Navy nursing for a small-town girl?

[PollymarysmithBSN]

I am a small-town Montana girl that has been out of school for a little over a year with my BSN. I have been working at a large hospital as an RN on a rehabilitation unit (we work with mostly strokes, head injuries and spinal cord injuries). I am interested in navy nursing because I would like the opportunity to learn more skills in different environments and have the opportunity for travel. I am 24 and no kids so I think this would be the time in my life to try something like this but I am nervous that I will be overwhelmed with the structure and lack of privacy in military life (I am not shy or private but I have not spent much time in big cities or in very structured atmosphere). I have also been dating someone for the last year and we have discussed taking the next step. Would love to hear from anyone newly married that dove into the military life. Any suggestions or advice on how to get started with the process? I graduated with good grades, have a year of experience now with good evaluations and was one of the lucky ones to not be left with a huge pile of debt so I won't need to navigate the loan repayment negotiations.

Any advice would be appreciated :)

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'no privacy', but really, what I do on my own time as a military officer isn't my boss' business, and in 10 years of AD time I've not had privacy issues (unless you're doing something illegal, in which case all bets are off). :) I keep personal opinions off my Facebook page, I don't 'friend' the page of my workplace, and I don't 'friend' the USAF's home page, either. I don't give them any reason to be up my back end and I don't live within five minutes of the base (nor do I care to live on base). Really, it's no different than when I was a civilian RN, it's just now I get emails when my vaccinations are due because someone's watching all that. I feel like, in this electronic age, we all need to maintain our own privacy as it is. :)

You need to talk to a Health Professions Recruiter for whatever branch of service you're interested in.

Just curious - have you thought about the USAF? Does it have to be USN? Or do you just want a total change of scenery? The USAF is a lot smaller than the USN (but of course, we go to places like Montana, so you might want a change...).

Do not talk to the recruiter in your local strip mall - he/she is an enlisted recruiter and you need an officer/health professions recruiter.

With that said, you do sound as though you're interested in the military for all the right reasons. You need to talk this over with your intended and see what his views are on it, and then make the BEST DECISION FOR YOU, not for someone else. He needs to realize that he will spend however long you stay in essentially supporting your career; that there will be moves you will need to make and things you will need to do that will occasionally have nothing to do with him (not trying to be blunt, that's just how it works). I've been married 13 years, with four of those back on active duty - I was active duty before. Sometimes he has a hard time remembering that I have to do X so we can do Y later. I include him as much as I can, and he's worked around the military most of his adult life, so he sort of gets it, but in practice in can be hard. I'm in until retirement this time, and that he does understand. If I have a choice, I let him make it when I can (for example - let's say I could take X assignment or Y assignment - where I go doesn't matter to me, so I'll let him make the decision). But sometimes he doesn't get a choice, and he realizes that, even when it's frustrating.

It's not all wine and roses in here, but I'd rather be here than on the outside, especially given this economy (unless I kill someone, don't make the next rank appropriately, screw up in general, or flunk my PT test too many times, they're not going to get rid of me/downsize me/fire me/just ask me to leave). My salary is ridiculous (remember, though, I have prior enlisted time, which upped my pay quite a bit), I can't get better health care/insurance (as active duty, TRICARE Prime is free for me and my dependents), and the sick/vacation time has yet to be matched anywhere else. Yep, I can get deployed (knew that when I signed up); I put up with crap that makes no sense (did that as a civilian - best part here is, eventually SOMEONE will get moved - you or them - hahaha); sometimes I feel like I work more hours than I did as a civilian. And this isn't for everyone. But all in all, I'm satisfied with my decision to come back on active duty and really don't regret it.