Day in the life of an Army Reserve Nurse

athena55, BSN, RN · Nov 27, 2008

hello renee: i'll try to answer some, if not most, of your questions:

what is your life like as a reserve nurse?

well, i am active duty now, but when i was in the reserves my tpu (troop program unit) had their drills/battle assemblies on the second weekend of every month, so i knew ahead of time (because you will also get the schedule) of when i needed to have that particular weekend off. i first started off with ne marsg s1, then had the opportunity to join up with the 344th csh (combat support hospital) but was switched over to the 7238th msu (medical support unit)...it all depends on the needs of the army! depending on the units metl (mission essential task list) one month you may be training the other soldiers how to insert an iv, another month you may be going out for a longer weekend (three or four days) to do weapons qualification. your tpu may also seek out volunteers to go do srps (soldier readiness processing) or to go overseas on a medical mission, or even to go to local high schools and talk about being a member of the army nurse corps or medical service corps, or you maybe involved with a medrete (medical reserves training exercise) conus or oconus, you never know! also your tpu will have two weeks, usually during the summer months, when you go out of your home state to go to an army post (like, for example, fort mccoy) and practice, perhaps, putting up, and breaking down, a csh; learning how to drive a deuce and a half etc

how does it work out with your civilian life/job?

well, at that time i was employed with the federal government, i worked for the veterans administration so i never had a hard time with requesting time off to go to drill or to go away for a few days to a month (of course, you will have orders to submit) now some of the soldiers that were in my unit were also full-time students and being in the army can kind of screw up your "plans" for example: one soldier was just about thisclose to graduating with her ba in sociology, but she got orders to mob out to a post down south.....i think that is called "schoolis interruptis" (joke) but seriously, that is something you must keep in the back of your mind.

have you been deployed yet, and if so how many times and where as well as the length?

i have yet to deploy in support of oif/oef but i have been overseas.....currently, if one is profis you will deploy between 6-9 months (including your mob station)

are you happy being a reserved nurse?

i think my family was much happier when i was working full-time and home. don't get me wrong, i do not consider anyone in the reserves to be a "part-time soldier".... you are a soldier, period. that being said, the motto is: army strong, not army wealthy....and i am currently earning 1/3 what i did when i was in the reserves and working at the va.

how much longer do you have and will you re-enlist?

when you take the oath as a commissioned office in the us army reserve nurse corps (officers do not enlist) i think the initial commitment is 8 years. as an aside, if you are thinking of the reserves please make sure you are talking to a health care recruiter!

what made you join?

when my oldest son was seriously injured down range i saw how well the army and air force nurses were taking care of both him and me. i saw their professionalism, their competency, their caring....and it brought me back (waaaaay back) when i was a new nurse and i thought to myself, "i want to be that type of nurse, again..." i had entertained the thought of the anc but when i graduated my diploma nursing program the vietnam war was winding down and i was turned away.....jump to the 1st gulf war and my youngest was only 2 years old....i guess that this was my time....(smile)

what don't you like about being in the reserves?

i may sound like an old-fashioned day-dreaming kind of gal, but nothing. i liked it so much, and was influenced by so many of the people around me (who had prior active service) who i consider to be mentors, that i wanted to be that type of army nurse (see above). i didn't go in for the money (heavens, no!) i wanted to be able to say, one day, when speaking with another soldier "hey, i understand"

r4c: good luck in any decision you make! :up:

athena

azure0258 · Mar 21, 2009

so would they send you to work as a med-surg nurse in one weekend every month? If I don't have acute care experience, how could I handle it?

Staczse7 · Mar 21, 2009

azure

i attended my 1st drill this past weekend and I was surprised. you don't "work" as a med-surg nurse the weekend you drill. you will have formation, any required training (this past weekend was the 4-hour training for suicide prevention and recognition and intervening w/ PTSD)... then after lunch (yes you do get to eat)...... we had briefings (i.e. ours was about detainees in Iraq--how they were treated, what their rights are..... etc)....we then got to "job" specific (i.e. the nurses got together and went through specific briefings), we didnot separate according to our specialty. Sunday was P.T. the whole unit (mind you some of the higher staff didn't attend and I can't understand why as some of them clearly needed to participate, if anything to set a good example)... we did calisthenics then went for a 2 mile run (I had a blast btw). then it was showeirng and briefings........ the pharmacy staff talked about their "gig".... how they handle things (i was again surprised...emphasis is patient focused by all disciplines involved....something forgotten in the civ world)...... the mp's got up and talked more about the detainee stuff..... what would happen during a medical mergency etc. then it was lunch...... after lunch I went to get my TA-50 (we have field training next month where i volunteered ( not allowed to fire weapons until after OBC) to help train the nurses/ medics etc on filed injuries... applying a sling/stabilization to an injured upper extremity and what to do about a disjointed hip)..then it was nursings turn.... they talked about what it was like to provide nursing care in Iraq...again emphasis on patient focus was expressed.....after, I went and did my life insurance arrangements, signed up for a atls course being offered at FSH the 1st week of May and completed my inprocessing. you will get to learn new techniques and skills relevant to your MOS during drill weekend, thats the whole purpose of drills to prepare you to do your assignment as competently as you can.

azure0258 · Mar 21, 2009

runninmomof7. Thanks for sharing.

