Military Nursing- What is it like?

[DomiMichel24, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone! I've been a nurse for 2 years now, in pediatrics and the operating room on the vascular/thoracic/transplant team. I'm interested in changing gears and joining the military as a nurse but undecided on which branch ('ve been looking at Air Force and Navy). There's not a whole lot of info on life as a nurse in the military, especially one in the operating room and was wondering if someone could give me some insight? Also, I've seen that it can take years to go through the process of joining the military, is this accurate??? 

[jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA]

https://allnurses.com/government-military-c41/

This is the link to the government and military nursing feed. Take some time to read through the threads.  You'll find a lot of info there, including questions you didn't think to ask.

Quickly, it takes approximately 9-12 months from the time you first contact a recruiter to the time you start your initial military training if everything does right and you are accepted the first time you apply.  I personally was waitlisted the first time and my process took about 18 months.

Overall, I would say you're currently working in a very niche, exciting OR job.  You're never going to get anywhere near that level clinically as a military nurse.  Pediatrics is essentially non-existent in the military.  No one in the military system does transplants.  You'll get travel and military training opportunities to make up for it, but I suspect you will be disappointed clinically.  I'm not sure what you're looking for with this change.

You might consider the reserves or guard if you really like your current job and add some military on top of it.  After your initial training, it's one weekend per month and two weeks per year in the reserves/guard.