Cursed Irishman

After a few years as an ICU nurse, I had to google what "memory care" is. Yes, you are a second class nurse. What is it you are trying to do? Are you trying to be a bedside nurse in a hospital? If so, then your skills as described will not be advantageous. If you are looking for case management jobs: those seem more in-line with your description; however, you are held back greatly by lack of a BSN. As previously noted: Your years of experience do not jive: you say you've been a nurse for three years, but list four years worth of experience. You've had four jobs in three years? Not appealing. "My colleagues tell me I am strict when following policies and procedures and seek my advice" - This statement seems to counter itself. Your descriptions seem to focus on the superfluous: Its great you're bilingual and want to help, but I can use a phone and get the same results. Get or at least start on your BSN. Maintain your BLS, get ACLS & PALS. Try to get a certification. Set yourself apart by investing in your professional development. And take your name off of your postings.

RN's can work as LPN's, but do not give up the liability of having "higher" education (http://www.azbn.gov/documents/advisory_opinion/AO Dual Profession & Dual Health Care Licensure_Certification.pdf) I had good experiences with Integrated. While I never worked for them, Health Temp nurses always seemed on par and to be everywhere.

Fun things at BOLC? Drinking and fraternizing. Its more camp webelos than benning. Bring a car.

Lincoln & Scottsdale merged this month.

What were the perks for joining? You may have to repay them. If you ran into issues repaying, I'd go IMA.

The advent of the tri-service medical corps can't come quick enough; if only to eliminate the "which branch is better" questions.

Its always good to hear about servicemembers who are proud of their units. I'll be the first to admit that units vascilate in performance based on a lot of issues. Hind sight being 20/20: I never appreciated how much the guard's dual mission/funding affected soldiers until I came to the reserves.

Read it how you want, you clearly missed the very last line on that page. Ask your recruiter why the Arizona & North Carolina National Guards will direct commission nurses, while your state won't. What state is this by the way? If you're uncomfortable answering publicly, pm me. As for my personal experiences with the guard: The guard is very incestual and self-serving. I had soldiers in every guard unit I was in, whose civilian, guard-oriented jobs involved supervising their weekend squad leaders. This tends to muddle the work dynamic. Soldiers, officer & enlisted, who could not find jobs on the civilian side would milk mobilizations/AGR/ADSW/etc, leaving the readiness of a unit pretty much up to people who couldn't find jobs elsewhere. Add to this a tendency to learn leadership skills from movies and things just snowball from there. Handling work/drill is the same in the guard as it is in the reserves; although the guard did tend to change drill dates more readily than the reserves. The difference lies mostly in funding: the reserves are much better funded and have more of a real world mission, with more variety in training/mobilization. Meanwhile, the guard is poorly funded, with numerous hands reaching in the collective pot; that is unless the unit is or going on title 10, but if you're relying on that, be a reservist. After eight years in the army, four active, two guard, two as a mobilized guardsman (serving in guard engineer, artillery, and mp units): I chose to commission reserves ultimately because the guard recruiter told me all 66 seriers in the state were TRIPLE slotted. You should inquire about that. Since most combat service support (sustainment) are in the reserves, your promotion potential as a nurse in the guard is limited at best Just so you can't say you were never told: you are being lied to.

Someone's lying to you.... Healthcare Officers | Medical Professional | NATIONAL GUARD

That's a very long road your wishing to take part in. Are you refering to acute care or rehabilitiation nursing in a hospital/ecf or as a nurse case manager assigned to a wounded warrior transition unit?

I graduated with a BS in criminal justice and discovered that guys with my qualifications are a dime a dozen. I then saw my sister's paycheck as a nurse and recognized that I could make a decent living and have an exceptional quality of life by entering healthcare.

Having been an infantryman, forward observer, and military policeman prior to being a nurse, I've come to the conclusion that the quality of "hard working" cannot be limited based on sex. I've seen two hundred pound men, made of pure muscle, who lacked the mental toughness of sub-hundred pound women. If the military is a meritocracy, then everyone should be given the chance. In all reality, the number of women who will seek out combat arms will be very small. I foresee, just like the lifting of segregation and DADT, that the overall impact will be neglible.

Its been quite some time and many varied units since I was stationed there; guess that lingo has faded.

Division, eh? 3/05 myself.

Don't change your major. By just saying you're a nursing major, you get swacked with the "nursing tuition surcharge", without even taking nursing classes.