Newly Commissioned Army Reserve RN wanting to go active

NewNavyRN · Jul 30, 2011

wow how did that happen? if you agreed to a 66H i'm guessing thats what youre gonna be doing. i've heard it is very hard to go from reserves to active duty but i'd definitely ask my recruiter how this happened. did you not understand your contract?

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jul 30, 2011

You'd need the M5 identifier to come in as an ED nurse, which requires documentation from someone at your facility (clin spec, manager, etc.) that details having at least 1500 hours of time in an ED in the last two years. My skills identifier was written into my contract, so I came in as a 66HM5.

There are other people on this forum who have gone from Reserves to Active, but it's not an easy process. Talk to your recruiter. You might also mention the M5 identifier.

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Aug 1, 2011

I came from reserves to active. It was not a hard process but just long. You have to go thru the process of applying again. Since you just got commisioned in the reserves there might be parts that you do not have to do again.

When I was in the reserves before I got my M5 (which I gave up when I went on active) I was in a Combat Support Hosptial (CSH) and worked in the EMT (Emergency Medical Treatment) section when I was a straight 66H.

Since there is limited slots for active duty nurses having your M5 SI before applying will put you in a different pool then straight 66H's. When I came on active since I was going to the Perioperative Course and would change my MOS to a 66E that is how I was recruited vs being a 66H.

Once you get the process going you will need to get a Conditional Released (368) signed before the process can go very far. I had no problems getting it signed by my command but others have a more diffucult time. Good luck