Navy or Army nursing

FrogKissingNurse · May 9, 2010

wow, there is a ton of great information and insight on this forum:yeah:. i do have a few questions of my own:

1. i have my lpn and am 1 semester away from my associates degree rn, would you recommend enlisting as a health care specialist now or wait until i have my bsn in another 2 years and do rotc and commission into the nursing corps? i'm 23 and not in a serious relationship or anything so i have nothing to tie me down for the time being...

2. being a nurse at a forward aid station what type of role are you playing compared to the health care specialists. is your role a typical emergency/trauma nurse or is your nursing scope closer to that of a physicians assistant where you are deciding which medications to give and such without a doctors order?

3. which branch does the most humanitarian missions?

4. do nurses carry guns on them?

5. what is a good training regiment to get ready for the pt tests?

*:twocents:: i'm currently reading a book called on call in hell, a doctor's iraq war story. the doctor is a navy battalion surgeon so his job is a bit different than a nurses job. he is attached to the 1/8 marines group and the book gives great insight into a doctor and corpsman's (like a health care specialist in the army?) job is like during firefights. i highly suggest giving this book a read. i know it has really opened my eyes to what life can really be like as a health care worker in the military.

just_cause, BSN, RN · May 9, 2010

I would NOT recommend talking to a recruiter or enlisting at this point. As soon as you gain your acceptance letter for your BSN you can start processing to be in the Army Nurse Candidate program to gain a monthly stipend and small bonus and upon commission which will occur after you graduate with BSN... alternatively if not 100% of wanting to join or racking huge student loans you can wait and begin to apply so you sign contract at 1 year out from BSN graduation date and gain loan repayment.

You do not want to enlist at this point.. you want to be a commissioned officer as a nurse - entirely different process, you will want/need to talk only with health care recruiter...

go to goarmy.com, officer, health care, nurse corp and you can view the different nursing jobs... think to a normal nurse - except patient population is Soldiers.. that will help.

humanitarian - don't know.. majority of nurses are in hospitals... suppose it depends on optempo and where you are at.. its not the focus point.

All Soldiers are trained on their basic firearm.. assuming a nurse will have an M16 or perhaps some an M9 pistol.. will you use it? At the range, yes - while deployed you would carry it around on your person.. just like every other Soldier... aside from the Chaplain. Should you be concerned.. I wouldn't be. Training.. at this point look over the height / weight tables and ideally be in normal range.. if you are 'normal weight' then the normal PT test for passing shouldn't be that much of a problem - and to max it you can start training. Everyone has their own regimen based on where their weak / strong points are.. I'd do a general quick test to gauge where you are at in running, situps, pushups and can go from there.

review goarmy.com, think commission / officer not enlist / health care specialist, if you seek recruiter you need to go through army health care recruiter, key goal is to get BSN acceptance letter and you can start process to becoming army nurse candidate, PT and 'guns' will be something to focus on down the road - but long term I'd also keep in the normal weight tables as that is a longer term issue.

best of luck,

Cursed Irishman · May 9, 2010

1. i have my lpn and am 1 semester away from my associates degree rn, would you recommend enlisting as a health care specialist now or wait until i have my bsn in another 2 years and do rotc and commission into the nursing corps? i'm 23 and not in a serious relationship or anything so i have nothing to tie me down for the time being...

why waste time in rotc? if you're already going to be a rn, look into the strap program. rotc takes up a great deal of time and frankly isn't needed for the position your in.

2. being a nurse at a forward aid station what type of role are you playing compared to the health care specialists. is your role a typical emergency/trauma nurse or is your nursing scope closer to that of a physicians assistant where you are deciding which medications to give and such without a doctors order?

you're being a nurse, performing nursing duties; there may be lee-way depending on the m.d's in unit, but don't count on giving medications just because you want to. depending on where a medic is assigned they can be everything from the sole medical support to little more than an orderly.

3. which branch does the most humanitarian missions?

the military's purpose is to fight and win wars; humanitarian aid is not the primary focus. if humanitarianism is a driving purpose for your joining, you most likely won't be happy.

4. do nurses carry guns on them?

while in theatre, yes.

5. what is a good training regiment to get ready for the pt tests?

start with a baseline pt test using the appropriate standards, then work to where need to be in small increments.

*:twocents:: i'm currently reading a book called on call in hell, a doctor's iraq war story. the doctor is a navy battalion surgeon so his job is a bit different than a nurses job. he is attached to the 1/8 marines group and the book gives great insight into a doctor and corpsman's (like a health care specialist in the army?) job is like during firefights. i highly suggest giving this book a read. i know it has really opened my eyes to what life can really be like as a health care worker in the military.

this book wasn't really that good. the m.d. actively sought to create situations where he could present himself as a hero and came off more of a glory-hound than anything else.

just_cause, BSN, RN · May 9, 2010

Agree with Irish..

