Navy Duty Station Selection

[ebs1195]

I am a nursing student in NROTC about to begin my senior year (MIDN 1/C). I have a few questions about the duty station selection process and Navy nursing in general. In terms of duty station selection, when should I contact my detailer? Are assignments given based on order of merit, first-come-first-served basis, completely randomly, or something else? And when can I expect to find out my assignment?

I would also like to know a little more about the "big 3" hospitals. I am very interested in critical care, and I would really like to work in an ICU (likely after working a few years in med surg). So any advice on duty stations (especially the "big 3") with good ICUs, how to transfer to the ICU, and any other advice you could share on Navy nursing would be much appreciated! Thank you!

[mollydog925]

I was contacted by my detailer with a "dream sheet" where I filled out my top three preferences. She provided a list of available stations and the number of openings they had there. Then she sent an email with a date/time to call in. Starting at midnight on a certain night we were to call the number and leave a message with our name and call back number. She called back in the order she received the messages. I called right on the dot and it took me about 10 calls to get her voicemail as many others were calling at the same time. She called me a couple days later in the morning and discussed the options. My first choice was full, so I picked Walter Reed as there were still openings. She put me down for that and the call lasted less than 10 minutes.

I'm leaving for ODS in September, and I started getting emails from Walter Reed with information about getting started there. Once you have your duty station, they will contact you close to the date you should be arriving to provide information.

I hope this helps? This was just my process!