navy as a career choice

lcbradley · Dec 24, 2005

I am looking into the Navy as career choice, and would like to hear any information about Navy nursing, from Navy nurses. I have already spoken with a recruiter but would like to hear some first hand stories. I would especially like to hear from any one who has been to any of the Big 3 hospitals, Fort Sam Houston, or Jacksonville, and/or has gone into O.B. I would like to hear about everything, from patient-to-nurse ratios, to education and vacations and physical fitness expectations. I am also curious about any differences between navy hospitals and cilvilian hospitals. I want to hear the good and the bad. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Katelyn

Does not seem as if there are many navy nurses out there.

Calfax · Dec 31, 2005

Ok....so that's a bump?

Sorry...I haven't checked on the website lately. I am a navy nurse going on my 5th year (wow..that went fast) of active duty. I have served both overseas and at home.

My impressions are my own and I make no apologies for them. Feel free to post a reply should you disagree.

You will work hard as a Navy nurse....because you have 2 jobs. One: you're a Naval Officer. Two: You are a nurse. You will be expected perform both jobs simultaneously....and both are equally important.

You will only have the bare minimum of adequate resources and staff to do the job. You need to watch some old MacGuyver reruns. You will still be able to give adequate care but it will take more skill and ingenuity than you know. Your staff consist of 18 y/o kids who didn't go to college.....and who's parents consistantly voted to decrease funding at their local public schools. You must mold them by education, rewards, intimidation, and competition into intelligent, thinking corpsmen. You will depend on them for everything.

You are expected to pass the physical fitness tests. This consists of doing some pushups, running 1.5 miles and some sit-ups in the dark, twice a year. If you can't do it, don't join. No one cares to hear you whine. You are expected to know how to swim.....it's the Navy. Water's involved somewhere....except at 29 palms out in the Cali desert.

You will have many options for free training.......and can get all your certs for free. The extra military training you can go to is also worth it. You will be required to learn a lot.

If you want a cush job....get a clinic job. If you work inpatient, you will always be understaffed and will never get holidays off. Again, no one cares to hear you whine.

Your patients will be the same, except overseas, they will not speak English. This can be overcome by speaking English very slowly and loudly and dropping all the verbs out of the sentences( why Americans do this, I don't know)....or by learning the local mumbo-jumbo wherever you are. I can do a pretty good assessment in Japanese now. Overseas assignments are better than stateside assignments.

You *don't* want to be stationed at Bethesda. Your patients are US Congressmen and their inbred dependant hellspawn. The politics border on the merely trite to the ridiculously inane....and that's the staff.

You do want to be stationed in Spain, Italy, Japan, Florida and California. The people there are very cool, very chilled out and friendly.

If you join the Navy...you can and most likely will be deployed. That's the point of it all, see? Deployments last 6 months or so at a time. It will be hot and miserable whereever you are going. No one cares if you whine.

However, by joining the Navy Nurse Corps, you will have pride, self-respect and a sense of honor and duty. You will be respected not only for your clinical skills and knowledge but also that you are *not* a self-serving and clueless airforce nurse. Just because you wear "footie-pajamas" doesn't mean you know anything. Navy nurses are "street nurses" which means you get down into it and get your boots dirty. You put your hands on your patients, you get puked on, bled on and at the end of the day...you will make a difference in the life of a servicemember or their family.