I don't see ANY reason to do ROTC, nursing is busy enough.. but the Army Nurse Candidate program is 'the' substitute for that... and you end up getting more benefits then doing the STRAP program.

xxhoops7609 · May 9, 2010

Thank you everyone for the advice. I was researching army and navy. i really dont want to be on a ship I mean I would not mind it but I would like to be where the action is. I know with navy I will obviously be on a ship, but I want to see trauma and I am just confused ha. With the Army I know I will be in Iraq and I don't mind it at all. I would love seeing the soldiers as they were just wounded. But in the Navy, do they just take care of sailors or will other soldiers be on the ships too. I guess my question is like what kind of injuries will you see as a navy or army nurse.

just_cause, BSN, RN · May 9, 2010

with the navy - as a nurse... the odds are extremely LOW that you would be on a ship... nurses are primarily only in hospitals and clinics - on land.

Army, you could end up in Iraq.. but primarily medical centers have highest % of nurses and those are in the states and germany.

allnurses Guide · May 9, 2010

Thank you everyone for the advice. I was researching army and navy. i really dont want to be on a ship I mean I would not mind it but I would like to be where the action is. I know with navy I will obviously be on a ship, but I want to see trauma and I am just confused ha. With the Army I know I will be in Iraq and I don't mind it at all. I would love seeing the soldiers as they were just wounded. But in the Navy, do they just take care of sailors or will other soldiers be on the ships too. I guess my question is like what kind of injuries will you see as a navy or army nurse.

The Marines are part of the Navy, so a lot of Navy nursing is spent taking care of Marines. You would also spend time deployed on Army and AF bases.

FrogKissingNurse · May 9, 2010

thank you very much just_cause and cursed irishman for your insight and advice.

i did look at goarmy.com but i couldn't really find much information about the army nurse candidate program. can anyone give me a little more information on the program and how i would get into the program? also is this program similar to the strap program for the reserves? it seems like some of the information on the website is very different than what recruiters tell you.

thanks in advance,

christie

just_cause, BSN, RN · May 10, 2010

GoArmy.com Undergraduate Health Care Education

If you wanted to go reserves.. for STRAP then you'd have to do commissioning and training etc now and then get STRAP help to get BSN while in reserves... then if you wanted to go active duty at a later date you'd have to apply and transition reserves to active.

If you went ANCP then you get letter of acceptance to BSN, do application process, focus on school and then upon graduation you do training etc and begin to work active duty.. if you want to go active duty army then I recommend this program.

When you say 'recruiter' it doesn't sound like you are talking to a health care recruiter.. I'd recommend not talking to them as they will steer you to enlist as health care specialist they do not have anything to do with officer nurse accessions.

Spend more time on this forum and goarmy.com to get a big more background data if ANCP sounds good - there are some people on the board who've actively done that program or are current in it. Similar is navy nurse candidate program... same deal different branch...

v/r

chr0nic21 · May 17, 2010

I have been reading through out this post and I was wondering If I can have my question answered...I just had my RN license last month and I wanted to join the army reserves so I can finish my bachelors degree. I told my folks about it and they were not too thrilled since according to them, the nurses are the first ones in the "dangerous" combat zones when there are battles and casualties. Do army nurses go along with the infantry and patch them up in the middle of firefight? Or do injured soldiers get sent by the infantry to the army hospitals where the army nurse treat them over there? and also, what is the maximum amount of time reserves stay on duty? and how long is "vacation time" before they get deployed again? Sorry, I am completely ignorant with these things but any informed suggestions would help a bunch...thanks

just_cause, BSN, RN · May 17, 2010

Nurses are not with the infantry.

Combat Medics and Physician assistant roll with the infantry.... other then that we police our own through CLS and EMT training... stabilize and evac.

Nurses are 99% (yes this is a made up number.... but... fairly realistic) in hardstand locations and receive the evac, stabilize, and if needed prep to evac from theatre.

That being said the majority of those nurses will be in hospital type settings which is even more remote from the 'front', even though some might be in a 'combat zone'.. keep in mind kuwait earns combat pay just as much as Sadr city..

You can also look and see what reserve units are in your area, look at their mission and gain a better idea of what they train for.

Now.... joining the reserves will have time commitments that might ultimately slow down progress to BSN...my advice is to really compare your options..

w/o knowing your situation I would always say getting BSN directly is the BEST option... look at the loan options, look at the army nurse candidate program - all you need now is a BSN acceptance letter to start this program! If you join reserves.. its not always that 'easy' to transition to active duty.. not sure of your end state goals.... compare your options.. if you can get into a BSN program now you can do the army nurse candidate program or a direct commission 1 year from graduation or at anytime after... this will allow to be active duty officer and will possible the reduce the risk of 'life getting in the way' of obtaining your BSN and perhaps reaching a higher military potential.

v/r

vegas2009 · May 19, 2010

so there are more bodies competing for the same number of available slots
Sounds like Nursing Schools! and there are also drill sargeants in nursing schools