DanznRN

Hey!! Navy here, been so since 1997, making it a grand total of 14+ years. I was a pretty regular contributor for a while about 3-4 years ago, but some personal life issues slowed me down on the site. Well, that a few deployments in there as well. Anyway, been ER/ Trauma the whole time and have ranged the gambit of experiences. Started as a floor nurse in San Diego, then did a few years as ICU in Great Lakes. After that I got out for 11 months and then came back in, went straight to Italy for more floor nursing, but also the Asst. Division Officer. Was selected for DUINS (Duty Under INStruction) and the Navy paid for my Master's as a CNS/ ACNP at the University of Maryland. Been doing the Division Officer/ Head Nurse job for the last 3+ years, so I'm one of the "they" that someone referred to. Also have some unique deployment experiences that were both humanitarian assistance and disaster response. It's all good, been a great experience, you'd be surprised what it takes to run the show behind the scenes, if you don't know, then you have a good leader or a poor communicator, LOL!!! I've got tons of experiences, to include married dual active duty couples and now divorced dual active duty couples, that also includes the 3 kids. So, I've been around the block a bit and happy to help where/ when I can. I'd like to thank Shelby for reminding me that I had a duty to continue helping folks on this forum. Look forward to talking with you all. LCDR Dan

No real way to get a head start with actual materials. However, you can look up class of ships and what there capabilities are. See if you can google uniform regulations, like where/ how to where insignia, etc.,. Most official sites require a secured login, so not easy to get the info. Good luck. LCDR Dan

Gotta agree on the Danners. You pay a bit more up front for sure, but it really pays off. The website referred to above is: http://www.usstandardissue.com You have to fax in a copy of your ID and verify you are military and then they open you an account. I get sunglasses through them about 1/2 price, it's great. LCDR Dan

Kim- Thanks for the thoughts and yes, it will get better. Daunting at first, but better in the end. As for Norfolk, yep she pulls in first part of December, so we'll be around then. LCDR Dan

Jordaa- Glad to hear everything is working out. Once you find out where you are headed, let us know, always good to have friends where you are headed. Smattles- Like it was said above you may or may not have on-call days that you have to plan for. In my ED we do not have an on-call schedule at this point, we're able to make ends meet without out one. Staffing in the Navy has its ups and downs depending on the time of year, so it can happen sometimes. I hear you on the child care deal. Best bet is to work on finding a good and flexible (keyword) sitter when you get to your duty station. Like we talked in the past, you can work on that now so you have stuff lined up before you get there. Good luck, just in Norfolk to drop the Mrs. of for her current deployment. LCDR Dan

I believe MECP will buy you another 4 or 6 year commitment, I'll verify that tomorrow, but it's at least 4 years. As for experiences, I didn't go through it personally, but know several who have. What's not to like in my opinion, you get paid to go to school full-time and they pay for school too. I did the nursing DUINS program for my Mater's and it was the best thing I ever did. LCDR Dan

Wumpus- Standard progression is as follows: 2 years as Ensign 2 years as LTJG 4-6 years as LT That is provided you don't kill anyone and you keep you nose clean. These are pretty much automatic. To get LCDR you have to work for it, be working on your Master's, have good FITREPs, be a good leader. LCDR Dan

md- iraq and afghanistan are not the only 2 places to be deployed right now, there are plenty of missions/ operations going on. those 2 you mentioned are very prominent, but there are others. my wife is currently on the second half of a 6 month deployment to central/ south america for a humanitarian mission. most navy nurse deployments are for 6 - 12 months, just all depends on what you get selected for. lcdr dan

Wumpus- Almost all Navy duty stations are 3 year orders. However, in certain cases you can leave a duty station once you have completed 2 years of those 3 year orders. For instance, my wife and I are both active duty. Currently, she will leave our current duty station a year and a half before me because I went to grad school. She is probably going to extend hear for about 4 months which will make me here for 2 years and then I'll leave here after 2 years instead of 3. Also, if you take a "hotfill" billet, then you can try to leave a duty station in less than 3 years. LCDR Dan

