NAVY nursing

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I will graduate with my BSN in 8 months and I have been looking at the navy. I am not in any type of Navy training program and I put myself through college. My question is do I have to have experience as a nurse first, before commissioning as an officer? or can I join, and have the Navy train me at my first duty station? kind of like how the civilian hospitals pair a senior nurse with their "baby" nurse until they are competent enough to handle the floor. Any help from Naval Officers would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Welcome to the site

I have moved this to the Government and Military forum to elicit more appropriate responses

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No you do not need to have any past military experience or nurse experience before commissioning if you through the nurse candidate route. Go to Navy.com and locate an OFFICER recruiter for more information on the Nurse Candidate Program. The first duty station that you get is meant for you to learn and grow as a nurse, most hospitals stateside have a residency program. If you wait until your graduate, then your option is through direct commissioning and they want at least 3 years in a specialty before you apply for direct commissioning. Hopes this helps!

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Thank you so much for answering my question I will contact an officer recruiter ASAP.

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Kouklitsa27,

The NCP requires you to have at least 6 months left in your BSN program when you apply. The board doesn't start accepting applications until September/October, which would leave you with less than the required time in your program.

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Not sure if you consider Navy your only option, but the Air Force takes new grads once a year with 6 months experience or less, the board meets in July this year. You won't have time to complete everything this year, but probably next year. You graduate in December I'm assuming, meaning you would get your license in Jan/Feb and start working soon after. That would make you right at the cutoff to apply for Air Force NTP. Otherwise the AF does take experienced nurses twice a year, but you have to have experience in the field you're applying for and it can be difficult going against people with years experience more than you. Just a few thoughts!

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