Navy nurse questions!

williams84 · Apr 7, 2013

Lots of good questions, but if you are a high school senior and desire to be a navy nurse, I recommend NROTC. You'll skip the boot camp and the hair cutting.

May2113 · Apr 7, 2013

Thanks for your response! If you don't mind me asking, what is NROTC?

williams84 · Apr 7, 2013

It's actually a pretty great program. You go to college and study nursing like a normal college student, but you also take a few classes every semester that teach you the ways of the Navy. They offer scholarships, too, so you can focus on getting the best education possible. I did a brief stint in the Army version and I loved it (long story as to why I didn't stick with it, but the program itself was amazing).

Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps Home Page

May2113 · Apr 8, 2013

Okay great! So I'm still a little confused, is it only offered at various colleges? And do you still have PT?

williams84 · Apr 8, 2013

You still PT a few times a week and it's pretty early. They have a place on that website where you can look and see if the schools you are interested in have the program.

May2113 · Apr 8, 2013

I didn't see the link at the bottom of your last reply but I just checked it out. It was very helpful! Thank you so much for your time, you seem very informative. :) Did you go through this program? And are you a navy nurse currently? Sorry for all the questions I just want to be clear on becoming a nurse in the navy!

williams84 · Apr 8, 2013

I am none of the above. I am currently a senior nursing student who used to be enlisted in the Navy. I want to go back into the service, but I am not sure in what capacity. I wish you the best of luck! The military was my favorite experience in life so far.

May2113 · Apr 8, 2013

Thanks again for your help! I think I have a pretty good idea on what I'm going to do. I wish you the same! :)

imeldabanuel · Dec 18, 2013

I have been going to college i already took all my requirements to apply to the rn program but i have no luck on getting in the program my classes are expiring soon. Therefore i decided to join the navy to finish nursing thier to. I serioulsy neen an advice because i am going crazy tring to get into rn school and the navy recruiters are no help.

RunBabyRN · Dec 23, 2013

Bear with me, as I am not/have not been a Navy nurse, however, I was a hospital corpsman, so I spent a lot of time with RNs and have some friends who are officers.

1. Is it better to get your degree first and then speak with a recruiter? Yes. You'll want to make sure you're speaking to an officer recruiter. The "regular" recruiters can point you in the right direction.
2. After I enlist do I have to go to boot camp or is there some kind of boot camp for officers? This one I am not sure. I know there's officer training school, but I'm not sure what the current path is.
3. I was researching and saw A and C school come up, can someone explain exactly what that is? This isn't pertinent to officers. A school is the school enlisted people go to to learn their job. C school is where some go to learn a specialty. Eg my A school was hospital corps school. If I'd wanted to be a pharmacy tech or surgical tech, that would have been my C school.
4. If you already got your degree before enlisting do you have to go to A and/or C school? The two are mutually exclusive.
5. What is the navy nurse corps? It's the corps of Navy nurses. I know that sounds like a big fat DUH, but that's what it is. There are line officer and corps officers (chaplain corps, medical corps, medical services corps, etc versus line officers, who captain ships and such). So basically, within the corps officers, there are classifications based on what you do. The nurses are in the Navy Nurse Corps. You wear a special pin on your uniform that shows your designation.
6. Is everyone with a college degree an officer? Nope. You have to commission. It's not an automatic thing. Sometimes people enlist, then get their degree, then commission. Sometimes they don't. If you were go to in enlisted, and had college credits but they couldn't necessarily put you into a job or go for a degree (my situation at the time), you go in as a higher rank enlisted.
7. I know that being in any branch of military you can encounter dangerous situations, but I just want to know if any of you have experienced anything as a nurse. Navy nurses can absolutely be in dangerous situations. They deploy as well. However, the Geneva Conventions do protect medical personnel, but that doesn't mean that you're safe. We just have more protection than, say, infantry.
8. Do navy nurses (females) have to cut their hair at boot camp? (Just wondering I don't mind chopping my hair off) Not sure how this is for officers. I know for enlisted, we did (this was 10 years ago).
9. What kind of uniforms and how many uniforms do navy nurses get? Do a Google search. These are constantly changing. Uniforms have changed since I was in.
10. Does the navy pay for college? And what kind of benefits do you get? Not if you go in as an officer. If you go in as enlisted, you're eligible for the GI Bill (you pay $100/mo for your first year, and you can also get a kicker).
11. How long are deployments? And after book camp then what? Do you get time off after book camp? How do you prepare for boot camp? Deployments vary widely. And nothing says you can't have back to back deployments, or have them extended without your consent. You're government property, and they will do what's best for the mission. I've seen deployments anywhere from 6 weeks to 18 months. For enlisted, after boot camp, you go to A school. If you don't have an A school, you go to your duty station. No, there's no "time off". You have to put in a leave request chit in order to take time off. Prepping for boot camp- work on your running, sit ups, push ups, and being within weight standards, if that's an issue for you.
12. Last thing, can someone give me a step by step idea of becoming a navy nurse? (A suggestion) Do the normal school route for becoming a nurse (BSN). In your senior year, talk to an officer recruiter. If your school has NROTC, do it.
I'm single and don't have any kids. Yeah, the military has a funny way of changing that for a lot of people. Don't rush into anything. It can be tempting when you're surrounded by young fit men. LOL I saw it happening ALL THE TIME, and the divorce rate is HIGH, especially for people who get married at their first duty station. I'm grateful I didn't get married while I was enlisted.