Marc- Some answers to your questions... 1. Is there a timeline/deadline for one to pursue this route? What I mean is, is it required that you apply for DUINS after your first tour (3 yrs) or can you have that option after say 6-8 yrs in the Navy? Nope, no specific timeline, I went to DUINS after having been in for 9 years and after my 3rd duty station. 2. Has anyone gone the DUINS route for Nurse Anesthesia? I realize this is highly competitive in the military as well as civilian route but was wondering what some experiences have been with this. I went for something else, but have had friends that went this route. It's a very time consuming program and you'll be plenty busy. Following graduation, you will be highly deployable. 3. Is it true that while in the DUINS program this is your only job? I.E., you don't do shifts as a nurse during this time as well? Yep, that's all you do is go to school. You still have to take the PFA every 6 months, otherwise it's like being a college kid again, oh but getting paid for it. 4. Is USUHS the only place to participate in the DUINS program at or can you (for example) be stationed at San Diego or some place else and attend a CRNA program where you are currently stationed? Basically, would you be able to attend a school near your current location or would you have to move to attend USUHS? Yes and no. If you go the CRNA route then USUHS is your school. They used to have a 2 places at Georgetown for people to go to, but most all go to USUHS. As for the other DUINS programs, you can just about go anywhere. I went to the University of Maryland, there's a list of schools that people have already gone to that we use as a guide. 5. Will entering into the DUINS program delay a promotion in any way? Nope, I picked up my current rank while in DUINS, doesn't delay it a bit. 6. What is the time committment added on to your current committment after graduation as a CRNA? 4 years? 8 Years? It's 2 years committment for every year of school the Navy pays for. Got to a 2 year grad program and you have 4 years to pay back. Marc Hope this helps. LCDR Dan

I generally use people's posts to answer all the questions: Keep the questions coming and good luck. LCDR Dan

Glenn- Hmmm, not sure where your recruiter is getting his facts, but I looked up some information and the two don't agree. According to the First quarter numbers listed on the Navy Nurse Corps website, our targeted end strength for FY '08 is 2790, the current projection is that we will only be able to fill 2772 of those spots. That leaves a deficit of 192 nurses. If the recruiter is saying the Nurse Corps is at 217%, then that would mean we have over 5544 nurses in the service now. In my 11 years, we have never had that many nurses, not sure where they are getting that from. I would request that the recruiter clarify the numbers with you, something isn't stirring the kool-aid. If they want to know where my numbers are coming from, tell them to visit the Navy Nurse Corps homepage, unfortunately you have to be active duty to see it, and look under the Force Structure section. Hopefully you can get a better answer. LCDR Dan

Hope that helps you out. LCDR Dan

Kelly- There's nothing set in stone, obviously the more years you work in an area the better chance of getting there in the Navy. It will also depend on who the senior nurse of that facility is as well. LCDR Dan

Gonna use Midwest's post to answer all his questions. Hope this helps some, let me know if you need more help. LCDR Dan

Forum Friends- Got home on Thursday from the short 2-week deployment, all is well. Boys missed me, but seemed to have a good time with the grand parents. There were way too many threads that took place while I was one to get all got up. So I'll just pick up from here. If someone has a Navy specific question that they want me to answer, just let me know. I'll resume my participation from here. Take care and glad to be back. LCDR Dan

Trust me, it's a huge white ship with a gigantic red cross on the side, we're not hard to miss. Not to mention there are a ton of reporters on this thing, it's no secret, trust me. Besides, I didn't give you any details of our whereabouts specifically, good hunting. Also, look up any reserve website, there were announcements all over them about the mission, this one's a big deal. I do, however, appreciate your concern in keeping me straight, heck some people can instant message from this thing. Talk to you all soon. LCDR Dan

Forum Friends- Hello, how's everyone doing? I was finally able to get to the internet early in the morning before it slowed way down. Keep in mind I've been waiting for 10 minutes just for this thread page to show up. Yes, the net is painfully slow at 20 miles off shore, but at least we have it. Things on the USNS Comfort are going good. The majority of our crew is Army and Air Force for this training mission. We should get to our final destination sometime late tonight or tomorrow, early morning. I saw there were a lot of great questions and posts on the forum. Unfortunately with my slow connection I would be home before I got a chance to answer all them, sorry. I'll try and catch up when I get back. We start the actual training evolution today with a slow walk-thru, then mock patients tomorrow and then the real deal starting on the 13th. We do exercise from the 13th to the 16th and then we head back home. Hope to be back on the 18th-19th. The food is great and the weather has been good, just plain hot, like I have to tell any of you that. Imagine you are in a metal box surrounded by water with 90 degree heat, can you imagine the humidity in here. There are some parts that have great air conditioning, some don't. The boat does rock a bit back and forth. Not a whole lot as the seas are pretty calm so far, but you can definitely feel it moving. There were some sharks and doplhins off the side yesterday morning, nothing this morning while I was running though. I'll check back tonight and if I can answer any questions, albeit briefly, I will. The internet is spotty at best. Take care. LCDR Dan

