Joining a navy and doing nursing- will it help?

Navymurse · Nov 10, 2012

The Navy will accept Nursing students in BSN programs. The program however, is highly competitive. You would be commissioned as an Ensign at a base pay rate of about $2900/month, after graduation. On top of the $2900 dollars you will also receive a housing allowance (depends on area but mine is around $1400/month), and other allowances. There is ample training opportunities and programs for furthering your education (up to doctorate programs).

(From Website)For the Nurse Candidate Program (NCP), you can get an initial grant of $10,000, plus a stipend of $1,000 per month for up to 24 months. That’s up to $34,000 to help pay your way through nursing school

Nurse Candidate Program

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Nov 10, 2012

I know several Navy nurses: after they finished school (BSN or higher only), they were commissioned as naval officers to server for at least a few years. A few of these nurses went on to make the Navy a career.

Just a few warnings. Just because you will be a Navy nurse doesn't mean that you will spend your entire career in one place: while you will be able to provide your preferences as to where you want to live, ultimately you will be sent wherever they need you. You won't always be assigned to hospitals either: you can be assigned to clinics, in the field, or to other sites. Also, being a nurse does not exempt you from deployments on ships: the odds are good that you will do at least one deployment in your career. Last, being a nurse does not exempt you from being stationed overseas or going on individual augmentee (no family allowed) assignments. One the nurses I know finished officer candidate school and for her first assignment, was immediately sent on a IA tour to Iraq for almost a year. She had just gotten married too.

That being said, there can be a lot of opportunities available to you as a Naval nurse. The money is comparable to what other officers make, you will have lots of educational and travel opportunities, and if you decide to make it a career (20+ years) in the Navy, you can retire with a pension.

So if despite the warnings I've posted you are still interested, then by all means go for it!

lnprid12 · Nov 12, 2012

You can apply for the Navy Nurse Candidate Program and they will give you a 10,000 bonus(given in two payments) and 1000 monthly stipened for every month you are in school up to 24 months. You in turn serve 3-5 years as a Navy nurse(time depends on money you get)The money is taxable. However I would rather be thousands in debt than to sign away my life for 5 years to something I did not want to do. I personally hope to serve in the Navy but if I didn't want to be in the Navy I wouldn't do it. You can also enlist, save money and get a GI bill and then go to nursing school. I wouldn't recommend this. How much money you get from GI bill depends on time you were in military. If you want to be in the military as a nurse then I would recommend you try for the Navy nurse candidate program or the similar Army nurse candidate program. You can find info through google and there is a lot of amazing info you can find on here. If you don't want to serve in the military in any fashion then don't sign away your life for a few years just to pay for school. There are other ways to pay for school. If you are even eligible for either candidate program chances are you are eligible for other nonmilitary scholarships because the candidate programs are competitive.