lcbradley · Jan 1, 2006

Ok....so that's a bump?
Sorry...I haven't checked on the website lately. I am a navy nurse going on my 5th year (wow..that went fast) of active duty. I have served both overseas and at home.
My impressions are my own and I make no apologies for them. Feel free to post a reply should you disagree.
You will work hard as a Navy nurse....because you have 2 jobs. One: you're a Naval Officer. Two: You are a nurse. You will be expected perform both jobs simultaneously....and both are equally important.
You will only have the bare minimum of adequate resources and staff to do the job. You need to watch some old MacGuyver reruns. You will still be able to give adequate care but it will take more skill and ingenuity than you know. Your staff consist of 18 y/o kids who didn't go to college.....and who's parents consistantly voted to decrease funding at their local public schools. You must mold them by education, rewards, intimidation, and competition into intelligent, thinking corpsmen. You will depend on them for everything.
You are expected to pass the physical fitness tests. This consists of doing some pushups, running 1.5 miles and some sit-ups in the dark, twice a year. If you can't do it, don't join. No one cares to hear you whine. You are expected to know how to swim.....it's the Navy. Water's involved somewhere....except at 29 palms out in the Cali desert.
You will have many options for free training.......and can get all your certs for free. The extra military training you can go to is also worth it. You will be required to learn a lot.
If you want a cush job....get a clinic job. If you work inpatient, you will always be understaffed and will never get holidays off. Again, no one cares to hear you whine.
Your patients will be the same, except overseas, they will not speak English. This can be overcome by speaking English very slowly and loudly and dropping all the verbs out of the sentences( why Americans do this, I don't know)....or by learning the local mumbo-jumbo wherever you are. I can do a pretty good assessment in Japanese now. Overseas assignments are better than stateside assignments.
You *don't* want to be stationed at Bethesda. Your patients are US Congressmen and their inbred dependant hellspawn. The politics border on the merely trite to the ridiculously inane....and that's the staff.
You do want to be stationed in Spain, Italy, Japan, Florida and California. The people there are very cool, very chilled out and friendly.
If you join the Navy...you can and most likely will be deployed. That's the point of it all, see? Deployments last 6 months or so at a time. It will be hot and miserable whereever you are going. No one cares if you whine.
However, by joining the Navy Nurse Corps, you will have pride, self-respect and a sense of honor and duty. You will be respected not only for your clinical skills and knowledge but also that you are *not* a self-serving and clueless airforce nurse. Just because you wear "footie-pajamas" doesn't mean you know anything. Navy nurses are "street nurses" which means you get down into it and get your boots dirty. You put your hands on your patients, you get puked on, bled on and at the end of the day...you will make a difference in the life of a servicemember or their family.

Thank you for your honesty. Do you have any advice about Portsmouth, VA? If I am accepted for the NCP, I will select this place. What about housing? Do officers have different housing from enlisted? Can you work outside of the military as a nurse if you are active duty?

Barb2000 · Jan 7, 2006

I was a Navy Nurse, and stationed in Portsmouth. They do have housing, but that area is always on the military's 'critical housing shortage' list because it is so heavily populated by active duty personnel. 4 years ago, I was told the waiting list for base housing was 2 years, so most just rent or buy their own (the Navy gives extra money to cover most of your rent, depending on how expensive your place is). Portsmouth is a great place to start, as their facility has just about every specialty you can think of, so there are alot of places to move around internally if you want something new.

lcbradley · Jan 7, 2006

I was a Navy Nurse, and stationed in Portsmouth. They do have housing, but that area is always on the military's 'critical housing shortage' list because it is so heavily populated by active duty personnel. 4 years ago, I was told the waiting list for base housing was 2 years, so most just rent or buy their own (the Navy gives extra money to cover most of your rent, depending on how expensive your place is). Portsmouth is a great place to start, as their facility has just about every specialty you can think of, so there are alot of places to move around internally if you want something new.

Barb2000, can you work in the civilian sector as an active duty nurse?

Barb2000 · Jan 9, 2006

You are allowed to work as a civilian RN as long as you get approval from your chain of command. You will need a RN license from that state. Alot of Navy nurses do this as the money is really good for prn/no benefits. I have never seen it not approved. The only problem I saw was the Navy is expected to come first, and Navy nurses are expected to be available if called in to cover a shift that is short. Having a second job won't get anybody out of this. But the nurses I know who could make it work, made alot of extra money to invest, pay off college, etc. Also, if they couldn't work in the area they were really interested in at the Navy hospital, it gave them an opportunity to get those skills elsewhere.

pannie · Jan 13, 2006

Calfax, I loved Bethesda but as a patient. I was "downtown" DC and politics were about the same but I still loved it. It was way, way before your time, I'm sure, back when Main Navy was at 19th and Constitution.

You've certainly spoken the truth here. Whining is definitely OUT! You're military and love it.