Deployments in military nursing

[mistyval]

Hello everyone,

I'm a civilian RN working in an ICU unit, as a new grad, and I'm thinking about joining the military instead of continuing nursing as a civilian. I was once enlisted in the Navy, so I know the military life pretty well, but I have some concerns and questions for any military nurse of any branch of service if you would be so kind as to share your thoughts.

My biggest concern is deployments. I'm not opposed to them at all, but I have a strong opposition to the Iraq war, and deploying there would be dangerous for myself and difficult for my family. This kind of information is often left out by the military nurse recruiters, and I'd really love to hear about the way things really are from those that are living it. Obviously I know military members cannot speak against the Iraq conflict, but I would like to know what your experiences are in your branch of service as far as deployments go.

Also, I haven't seen an awful lot about what the average work week is for most nurses. I'd assume its roughly 40-50 hours per week, but I'd like to hear if those numbers are made easier or more difficult in terms of staffing levels. Where I work there are nearly no Nurse techs or LPNs, so we're often on our own and our work week is quite strenuous. Any thoughts on this as well?

Again, any branch of service I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. I would greatly appreciate it.

[ameritow]

gen,

"you want to serve your country and get the experience of military nursing yet, you are not interested in telling your civilian employer that you may or may not be deployed."

i think you misunderstand me. i wouldn't hesitate to tell any future employer that i was a member of the army reserves and that there was a chance i may be deployed. (i was unaware that you could not be fired for a long deployment. do they really have to hold your position? what if you are gone for 12 months?) anyway, what i mean is that if i expect there is a chance i will be deployed, i would like to tell an employer that up front, not tell them (as my recruiter is telling me) that i am undeployable and will always be right here and available to work, and then, surprise, i gotta go. i want to know the truth. i will happily pack up and ship off if necessary, but i want to know that it is a possibility. right now, i am being told that it is not. mainly because i will be going to school for my bsn, i think.

[twotrees2]

very wise words - i can only add that if one is in the mmilitary and in school i would think in this day and age ( though i am no expert ) just cause your in school does not mean one wont be called. id really like to buy into that as my son is currently irr in the marines and that would mean in a few months when he gets in school he wont be deployable but however i dont believe it - i also have a friend whos daughter was called up and had to go in midst of her midterm - she is army reserves - she was allowed to pick up where she left off after returning so she did not have to redo the whole classes but she went - now i dont know the specifics so maybe she agreed? but honeslty i dont see that - its an unfortuante reality i think i will take to heart.

i am told that i can enter the service as an officer,

true

do 27 days training in texas to learn how to salute and wear a uniform.

not true, the training for reserves is changing to being completely alongside the active duty army, minimum of 9-13 weeks. you can access the obc information page from here: http://www.dns.amedd.army.mil/anpd/obc/obc_index.html click on obc and then follow the links to it

he did say that a small portion of that time would be spent field training, learning how to shoot a gun, etc.

not necessarily true, that "small time" will be three full weeks

then, i will come back home and work one weekend/month and two weeks/year at the nearby va hospital (the two weeks may have to be spent at another hospital in the us) while working at another civilian job and going to school (which the army will pay for).

i cannot speak for the reserve componant

i am told that as a student i am non-deployable,

this depends...until you pass your pre-licensure nursing program and nclex then it is true, you will likely be on inactive ready reserve or on sustainment, currently i am pre-nclex and not necessarily deployable either, i am not yet a nurse...now, once you are a nurse then you will indeed be deployable, regardless if you are in school working towards your bsn, you will be a nurse-i am pretty sure

so i will spend all my time here at home working in the va hospital. i don't think i would really mind being deployed so much, i would however like to know in advance that it is a possibility.

it is a likely possibility, very likely

if i join, i want to do it with my eyes open. i don't want to get set up at a civilian employer and then have to tell them that i am taking off to iraq, sorry.

