Navy Nursing pros, cons, general life advice

[singmehome]

Hi all,

I'm an ER RN, BSN with two years of experience in the ER (Level 3 with more medical critical care patients than trauma...although we can get some trauma). I have a 3.3 nursing GPA, and have all of my certs except for CEN which I'm working on right now. I've been in touch with a Navy recruiter and have sent in my paperwork for MEPS.

Ive been doing a lot of research on day to day life as a nurse in the military and unfortunately there's not a lot about it. All of my friends are in the military but not on the medical side. Are there any Navy nurses out there that can give me the pros and cons? I want the real details. I understand that it won't be like my civilian job (just 36 hours a week), but I already put in 48/week there. I also understand I will have more officer duties and the needs of the Navy come before anything else. My main questions are, am I competitive to get in DA? do you like it? Would you do it again? Do the benefits outweigh the cons? Which bases are the best/worst? What's the worst thing about it? What leadership qualities would you look for in an officer? Can you still have a social life/dating life/work-life balance with family? What are deployments like and how long are they typically? As an ER nurse, how likely is deployment with an FST or is that mainly Corpsman? How long would I live on a ship?

Thanks in advance!

[jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA]

Forward deployment teams, such as the FST, MFAST, and SOST, are used by all 3 branches in some capacity. Experienced ICU and ER nurses are the nurses on those teams.

Just so you know, your GPA is a little soft; 3.5 is really more typical and may be the minimum depending on what branch you are applying for. They really like to see level 1 ICU and ER experience, and I would encourage you to seek a larger hospital if you are serious about applying. The CEN and some level 1 experience would definitely be helpful.

Generally the job is pretty similar to civilian nursing when not deployed. As a mid-grade O-3, I work about 36-48 hours per week on patient care and maybe ~2-8 hours per week on administrative nonsense stuff. Deployment cycles vary by branch. In the Air Force (where I am), it is typical to deploy 6 months out of every 24 months. The Navy and the Army tend to do longer deployments slightly less frequently.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I deployed with an FST as an experienced Army ED/Trauma nurse. I had my CEN (and CPEN) plus three years of ED time when I commissioned in 2011, and I deployed in 2013-2014. I am not sure how I got lucky enough to get picked for an FST slot as a 1LT, but I did. I was promoted to CPT while deployed. With your GPA only being 3.3, you definitely need to get that CEN and some Level I trauma experience (Level II will do if there isn't a Level I where you are). Not sure if the 3.5 GPA minimum is still a thing, or really a hard/fast thing, but that was what was quoted to me in 2010 as being the minimum.

Also, for the Navy, they only give you constructive credit for the time that you have had a BSN; any time as an ADN-prepared nurse doesn't count. I don't know if you did an ASN and bridged to BSN or went straight to BSN, but I thought it was worth mentioning.