Life in the Army Nurse Corps

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Hi I'm deeply considering applying to the Army Nurse Candidate Program. I'm just curious on what life in the Nurse Corps is like? I'm not looking to making it a life long career, I'm thinking I'll do one stint or two. I do want to deploy and would like to know how many times I can expect to deploy in one 4-5 year stint? And how long deployments last. I also looked toward the Navy because I hear they travel more but my heart is calling for the Army. How long is BOLC? What is it like? Is it fork and knife school with some PT thrown in? Does the Army do things similar to the Navy in that they most likely make you nurse in an Army hospital the first year or two before deploying you? And do they have three big hospitals I am likely to be sent to like the Navy has its big three? Is it easy to make friends in BOLC and on base? Any advice and experiences would be helpful. Thank You!

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

A lot of your questions have been asked and answered in this forum at one time or another. :) I know, it's tough to dig through all the posts. LOL.

Deployments are slowing down, a lot. Whether or not you'd deploy depends on many things, including holding special identifiers as ER or ICU. The Army is also taking fewer inexperienced nurses these days -- recruiting is also slowing down to reflect the needs of the Army Nurse Corps. If you are still in school, I'd recommend looking into ROTC. You'll need a BSN to commission in any branch these days, and ROTC is a more guaranteed path to commission vs. applying for direct commission from civilian life.

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Just FYI, I believe you would have an 8 year contract, not a 4-5 year stint. Heck, it will take a good two years before the Army gets any good use out of you.

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Just FYI, I believe you would have an 8 year contract, not a 4-5 year stint. Heck, it will take a good two years before the Army gets any good use out of you.

It is technically 8 years, but a majority could be spent on the IRR. Which now days very rarely gets called up. my wifes contract should be written up for an initial 3 years active 5 IRR, but she plans on stiking around alot longer.

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