FY2020 Army Nurse Corps

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Hello!

My name is Dustin and I thought it would be a good idea to create a topic for those who are applying for the FY2020 Army Nurse board! A little about me; I am prior service Army enlisted with four years on active duty as a 19D (Cavalry Scout) and four years in the reserve as a 68W (Combat Medic). Recently, in December of last year I graduated with my BSN from a highly reputable school in Texas. In January of this year I started my new job in a Cardiothoracic and Transplant ICU, but in the process of applying to the 66H (Med-Surge Nurse) position with the Army. Per my recruiter, this is essentially the standard for nurses who have less than two years of RN experience and who will attend the Army’s Nurse Residency Program.

I’m hoping that my year of ICU experience and my CCRN certification at the time right before leaving for training will be an advantage to changing over to the Critical Care Nurse AOC (66S) as soon as I can. ? If it wasn’t for my yearning to return to the Army and wear the uniform again, I would just wait until I have over two years of civilian experience and apply to the 66S position. My desire to continue to serve is stronger than my AOC, 200%!

Please, use this to connect with others and share your experience! I look forward in embarking on this journey and hearing from others.

Specializes in PCU/Step-Down, Satellite ED, ICU.

Hello!

So I have a bit of a conundrum. I recently applied for Army Reserve as a 66T. My packet is basically done except for my medical waiver which keeps getting sent back bc the reviewing officer is super anal (they wanted visit notes and a letter for counseling I did over 7 years ago ). I also have a moral waiver for something from 2007 but that has already been approved and sent up.

Anyway, my recruiter just told me that my CV was graded as "Qualified but not recommended" due to that reviewing officer thinking I would make a better candidate for a 66T course. I currently work in a satellite ER n have been for almost 3 years. Prior to that I was PCU w/ Tele (step-down). Based on what I'm hearing, with my moral waiver, Medical waiver, and Qualification status, if I still try to push for 66T after my medical waiver comes through, I will probably end up OML and there is no Guarantee 66T course avail right now. 

However there is a Guarantee 66S student course avail which my recruiter said I would definitely qualify for based on my CV. There is a shortage so they are willing to send me to the course for 18 weeks then I will do clinicals and work as an ICU nurse. The only caveat is that this option means I would have to be active duty.
3 year commitment and I could go reserve after that. I wanted to go reserve bc of HLRP, so I would lose that incentive until after my 3 year obligation.

l am open to getting the training as I'm already starting to think about what I want to do for my Master's but this situation has definitely messed up the plan I had in my head.

Can anyone give me some insight or their experience on both sides? How was it being Reserve OML? Did you get chosen eventually? How long did you wait?

Or How as your experience in the 66S/66T student program? And how has it affected your life/career/family?

Sorry for the long post!

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic and Transplant ICU.

Submitting a 66S packet to the April board! Working on obtaining my LORs and I am set to get my commissioning physical in to weeks. What does the physical consist of?

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic and Transplant ICU.

Two*

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Hi guys, I cannot express how much I appreciate having this platform to discuss applying into military nursing. I recently got commissioned into 66B and now waiting for orders. I have a few questions:

1) At what point will they test your APFT/ACFT? When you first report for duty at the reserve or later on like in DCC?

2) My recruiter told me that the closest opening to my MOS is 103 miles away. I was wondering if there are reserve nurses in the same boat and had to drive far or fly to get to their drills? Do you drive the night before and stay at a hotel at your own expense or do you drive to drill the morning of?

3) Any tips on being a newbie officer at a CSH?

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Specializes in ICU, Neuro ICU.
On 2/20/2020 at 9:38 PM, ReconMedic said:

Submitting a 66S packet to the April board! Working on obtaining my LORs and I am set to get my commissioning physical in to weeks. What does the physical consist of?

Is the commissioning physical you are talking about the one they do at MEPS?

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic and Transplant ICU.
4 hours ago, HamRN_13 said:

Is the commissioning physical you are talking about the one they do at MEPS?