?what? if you do not want to tell your employer that you are "taking off to iraq" do not commission...sorry, but, the employer is supposed to recognize this and it is illegal for them to fire you. there is actually a company that did fire a nurse after her orders for the third deployment arrived. currently she is sueing them.

i was also told that if by some rare chance that i was deployed, it would probably only be somewhere in the states.

hmm, the chance that you will be deployed is not "rare", i suggest you not commission if you do not want to "risk" being deployed. while you may nevr be deployed, it is unwise to not expect it, especially as we are currently in the midst of a conflinct

i am very interested in serving my country and gaining the experience that a military nurse receives, but i don't want to jump in without all the facts (the true ones). thanks in advance for your input.

you are giving conflicting words. you want to serve your country and get the experience of military nursing yet, you are not interested in telling your civilian employer that you may or may not be deployed. if you are not willing to even consider the odds of being deployed, do yourself a big favor, think about the military a lot longer before commissioning. it may not be for you

gen

edit to add: possibly this miltiary forum will have some more information to guide you in making this big decision http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/837191012/m/9490072401001 please keep reading here, there are lots of helpful posters here and allnurses military nursing forum and its members have been highly helpful to me during my five month long application processs!

[ameritow]

So if you do get called up in the middle of a course, the school also has to let you start back where you left off? Do you have to start that course all over again, or wait until the course gets to the point you were at when you left? I assume that you don't have to pay the tuition all over again. I hope not anyway. I am sorry, I have a million questions.

[CEG]

So if you do get called up in the middle of a course, the school also has to let you start back where you left off? Do you have to start that course all over again, or wait until the course gets to the point you were at when you left? I assume that you don't have to pay the tuition all over again. I hope not anyway. I am sorry, I have a million questions.

I am former active duty, currently a reservist, being involuntarily mobilized. I am in nursing school and that did not help me one little bit in terms of being mobilized, although my unit is trying to adjust my mob date so that I can finish the semester first.

Where you would deploy depends on the unit. My unit's mission is stateside so I am being mob'd stateside. If you unit has a combat mission you would probably go to Iraq.

If you are in the Chicago area I have a friend who is a nurse recruiter and could maybe help you find some clarification. PM me for his info if you want.

ETA: It depends on the school, the policies are set by them. At my school I believe if it is prior to midterm I can withdraw with a full refund, after midterm I have the option to withdraw with full refund, take the grade I have at that moment, or take an incomplete and finish later.

[Gennaver, MSN]

gen,

do they really have to hold your position? what if you are gone for 12 months?)

yes, i do not know the exact law but, it is the law or cose

anyway, what i mean is that if i expect there is a chance i will be deployed, i would like to tell an employer that up front, not tell them (as my recruiter is telling me) that i am undeployable and will always be right here and available to work, and then, surprise, i gotta go.

if you are in the military you are going to tell your employer right? if you tell your employer that you are military and then they will know that you get your weekends off of their employ for your drilling and also for the weeks long annual drilling. i would not even think about discussing risk of deployments with them. it may be an opsec violation anyhow. they will know, if and when, when it happens. there should be no onus upon you to need to speculate when and if you will be deployed in order to satisfy your employer. many reserves before you and currently have experienced this. saying and prooving that you are indeed military reserves should be sufficient.

i want to know the truth. i will happily pack up and ship off if necessary, but i want to know that it is a possibility. right now, i am being told that it is not. mainly because i will be going to school for my bsn, i think.

i would speak with another amedd recruiter or ask your current one to put it in writing...about your not being deployable once you complete your nclex-rn and get licensure. the only reason a bsn student would not be deployable, i think, is *if* they are pre-licensure. i would not trust your recruiter's information. so far all that you have questioned here reveals that he/she is very misleading. you will not be on inactive status once you graduate with your adn, (unless is is promised in your contract.) nice to read you and i wish you the best of luck.

i had many questions regarding my own recruiter when i came to this thread myself.

gen

[Gennaver, MSN]

very wise words - i can only add that if one is in the mmilitary and in school i would think in this day and age ( though i am no expert ) just cause your in school does not mean one wont be called. id really like to buy into that as my son is currently IRR in the marines and that would mean in a few months when he gets in school he wont be deployable but however i dont believe it - i also have a friend whos daughter was called up and had to go in midst of her midterm - she is army reserves - she was allowed to pick up where she left off after returning so she did not have to redo the whole classes but she went - now i dont know the specifics so maybe she agreed? but honeslty i dont see that - its an unfortuante reality i think i will take to heart.

Hello TwoTrees,

Thank you for the kind words.

