

Oh okay , thank you for the much needed advice. I just dont want to make the wrong decision and 3nd up stuck somwhere. But, my ultimate goal is to do combat , so I guess time will tell.

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What was your experience like ?

Downrange or stateside?

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Im sorry , i dont undertand lol , but both ??

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Downrange or stateside?

Im sorry I dont understand . But both ?

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Specializes in ICU.

Im active duty (Have been for 1 year) and have quickly found out that the chances to deploy right now are extremely slim. The military as a whole is downsizing. That basically equates down to one simple fact: Save money, cut troops. Unless another war kicks up, deployments will be rare. In regards to what a nrse does while deployed: at leas for the Army you will most likely be working in a Combat Support Hospital. Basically a huge hospital surrounded by barbed wire and guards and you never leave the base. If you are specialized you can work in a forward surgical team (10 people in a austere location, but have to be OR, ER, or ICU nurses) or sometimes a chopper for point of injury or transport from one echelon of care to a higher echelon of care (example, a FST to a Combat Support Hospital). VERY rarely do nurses go 'outside the wire'. Of course, you still are in a dangerous location, and you can get shelled or attacked on the Forward Operating Base you're on. If not on deployment, you spend 90% of your time in a hospital of some sort or in training. Hope this helps.

-LT Blair

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Im active duty (Have been for 1 year) and have quickly found out that the chances to deploy right now are extremely slim. The military as a whole is downsizing. That basically equates down to one simple fact: Save money, cut troops. Unless another war kicks up, deployments will be rare. In regards to what a nrse does while deployed: at leas for the Army you will most likely be working in a Combat Support Hospital. Basically a huge hospital surrounded by barbed wire and guards and you never leave the base. If you are specialized you can work in a forward surgical team (10 people in a austere location, but have to be OR, ER, or ICU nurses) or sometimes a chopper for point of injury or transport from one echelon of care to a higher echelon of care (example, a FST to a Combat Support Hospital). VERY rarely do nurses go 'outside the wire'. Of course, you still are in a dangerous location, and you can get shelled or attacked on the Forward Operating Base you're on. If not on deployment, you spend 90% of your time in a hospital of some sort or in training. Hope this helps.

-LT Blair

Yes! Thank you ! Its helped alot . Im all for the war ending, but then not because I want to get over there and help out. But thanks again!!!

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