should i join NAVY reserves nursing now? advice please?

DanznRN, RN · Jan 26, 2008

I'll take a crack at your questions, keep in mind that reserves and active duty are 2 different animals all together. I have been active duty Navy for the last 10+ years so my answers are going to be based on that. for your specific questions, I'd search out a health care recruiter for the reserves. Going to the recruiter in the strip mall in the local town is usually for the active duty forces and normally on the enlisted side. Getting a health care/ officer recruiter requires a meeting to be set up normally.

Hey everyone! I honestly feel like i don't know anything when I'm reading your guys' posts. haha. I'm at a huge decision point in my life right now... to join or not to join? I REALLY want to join the navy to be a nurse: when someone asks me what my ideal career is... thats it. But the problem i have is that i'm only in my second year of college. im not starting the nursing program until next fall, so after this semester i still have 2 years left until i get my BSN. I havent talked to a recruiter yet, but i found one in my city and i'm going to talk to him next week. I had no idea that there were more than 1 type of recruiters, haha, but i'm guessing he is an enlisted recruiter. Ive heard that recruiters will just tell you what you want to hear, so im nervous because i want to know how it actually IS. haha.
My questions thus far are the following (maybe you guys can help me) :)
1. Do i have to wait to join the navy until i have graduated with my BSN if i want to be a nurse? (i would rather join now, if possible, but i don't even know if i can!) If you want to be a nurse in the Navy the answer to this one is yes. The Army reserves will take ADNs. If you are not a nurse, I'm not sure what the reserves would do with you now, I'd expect some sort of enlisted rating, which is not nursing.

2. What are my options if i do decide to join now? Can i change my ranking to an officer once i graduate? In the active duty force this is not possible per se. If you are enlisted and go back to school through the Navy and get your BSN then yes. Again, active duty and reserves are different.

3. If i join now, what would/could i be doing exactly during the school year and during the summer? Doing the reserve thing you'd be required to fulfill your weekend obligation per month and then your 2 week training in the summer. Keep in mind they aren't going to care that you are in school, you sign on the dotted line and you have to live up to that. The Navy and your schooling are 2 separate entities here. As to what you would be doing, it depends on what enlisted rate they put you in, you will not be an officer and you won't be a nurse in their eyes. This is of course if your reserve unit doesn't get deployed in the mean time. Remember that reserve units are getting deployed just like active are. Once you sign you can't say "I can't go, I'm in school." If your unit gets activated you'll have to stop school to go, I know, you weren't thinking about that, huh?

4. Ive read other threads, and someone said to NOT talk to an enlisted recruiter... how do i find out if there are other kinds of recruiters in my area? Correct, if I were you I wouldn't even go to the recruiting station. I'd call and ask to speak with a "health care/ officer reserve recruiter." If you don't have your BSN yet, they are going to try and get you to enlist, so be careful.

5. I've emailed the recruiter a little bit and he mentioned "one weekend a month", and "2 weeks a year." if i join now (i keep saying that, and i dont even know if i can), what would i be doing? would it be the same as the enlisted? or do they do something different for people who want to be nurses? No, you will not get treated any differently just because you're in nursing school. You need to do more research, what you do in the reserves and what you are doing in your personal life are 2 separate things, I've said that before. You could be a CEO of a multi-million dollar organization, if you signed on the line to be in the reserves and your unit gets activated, you're going. I hope I'm making this clear, because at present your opinion is that the Navy would give a hoot, I'm telling you they won't.
6. I dont want to totally exclude active duty either, because it could still be an option for me... but what is the difference between the two when it comes to nursing? Even if i wanted to, would i even be able to join active duty now and still complete my 2 years of school? No. If you join active duty, it will be an enlisted rank unless you have another degree. I can guarantee you the active Navy is not going to care what your life goal of being a nurse was, nor that you have 2 years to complete it. Whatever job you sign for, that's what you are obligated for and what you do in your off time, they don't care. You would not be able to attend school fulltime on the Navy's dime. However, if you want to go active duty, the Navy will pay for you to finish school. Once you have completed your program, you will be obligated to the active Navy for X amount of time.
I have sooo many other questions... but i don't want this thread to be so long that no one reads it and helps me. I feel so over my head right now. Thanks for helping me out!
Nikki

You have a lot to figure out, reserves vs. active duty, as a nurse or not. These are some serious questions you have to ask yourself. Know this, I've said it before, your personal life of going to nursing school and what you want to do in the military are separate. Probably not what you want to hear or how you want to hear it, but you asked to hear the truth. I hope I'm not coming off harsh, just wanted to get a few things straight for you. Let me know how I can be more help.

LCDR Dan

Wheel3 · Jan 26, 2008

Yeah, definitely not something something i wanted to hear.... but its good to know that information. It helps ALOT actually. thanks