What other military nurses have shared in various forums has been very helpful to me. There are so many questions and "unknowns" for us new Military people.

I did a google search trying to find information about colleges and military and the I really couldn't find information. I have read about it somewhere but, what I came across was that universities had to allow you to deploy without loss of credit or cost and that you could resume your classes right where you left off without re-payment due to deployment, (with documentation). Just can't find it.

Gen

[Care&Joy]

Oops, I replied to the wrong forum.... delete, delete

[ameritow]

Thank you to everyone. I truly appreciate all of your wisdom. Thanks again.

[CSARmedic]

If I join, I want to do it with my eyes open. I don't want to get set up at a civilian employer and then have to tell them that I am taking off to Iraq, sorry.

I was also told that if by some rare chance that I was deployed, it would probably only be somewhere in the states.

EVERYONE who reads this thread, military or not, need to remember one thing: "Recruiters will rarely tell you the entire truth but frequently tell you some of the truth" I quote this as told to me by an ex-AF Recruiter who now works for me as a CSARME Medic (Combat Search and Rescue Medical Element).

They (recruiters) are under a lot of pressure to fill thier slots (I sympathize for the Army Recruiters while there is a waiting list for the AF) and they will say almost anything to get you to sign the dotted line. It happened to me 28 years ago and it has happened to almost everyone I know.

If you are interested in enlisting or commissioning in any of the services it is YOUR responsibility to research and ask hard questions and don't believe ANYTHING unless you see it on your contract! Participation in this forum is a good first step but you really don't know who is posting and what the spectrum of thier experience is.

Army and AF nurses (and medics) are all liable to deploy no matter what your specialty! If you specialize in Oncology than you should be prepared to work a Med/Surg unit in an EMEDS or CASF (there is currently a freshly graduated RN working as the SOLE nurse in a forward deployed FOB in Afghanistan right now - she had to learn the hard way) somewhere in the desert at some time or other.

Make NO MISTAKE, we are at war and we will be at war for some time to come. Especially in Afghanistan. We will be here for a very, very long time and medical help is at a premium. As the Iraq situation winds down Afghanistan will (is) ramping up and this will be a protracted battle with many more casualties.

You owe it to yourself to:

1. Look inside yourself to see if you are prepared to deploy for an extended time dealing with extreme boredom to insane chaos. Living in either nicely equipped accomodations to bare base facilities with porta potties and regulated 3 minute showers (when I arrived at Talil during the 2003 invasion we didn't shower for 13 days and had to dig holes for defication).

2. Determine if your political and/or religious beliefs ALLOW you to deal with the harshness of war. You will see badly mangled soldiers who are deathly afraid of dying. Fear in thier eyes. And you HAVE to hold thier hands and look them in the eye and PROMISE they will be OK even though you know they probably won't survive. That is the core of battlefield nursing and you may be called upon to do that if deployed.

I do not practice as a military nurse, only my day job back home (MICU and CCU) but as a rescue medic I've done all of these things and have seen other nurses do these things brilliantly in very harsh and unforgiving conditions. This is war as we have created it.

I hope that I haven't appeared overly dramatic but I did want to convey the darker realities of nursing and medicine in todays wartime environment.

John Schiller, Master Sergeant, USAFR

Superintendent, Combat Search and Rescue Medics

Somewhere in Afghanistan (My third deployment during this war)

[sassysoldier]

I'm an army brat so my father always told me that you have to understand that the need of the military come first so until you are ready to commit to that then join. I was in Army ROTC as a graduate student. I had my BSN was headed to camp during the summer after my first year in grad school. I had to made a decision. There is a war going on I have one more year to get my masters. If the needs of the army comes the day after getting commissioned in camp am I ready to be deployed if need be? Or do I want to give up ROTC and wait until I complete my Masters degree. I decided to wait until I completed my masters since then I have gotten married, one child and now am getting around to applying for my commission but I have changed branches all together.

The point I'm trying to make is keep in the forefront of your mind its always the needs of USArmy first. If you have your licence and they need a nurse they are going to say extra classes is extra. What is important to you! My class mate who I went through ROTC with decided to take the chance in graduate school and go to camp and she was deployed and is still working on that one year to complete her masters.