navy nurse 1st duty station

[timothypp]

I am wondering if anyone knows if a newly commissioned navy nurse can be accepted for an overseas duty station with first duty assignment? I am an experienced critical care RN, BSN. Any info would help a lot.

[navyman7]

Typically no. Unless you were a prior corpsman in a hospital then you may be lucky enough to get that assignment but otherwise it's not going to happen. You could get a medium sized hospital here in the states but that's rare too.

[aprilrazz]

You are probably looking at San Diego, CA, Bethesda, MD or Portsmouth, VA. Those are the big 3 navy hospitals and where most new nurses go. There is a lesser chance of you going to a smaller hospital in CONUS. As a prior AD Corpsman (now nursing student) I have worked at Portsmouth and Bethesda and it seemed that most of the nurses on the wards were O-1's. You may know nursing but you don't know the navy yet. It is going to be a big culture shock.

One nurse I worked with suggested going with a fleet surgical team for your second duty station. You will be going out on the big deck ships and will get to see different places and get the feel of real military health care.

As far as later duty stations overseas Rota Spain is where it's at!! I was stationed there and I absolutely loved it!

[Erin87]

I am getting stationed in Rota, Spain. What is it like working there as a nurse?