Since you are the first week for drill, maybe it is not typical of nurse reserve duty.

Is there any experienced reserve nurse who could share with us the experience? Do they send you to work in med-surg unit on the weekend? If you don't have previous acute care experience, would they offer training before sending you to the floor? Since it is only 1 weekend per month, how does this training figure out if they have the training.

Thanks

Staczse7 · Mar 21, 2009

are you going to be drilling at a csh or some other type of unit??????

and just like in the civ world there's a skills checklist for each new skill you learn

and it sure seemed pretty typical to me.......... especially when you have the "old timers" tell you be prepared to be killed by powerpoint. people were in there texting...getting up and down to leave the room.......... hmmm...... think it was an odd weekend experience?...... maybe the 4 hour inservice perhaps but the rest...... nah!

azure0258 · Mar 21, 2009

are you going to be drilling at a csh or some other type of unit??????

and just like in the civ world there's a skills checklist for each new skill you learn

What are csh? civ? I have no clue.

I just plan to apply for nurse reserve. I don't know what unit I will be sent to since I am only in the application process.

Any experienced reserve nurse tell me more details about their weekend jobs, especially the first 2 years?

Staczse7 · Mar 21, 2009

civ= civilian

csh= combat support hospital.

and btw, I am in the Army Nurse Corps a component of the United States Army. And I am a reservist.

(and, if you are a med/surg nurse you will perhaps likely be told that you will need to wait until October to apply--The Army Nurse Corps is near full and is just taking from specialty areas such as ER, Psych or CCU).

olderthandirt2 · Mar 21, 2009

runninmomof7. Thanks for sharing.
Since you are the first week for drill, maybe it is not typical of nurse reserve duty.
Is there any experienced reserve nurse who could share with us the experience? Do they send you to work in med-surg unit on the weekend? If you don't have previous acute care experience, would they offer training before sending you to the floor? Since it is only 1 weekend per month, how does this training figure out if they have the training.
Thanks

I have only been a Army Reserve RN for~ 1yr.........but I can tell you "every unit is different", per soldiers who have been in a long time. My unit is a CSH, we do NOT do patient care. We update our requirements, drill on soldier readiness (weapons training, convoy training, land nav...etc), have inservices for the enlisted, do mock simulations. We breakdown and set up our DepMed (BIG tents).

There are units that do their drill weekends in a local hospital, working together as a team. So, it depends where you are assigned (near your residence). It is different everywhere.........

Deployments are on 5 yr schedule, your unit will be "somewhere" in that 5 yrs cycle, so their trainings will be geared to that schedule. (Obviously, if the Army needs YOU sooner, they will let you know, but.......I know MANY people who have been the volunteer list for years and have not been called up.....)

good luck,

c.

p.s. the application process to "1st drill" is roughly a 6 month or more timeline

leekun2010 · Jun 10, 2010

do you need hospital experience to join the army nurse corp?

Staczse7 · Jun 10, 2010

what is your life like as a reserve nurse? at times it's chaotic...juggling home life, kids, work, army related stuff. As a reservist you are responsible for maintaining your own physical fitness, army training (online) and your certifications r/t your MOS

How does it work out with your civilian life/job?

Most of the time it works out ok. My job for the most part (there have been attitude problems/ minor misunderstandings) is supportive

Have you been deployed yet, and if so how many times and where as well as the length? No..havent deployed. I hear though it is 3 months CONUS training then 9 months boots on the ground over there

Are you happy being a reserved nurse? for the most part......it sometimes feels like I swim upstream.. there is a lot of attitude between reservists/ active duty folk. I think we're all in the same group with supposedly the same interests..that is support the mission and defend the United States and our freedom

How much longer do you have and will you re-enlist? I have 4.5 years left of my contract then 2 years IRR

What made you join? wanted a change from civi nursing. I had worked with 2 Army Nurses in the ER, I liked their style. I wanted to give back and thought of the most unselfish people to be able to do that with...Our troops defending us.

What don't you like about being in the reserves? the juggling....of life, army....etc..it gets very time consuming doing the online modules on our time.