DOD Nursing?

Anisettes, BSN, RN · Jul 31, 2009

I'm working for the US Army as a civilian RN and am currently in Germany (no prior military experience). You can e-mail me if you have specific questions as I keep losing threads on here once I've posted something and can't seem to find my way back to them, lol.

DoD is always looking for RNs esp. now with OIF and OEF going on. The military RN's are being deployed left and right and they need somebody to stay behind and hold down the fort so to speak and provide continuity of care in their absence.

You can work overseas or stateside, they have TONS of openings - go to USAJOBS.GOV and input your series code (0610 for nurses) and you'll get PAGES of openings. Or you can go specifically to the AF, Army, Navy civilian sites and apply from there - sorry I only know the Army site and it's but you should be able to google the AF and Navy sites. The AF and Navy pays slightly more and bases are located in some areas the Army is not (Navy in guam, AF in England, etc...).

Hope this helps, as I said if you had other questions, message me as I may not find this thread again.

AndyRN · Aug 4, 2009

Anisettes, when applying for the position you now hold, did you have to use KSAs (Knowledge, skills, and abilities) in your resume? I'm very interested in working on an Air Force Base (the job was posted on USAjobs); however, I'm just a little confused about the KSAs and how it should be posted. Thanks in advance.

Anisettes, BSN, RN · Aug 5, 2009

hi andyrn,

yes, it's easy really (govt always likes to make everything seem harder than it is). you just need to use key words (maybe they scan it electronically looking for keywords, who knows?) in your resume. below are a couple of websites that explain it better. the bottom 2 are from the usajobs website, but the top 2 explain it better. let me know if you have any other questions.

http://www.cdc.gov/hrmo/ksahowto.htm

http://www.va.gov/jobs/hiring/apply/ksa.asp

http://www.usajobs.gov/infocenter/topquestions.asp

http://www.usajobs.gov/infocenter/resumetips.asp

AndyRN · Aug 5, 2009

Thanks.... I will check them out.

kmright · Jun 21, 2011

Anisettes, Are you still working in Germany? I recently applied for a job there... are they still in need for civilian nurses?

Anisettes, BSN, RN · Jun 30, 2011

Anisettes, Are you still working in Germany? I recently applied for a job there... are they still in need for civilian nurses?

I'm sorry for the late reply, I only saw this message today. Yes, still here at Landstuhl (going on 5 years now). Yes, they are still hiring civilians - I think the contracts are still 2-year GWOT. (I'm permanent party, though) Some departments are as high as 50-50 civilian/military. So different from when I first came here where I was only 1 of 3 civilians in my dept. (the OR). The deployments and attrition make the civilians necessary (and attractive to the hospital). What unit did you apply to?

kmright · Jul 1, 2011

I am unable to use the pm feature because I am new to allnurses.com. My email is [email protected] if you want to reply back to me via email.

I applied for a critical care position. The job posting doesn't close until September 30. We are moving there with my husband's job and I am curious about how competitive it is to get a job...

Chlok78 · Sep 24, 2011

Hello. Well, I'm new to this website and I'm not sure what I'm doing. I had a question and didn't know where to turn to. I live in Los Angeles and it is very difficult to get into a nursing school right now. My ultimate goal was to work for the Department of Defense and I was wondering if the DoD actually had nursing programs or do we actually have to be a RN before entering the DoD. Ughhh. So frustrating when you want to make a difference in the world. Thank you to anyone who can help me out.

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2011

You will need to become a RN first.

Chlok78 · Sep 25, 2011

Thank you for your reply.