Rhody16x

That is correct, your first 4 years will not count for GI Bill. https://www.armyg1.army.mil/post911gibill.asp#westpoint

Hey there! I’m an active duty Army ICU nurse. I did my medsurg time at Tripler and loved it. My take is medsurg is roughly the same at whatever MTF you go to, so you might as well do medsurg in Hawaii! The extra year of medsurg is rough, but you’ll gain experiece in a charge nurse/preceptor role. I would try to get BAMC after the ICU course. The acuity/volume at BAMC is unmatched. As of now you have a 1-year ADSO for graduating the ICU course. You’ll find that most military ICU RN’s are thinking about the CRNA route. Once you get in the ICU world you’ll have no problem finding someone who will help guide you along the process (CRNA shawdow hours, GRE, biochem class, when to apply). Just an FYI you can check the VA website and see how much time you need to get a certain percent of the GI BILL. For example 18 months past your ROTC obligation is 70%

The “ones ready” podcast has a good video on Youtube about SOST. The ED doc goes a bit into their a/s

I’ve heard about the 66E, makes sense. That’s good to know in regards to deployment experiece. Thanks for letting me pick your brain! I’m from CT but went to URI!

Thanks for the detailed answer! I’ve heard some rumors that an additional S will be added to the team primarily used for JECC, any news on that? I imagine most FRSTs on the reserve side share you scrutiny of potential members. Is deployment experience a must to get on a team? Some of my peers ran into that roadblock when they tried to hop on a team.

What’s the additional duties look like for the O3 66S’s on your team? I imagine most O’s are dual-hating as an S3, XO, ect. I’m currently AD and often hear that the commitment extends far beyond “one weekend a month, 2-weeks a year” thanks for your input!

Since your school does not have ROTC your only option will be to direct comission. If your goal is become an L&D nurse in the Army I highly suggest gaining some experiece on the civilian side in L&D and earning a board cert to be competitive. After you get some experience reach out to an AMEDD recruiter and hopefully slots are available! You can reach out to an AMEDD recruiter as a new grad and see if spots are open, but be aware you will work med-surg for 2-3 years before being able to apply for the L&D course. Side note, there’s been talk about the army getting rid of 66G’s (L&D) nurses/CNM’s, however, people are still being sent to the course. See what the Airforce is offering too!! Good luck!

I’m pretty unfamiliar with online NP programs but I imagine they do require some in-person cliniclals which might be tricky working the floor. Say everything works out and you get your NP, I believe the process for switching AOC is still the same. There’s a section on the HRC Nurse Corp home page that walks you through it. It’s basically a TON of paperwork you have to get your nursing leadership (up to the CNO) to sign. I haven’t heard of active duty Med-Surg LT’s working the floor doing this, but have seen some CPT/MAJ in support roles get their NP on the side. Your BNC will probably try to sell you on LTHET to become an NP but you’ll have to wait until you’re a CPT to apply. jeckrn1 is correct it depends on your CNO if you can bounce early to go to a course or do TDY in return.... but staffing is always an issue on medsurg floors :/

L&D and OR are the only specialties that are TDY and return. The critical care course is PCS enroute.

Duty station location has little to do with going to the 66S Critical-Care course. You will spend 2 (3 years if you are OCONUS) years on a medsurg floor and about 6 months before you PCS you’ll drop a packet to go to the ICU course. Almost everybody gets picked up for the course. It is true that around the 8 year mark you’ll get pulled from the bedside and put in an OIC position. If you specialize ie. going to the ICU course it will delay getting pulled from the beside. Class ranking has nothing to do with duty station location for nurses. It’s first come first serve after you pass your boards. A Brigade Nurse Counselor should be your primary POC for all these questions! They are basically a guidance counselor for nurse cadets. Your cadre will be little to no help since they are most likely all combat arms follks. Hopes this helps!

No worries! The communication is the same. Military healthcare is a big melting pot of civilian/uniformed staff and is generally a very relaxed environment when it comes to military customs and courtesies

Right now deployments are pretty rare unless you are ICU, ER, CRNA, but even then it’s hard to pick up one. Field time is unit dependent and depends where you are stationed. Typically the field time would be spent setting up a field hospital and doing a few mass casualty drills. I know my hospital sends people to Korea for about 2 weeks twice a year to do that. Admin work could be; scheduler, being in charge of chart audits, being in charge of competency folders, unit practice council. Sometimes your boss will give you admin days and you can work on all that stuff. In terms of actual nursing there is no huge difference between military vs civilian. The difference is mostly when you aren’t working the floor and have to take care of “army things” like physical fitness test, weapons qualification, mandatory training etc.

When you aren’t deployed or doing field training it’s the same as the civilian world. Yes you work a lot and switch about every 3 months (GS civilians and contractors don’t switch). Most uniformed staff have additional duties that deal with admin stuff on the floor. No you don’t have a high risk of being sexually assaulted, I don’t know why you would think that. Overall, it’s a pretty sweet gig with all the benefits and getting to care for a special population.

I would keep in contact with the AMEDD recruiter as they will know a little more in regards to getting into active duty. Traditionally the Army hasn’t picked up fresh new grads the last couple of years. If you do get picked up you would go to DCC at Fort Sill and BOLC at Fort Sam. From there you would be stationed at one of the larger hospitals (MEDCENs) and complete a roughly 6 month new grad residency (CNTP). You would then work as a Med-Surg nurse for 2-3 years before applying for the critical care course/ER course. Another option is finishing up school and landing an ICU job on the civilian side, working for 2 years, then direct comissioning as a ICU Nurse (66S). 66S’s are currently at a critical low so chances of you being picked up are failrly high. My last word of advice is to keep a pulse on the whole DHA takeover and how it’s impacting military medicine. It has only been a few months and I’m already seeing massive staffing changes at my hospital. Military nursing is going to be extremely different in the next couple of years. Good luck with your journey, and congrats on finishing up school!!

Link up with your Brigade Nurse Counselor towards the end of the semester and see what BOLC classes offer what follow on locations. For example Hawaii was only offered in July and October last year, and word on the street is we are only getting one group this summer. 66S’s are at a critical low rignt now, so if you go to a MTF CONUS side you can drop a packet once you achieved the minimum requirements and probably head to the course around the 2-2 1/2 year mark. Think of work-life balance, you are going to get worked to death after CNTP regardless of what hospital you end up at. I’m at TAMC now and it has its pros and cons. Also take your boards ASAP, BOLC/duty locations are first come first serve once your BNC gets all your paperwork to the assignment officer at HRC.