Navy Nursing?

mobro · Sep 25, 2009

honestly i couldn't get a navy recruiter to return my calls. i had the best luck and most info from the air force. my only draw back to the navy was when they deploy it's usually 6 months at a time and that's a long time to be on a ship- they make stops here and there of course but it didn't appeal to me as much. had they returned my calls, however...

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2009

Navy nurses do not deploy very often on ships. Other then aircraft carriers nurses for the most part only serve aboard the two hospital ships the Comfort & Mercy. When Navy nurse deploy it is either with a Field Hospital or a FSSG unit with the Marines.

mobro · Sep 25, 2009

ah, well, see that's information i miss when my calls aren't returned. my only naval source of information is a friend who is an officer on an aircraft carrier who does not work in healthcare. anywho...thanks for the clarification.

aglages · Sep 25, 2009

Thank you everyone for the very helpful information. I was under the impression that the VAST majority of Navy nurses rarely see any time on ships and spend most (almost all) of their time in land based hospitals.

Being deployed with the Marines in a field hospital sounds a little precarious.

Anyone else lived the life of a Navy nurse?

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2009

Field hospitals are not deployed with the Marines, they may go into the same theater but are farther back. They are pretty much like a CSH (combat support hospital) which the Army has.

FarawaySoClose, BSN, DNP, RN · Sep 26, 2009

There are definitely less posts about Navy nursing compared to the other branches on here but if you run a search for "Navy Nurse Corps" you will find some good (and bad) information about Navy nursing for your daughter. However, every branch has it's pros and cons. I can tell you that I've spoken to a few Navy Nurse Corps officers and I'm quite excited to join their ranks (your daughter will have this opportunity if she does contact a recruiter, tell her to specifically ask to speak with someone who's in the corps, most of them will be truthful about what it's like, for instance I had one very seriously discuss with me what deployments are really like and some of the negative things you will experience).

With the Navy it really takes persistence to get a hold of a recruiter; I went through a few channels before I finally got a Navy recruiter on the phone and the application process since then has mostly been via email. So you have to keep contacting them to make sure everything is going through ok and that the application is still in progress. It's taken nearly 5 months to complete and most of that time has been spent waiting to hear back from someone.

I think this is their way of determining your level of committment. An Air Force recruiter will outright ask you to make a committment to joining the AF but a Navy recruiter will make you prove that you are committed.

I know this isn't exactly what you were looking for but I hope it helps a little anyways.

aglages · Sep 26, 2009

...I know this isn't exactly what you were looking for but I hope it helps a little anyways.

It is EXACTLY the kind of reply I was looking for. Thank you very much! B-T-W.....Why did YOU choose the Navy instead of another branch? Did you also speak to some military nurses in other branches?

After beginning this thread I did what you suggested and searched under NAVY and found a ton of information. I also appreciate the "heads up" to start the process early, be persistent, and continue to talk to different Navy personnel until she finds one that will help her with the process.

Anybody else have any insight or opinions on why she should join the Air Force or Army instead of the Navy?

FarawaySoClose, BSN, DNP, RN · Sep 26, 2009

I also spoke with an Air Force recruiter prior to choosing the Navy (I never considered the Army though, it just never appealed to me like the other 2 branches); he gave me some good information but he never put me in contact with someone already in AF nursing. The Navy recruiter on the other hand put me in contact with a Nurse Corps officer first thing and that conversation was really the deciding factor for me in deciding to join the Navy. She spoke to me about the opportunities for continued education, to got to conferences, the responsibilities and what the lifestyle is like, everything she said felt right to me. Plus I've always wanted to live by the ocean but seriously I've never doubted my decision since starting the application process.

Just make sure your daughter gets in contact with someone who's really lived it; the recruiters will try to sugar-coat it and they often don't know what nursing in the military is really like so kudos for getting on here and asking around. Hope you get the information you're looking for.

aglages · Sep 27, 2009

... Hope you get the information you're looking for.

Thanks to you and some others, we are getting the information we're looking for. Thank you again for sharing your experiences. It does seem to me that which branch you join is dependent on how fortunate you are to eventually find a "good" recruiter that helps you. I think perhaps the biggest lessons I can pass on to my daughter from the posts I've read is to be persistent and not accept bad advice or "poor service" from SOME recruiters that are either ill-informed or have their own agendas.

BartC_RN · Sep 28, 2009

My AF recruiter has been outstanding. He has been enthusiastic, honest and up-front about everything. He's never even asked me to commit. He basically outlined all parts of the opportunity and asked if I was interested and if I was we could get started.

I was considering Navy and AF and have ended up concentrating mostly on the Air Force for something that's probably pretty small: COT is in Montgomery, AL which is 2 hours from where I live and Navy Officer Training is in Rhode Island. I know the arguments that well, you're going to end up at a far away duty station eventually anyway but I'm totally new to the military way of life, and my rationale is starting out closer to home will probably ease the transition. I'm 37 years old, so the travel is not what's at the top of my priority list.

The Navy recruiter I talked to didn't really seem interested in the whole situation, so I kind of let it go. The Air Force has just felt more right for me so far. It has been basically just a gut feeling.

Good Luck!

aglages · Sep 28, 2009

Thanks BartC_RN for sharing your experiences. I wonder if the military realizes how much of a difference their recruiters attitudes make in which service nurses choose?