ENS J- On the contrary, your recruiter is accurate. It is harder to make the jump from reserves to AD. You were right in stating that they are 2 different entities, but what most don't understand is how separate the Reserves really are from AD. You have to understand that the Reserves have quotas to meet too. You signed a contract for the Reserves, right? Well, you're helping them fill their ranks. Then AD Navy is filling there's as well. If you fill an AD spot by leaving the Reserves than the Reserves are shorted one nurse. However, if they deny you the spot and keep you in the Reserves, then both Reserves and AD win, see? When I got back in 2002 for 11 months, I was asked about the Reserves. They asked me if I had any thoughts of coming back to AD and I said yes, so they said not to go Reserves. I didn't, so coming back to AD was a paperwork drill for me. One out that you have would be to get your Reserve CO to release you from your contract to try and go Direct Accession, but that's a long shot, you never know though. Not what you wanted to hear, but it's the truth. LCDR Dan

Greek- Biker convention, now we're talking!! I ride daily depending on what the weather is like. Good luck with OTS, we'll be thinking of you. LCDR Dan

Greek- One of the things we have done is to make the kids part of the decision process. We actually ask them where they want to go next? Not like the decision is completely up to them, but we let them know what are options are and continue to keep talking about it. You're correct in saying things will get more difficult, my 9 yr-old has already made the statement about leaving friends. However, we've lucked out by being able to visit friends from previous duty stations. Are explanation to them is that the world is a lot smaller than they may think and that we will run into friends again. Along with that, we show them what moving has to offer, new town, new opportunities to travel, etc.,. To date, my kids have been to Spain, North Africa, Ireland, England, France, Italy, The Carribean, all because of where we've been stationed in the military. Now some of these are vacation destinations, but we couldn't have done it without being in the Navy. Like I said before, we take the places the kids see in books and learn about in school and we take them there, just made it part of our life. Even with deployments, the Mrs. is going to be gone for 4 more months starting in AUG. We are going to capitalize on that by meeting her in the Carribean when she has 5 days of Liberty from the ship, just another adventure for us. Just takes planning and a desire to pack up 3 kids and give it a shot. That doesn't happen with all deployments, but have the chance with this one, so we're taking it. I know the teenage years will be tougher, that's why we are trying to establish our pattern now. Not that it will be any easier necessarily, but it's a strategy we're trying. LCDR Dan

Crazy- My wife and I were concerned about this for the longest time when I/we first joined. We were concerned about the moving and the changing of schools, blah, blah, blah... Funny thing is that the kids answered the question for us and laid the concerns to rets themselves. See as adults we know what life was like as a kid, in most cases a pleasent, stable environment. We know military families to be more dynamic and mobile. See my kids don't know any different, been in the military since birth, so a stable environment would be more problematic for them. At about the 2-year mark of a 3-year tour, my kids want to know where we are moving next. We work to make it an enjoyable experience, not a stressful, a good thing not a bad one. It's all a matter of perspective. My 3 kids have seen more things and travelled more places at the ages of 9,6, and 3 then I ever did at that age, they love it. They get to go places some kids only get to see in books. LCDR Dan

Sound- Yes, I do work with Navy nurses, I am on as well. Currently, I have 7 that I supervise as well as 11 civilians. The TBI is still getting put together, so some the question you have can't be answered yet, yes that new. I think they are still doing construction on it. Navy Corpsmen are the complete unsung heroes of the naval service. they work alongside the nurse to assist in providing care. they fill the void between nursing assistant and LPN in the civilian sector. However, they have some specialized training for when they are in the combat zone, very versatile individuals. LCDR Dan

Bries- Hospital, clinic either one will work for experience. Do I think it will hurt you, no. Look at it from this angle though, let's say the baord is down to you and another guy/ girl. Your packages are identical in every way except for volunteer experience. Yours says Naval Medical Clinic New Orleans, 50 hours in Family Practice Clinic. The other persons says 50 hours at youth sports complex. Who do you think they will take? Again, I don't think it will hurt necessarily, but it should could help a lot, agree? Every little bit you can scrounge is that much more in your favor, that's my opinion. LCDR Dan

Gj- I wouldn't eliminate it. There are only 12 permanent shipboard duty stations for nurses and those are all carriers, not to mention you have to apply/ volunteer to get on them. Anyway, there is a possibility that you could deploy on a ship, but you're on and off frequently doing stuff, so I think you'd survive. Definitely not a reason to rule it out LCDR Dan