Yes.

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Specializes in ICU, Neuro ICU.
5 hours ago, ReconMedic said:

Yes.

There’s really not much to it besides a boring PowerPoint, hearing and vision screening, urine drug test, the “duck walk” portion of it and then an actual physical by a physician. Here’s how my day at MEPS went:

Pretty much you get to MEPS location super early and everyone is together in a room I initially and you go over general things and how you can get kicked out etc. Then they split you up and you go to each of the stations for hearing and vision screening. After that, they had us provide urine And blood samples. It was like a large bathroom with several urinals and there was like three of us in there at time and some guy supervising us. Some of us went in to the physician after the drug screen, while some of us waited for the next station. After that, we waited around and then got called into a large room and we all stripped down to our undies and awaited further instruction. They made us do weird stretches and the “duck walk”. They also weighed us and measured our height at this time. After this, if you hadn’t gone to the physician for you physical you would do this last. The physical portion involves asking you questions and verifying information that you answered previously on that questionaire. He also looks at your goods and your butt and makes you spread cheeks to verify you don’t have hemorrhoids, warts or herpes LOL. It was kind of weird but overall, just be calm and always follow directions exactly at they state them. I got there like 0515 and was back home by like noonish. It’s a mix of enlisted people and people trying to direct commission.

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic and Transplant ICU.
47 minutes ago, HamRN_13 said:

There’s really not much to it besides a boring PowerPoint, hearing and vision screening, urine drug test, the “duck walk” portion of it and then an actual physical by a physician. Here’s how my day at MEPS went:

Pretty much you get to MEPS location super early and everyone is together in a room I initially and you go over general things and how you can get kicked out etc. Then they split you up and you go to each of the stations for hearing and vision screening. After that, they had us provide urine And blood samples. It was like a large bathroom with several urinals and there was like three of us in there at time and some guy supervising us. Some of us went in to the physician after the drug screen, while some of us waited for the next station. After that, we waited around and then got called into a large room and we all stripped down to our undies and awaited further instruction. They made us do weird stretches and the “duck walk”. They also weighed us and measured our height at this time. After this, if you hadn’t gone to the physician for you physical you would do this last. The physical portion involves asking you questions and verifying information that you answered previously on that questionaire. He also looks at your goods and your butt and makes you spread cheeks to verify you don’t have hemorrhoids, warts or herpes LOL. It was kind of weird but overall, just be calm and always follow directions exactly at they state them. I got there like 0515 and was back home by like noonish. It’s a mix of enlisted people and people trying to direct commission.

Ahh okay so it sounds like when I got my enlistment physical in 2011. I thought that maybe the commissioning physical was different. Thank you for the information!

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Specializes in ICU, Neuro ICU.
11 minutes ago, ReconMedic said:

Ahh okay so it sounds like when I got my enlistment physical in 2011. I thought that maybe the commissioning physical was different. Thank you for the information!

Sorry didn’t know you were prior service! So it should be the same as last time you went. Good luck with everything! 66S here also, awaiting scroll.

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic and Transplant ICU.

Does anyone know how bad the Army is in need of 66S? I saw that right now there is a $100K bonus. Unfortunately, I do not qualify for the bonus due to me being out of the military less than 24 months.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
On 3/1/2020 at 12:50 PM, ReconMedic said:

Ahh okay so it sounds like when I got my enlistment physical in 2011. I thought that maybe the commissioning physical was different. Thank you for the information!

I had a commissioning physical that was one-on-one with an internal medicine physician. I didn't go through MEPS. I think it probably depends on how your recruiter schedules you. My recruiter was a nurse and arranged my physical.

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic and Transplant ICU.
9 minutes ago, Pixie.RN said:

I had a commissioning physical that was one-on-one with an internal medicine physician. I didn't go through MEPS. I think it probably depends on how your recruiter schedules you. My recruiter was a nurse and arranged my physical.

That’s my situation. I’m going through a MTF instead of MEPS.

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