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Discussion

Navy Reserves

I am thinking of joining the Navy. I am a currently a critical care nurse and am interested in joining the reserves.. I applied to a civilian nurse practitioner school to begin in the summer (online) so I am hoping I get into the program. I would love to be a part of the Navy for the experience as well as the travel and help with paying for school.

I am a little apprehensive about a few things though!! Like signing your life over, :unsure:!

A few questions I have:

1. How bad is officer training school really? I am not that much of a fitness person although I am slender I rarely work out. I am worried about the physical part of it!

2. Also, I am fairly timid and I don't want that to hold me back but I worry that I will be eaten alive in the military? Are people generally friendly? I just don't want to be in a situation where everyone is extremely rude!

Any tips or information from those who have either been through it or know people who have would be amazing!! Thanks!

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    • Featured Replies

    Hi nurseJinicu,

    For Reserves, you'll go to Direct Commission Officer Indoctrination Course (DCOIC), two weeks in Rhode Island. They don't do official PRT at this course but they'll do a simulation of it by the book so you know what to do in your drill command. Most likely though, depending on when you commission, you'll most likely do your physical readiness test during one of your drills before you get to DCOIC. If you have an android phone, download an app called Navy PFA and you can calculate the amount of push ups, sit ups, and run time you need to complete in order to pass for your age range.

    As a nurse in the military, you are a commissioned officer so you are expected to lead. Being an ICU nurse, you won't have any problems since you're used to delegating when your patient is critically ill. A nurse's role isn't any different. You may be in a supervisory position at times though, depending on what your unit does, like running a clinic during drills. In this case, your in charge of a couple of corpsmans. In a sense, you are there for the enlisted too and they are very much eager to learn from you.

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    Have you been able to talk to a recruiter? I have attempted many times over the past year to get in touch with a reserve healthcare recruiter for the Navy and haven't been able to get in touch with any. I've called, emailed, left messages, went through local recruiters to try and get in touch with a healthcare recruiter and nada! If anyone knows how to get through to one, I would love to hear!

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    Is there a minimum height and weight to get into the navy reserve?

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    • Moderator
    Is there a minimum height and weight to get into the navy reserve?

    Yes. You can do a simple Google search to find height/weight requirements.

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