medic665

I was an Army combat medic so your mileage may vary a bit. I'm assuming you are looking into the Air Force since you mentioned flight nurse. Most branches of service will want an initial 6 to 8 years in. This can be combined like 3 years active and 3 reserve etc, but plan on at least 3 years active. If you are going active plan on relocating. Choice of duty stations can be affected greatly by what your MOS is. If one base has too many of you, you probably aren't going there. If one you don't want to be at needs your MOS, you are probably going there. Some AF guys I know say AF is a little better and has better posts. At least you wont be stationed at fort "middle of nowhere" like the Army and Marines. Deployments can vary a lot in length . In the Army it was 6-13months. My first Iraq deployment ran almost 13 months. And they would get you with what was called a hardship deployment every now and then. Not actual combat per se, but something that almost sucks as bad. If you are a grunt think Korean DMZ. Basically they didn't want us setting around too long. Again, I hear the AF is much better. These are all things you need to be discussing with your recruiter. If you enlist you will have the chance to review your contract before signing it with somebody other than a recruiter, so don't worry about being lied to and getting stuck in some horrible job. I called it quits after 8 years so I really cant help much with retirement questions, but they have career councilors who are very good at keeping you up to speed on that stuff. Right before ETS, the Army sent me to a class explaining how many retirement points I had and the pros and cons of getting out or staying in. It was pretty impartial too and not just some sales pitch. The military is an awesome choice and opened more doors for me than I realized at the time. Its a good move and will help you a lot in life. Good luck.

I think pretty much everybody goes through this in one way or another. I left the Army after 8 years as a combat medic and went to nursing school. You know what used to get me? Pre reqs. God I hated them. I hated being stuck killing time in classes "necessary" for my degree that I would never use as a nurse. It felt like I was stuck in formalities while waiting to do something I already had experience in. I don't know how many times I almost called it quits and just re enlisted instead, and that was after 2 tours in Iraq. Everybody gets bogged down in nursing school. It kinda has a habit of making your goals seem further away. And don't sweat your grades too much as long as you are passing. Two things to keep in mind "C equals pass" and nobody is going to give your grades much of a look in the real world. I was never asked about how I did in nursing school during any interview. The only time you need to worry about GPA is if you are planning on going back later on and its a competitive program like RN to BSN. Even then you can just jack up your GPA with some easy classes then apply. Don't get discouraged. What you are feeling is pretty normal for nursing school. Just dig in and keep advancing towards your objective and you will be fine.

Getting that golden first year of experience can seem pretty daunting. Something to consider is maybe settling on something else in the field rather than not. Start applying at LTC places. They often hire new grads. You might also consider expanding your job search to a wider area. A longer commute can be a pain, but is sometimes a smart move in the long run. I think a lot of new nurses apply at jobs they want and are forced to compete with more experienced applicants. I think society pushes the image that we all run ERs or delivery babies, but those jobs are going to be almost unattainable right out of school. Start looking at your 2nd and 3rd choice options in nursing. You can get to where you want to be pretty easily, but you have to build experience. Sometimes the experience doesn't even have to be directly related, it all adds up. Taking a job outside your field though will just make that first job an uphill battle. Kinda like waiting too long to take the NCLEX. Unless you are flat broke, take any nursing job and build on that.

I have to agree. Stick it out. I was a combat medic for 8 years in the Army before going to nursing school civy side. Like a lot of LPNs my first year was LTC because they are always hiring. Even after the military, that first year felt like sprinting in mud. It gets better. A lot better. You are going to get more proficient at things and that will make you faster. After you get that golden year of experience, you also might consider a job change to a place that will give you an actual preceptor. Nothing wrong with LTC, but every LTC gig I ever had was 3 days floor orientation then figure it out for yourself. I work corrections now and we give our nurses a month of orientation. You are going to get through this, everyone else here dealt with the same thing.

I think I would start by getting a better lock. You are right about lock picking being easy. Consider something like a brinks brand lock. They left a knife in your locker? I'm not sure if this points more towards violence being threatened or something else. Maybe they planned to turn you in to management for having the weapon? Unfortunately what the cops told you about the evidence is true. Getting prints off some things aren't as easy as you see on tv and only an idiot would handle something like that without gloves. We use something called one touch dna at work to determine who handled an object last, but even then placed in a locker full of your stuff, its going to be useless. Its up to you if you leave or not, but you need to take care of your own security. Like others have said, management wont be very proactive here.