jordaa

No you can use whatever shoe you want. We all had various kinds of shoes. If you were in OCS or something they want regularity, but for ODS, they are more lenient. Get shoes that you will wear and like after ODS! Keep those questions coming!

Welcome to the military. Hurry up and wait. Don't be discouraged. It will all work out when it is supposed to. At least if March is what happens, it should be WARMER! I went October-Nov, and it was cold toward the end. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you!

Hi! I will try to answer a few questions based off what I have learned. First Navy ODS isn't like OCS at all. ODS is for commissioned officers, you aren't going to lose your commission and you won't flunk out unless you do something really really dumb. Not sure what the loan repayment stipulations are. But I would contact a nurse recruiter. They are the ones who will have the info on that. I know that they have to truly be loans though, and only for school. Like I know that if you took out a private loan and used it for school, they won't repay that, because it wasn't a student loan. I would also contact the hospital you work for and see if the payback is graduated. I worked at a hospital where if you broke your contract after a year, you paid back 50% and if you broke it at a year and a half you paid like 20%, and so on. Maybe they'd also be willing to work with you since you are going into the armed forces. You never know. The worst they'd say is no, and you pay it back. There is also the opportunity to get an assession bonus, and you could use part of your bonus to pay the hospital back. Lots of options, and don't know which works best for you, but there you go. Since the Marines don't hire nurses, at least not into the nursing field, you should have no problem with being stationed by your husband. The Marines use the Navy medical system, so it works out great there. THere was a medical service corps officer in my company who's husband was a marine, and she wasn't too concerned with placements. The Navy will always work with both you and the Marines with your husband to get you guys stationed together or as close together as possible. But know that you both made/make individual commitments to serve, and while they make every attempt to station you together there is always the chance (although small from what Ive heard) that you get stationed apart. But I don't think it happens much at all. But you have to know that it's a possibility As far as working in the ER, well, it is always the needs of the Navy. The navy will sometimes take your experience when they need it, but they also want really well rounded nurses, who can manage anything out in the field. My roommate in ODS is an ER nurse, and had her certification, and they placed her in mother baby when she got to her station. I have 3 years experience in L&D and am going to be working in cardiac telemetry. The military is a great way to practice nursing if you want to have a very varied experience in the nursing profession. Once you move on in your career and start aquiring more knowledge, experience and possibly a master's degree, you might be able to stay in one area of nursing, but know that you have to be really flexible in the military. I really wanted that and wanted to know some med/surg stuff (although it really isn't my cup of tea either), and want to be able to work in the ICU and maybe the ER and keep up my L&D skills, so I came in knowing that I was willing to work wherever. That's the one bit of advice that I've been given, and it's to be flexible and bloom where you are planted. If that means cardiac telemetry for me, I'll do so. If you join and don't get to be in the ER, but went to med/surg, you would have to just put a smile on and make the most of the experience. Luckily, they seem to be pretty good about phasing people to desired areas once they put some time in. My duty station right now is Bethesda, and they want the nurses to work on two different units over their 3 year tour. So the plan is to work tele for the next 18 months, and then hopefully transition to ICU. So there is definitely flexibility, you just don't always get what you want. So if you can go in with an open mind, then it would definitely be a good option for you. Good luck and let me know if I can answer any more questions! Sorry for rambling on a little bit! ENS JORdan

Hey sassy sailor, will try to answer your questions here and the ones you PM'd me with. Supposedly I cannot send PMs as of today, I dont know what's up with that. But I can post here too. I think that the time you do your PT test varies on the class, your chief and class officer. Our class was made up of two companies, but the class after us only had one company. We did almost all our PT and all our PFA (physical fitness assessment, which is the "test") with the other company. We did the PFA like four times, although the last one was the one that technically counted. The first one we did on like Friday of the first week. Of course that is the week that is the most "like" bootcamp, where you get dropped and do lots of pushups and situps and whatnot. So do not expect to get your best scores that first time. We didn't get to do the run that first time because it was crazy windy, so we did the whole thing again the next week! And then they threw in two more for the heck of it. It was kind of nice to see the scores improve in a short time, especially later on when you weren't sore from all the OTHER pushups and situps you did! You asked me in the private message how long I had before reporting to my duty station. It all depends on where you are stationed and how you are planning on getting there. ODS ends on a Friday and you are expected to head to your duty station immediately after. Your orders will give you permission to delay in reporting, but it's on your leave time, which means if you aren't careful, you can go into negative leave. You earn 2.5 days of leave a month, so by the time you graduate ODS you have 2-3 days of leave. They will also give you days of travel to your duty station, which are "free" meaning they don't come out of your leave... but you only get those days if you are driving. If you fly, they only expect you to take one day to travel, so you are only given one day of travel time. And they are calculating the travel distance from Rhode Island, since that is technically where you are leaving from. There is a calculation on how many days you get. It is all based on mileage. From RI to Bethesda, MD, we got two days. I took those two days, and also took two days of leave, so that I could fly from RI to Florida, then drove up. They explain the whole mileage, travel, leave thing to you at ODS, so I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you have someone who knows which uniforms to get, I would just wait until I get there. I waited and it was not a big deal. They put it all on a student account, which you have to pay down to like 700 or 800 dollars before you leave. The remaining balance you can put on a STAR card, which they will help you open if you don't have the money to just pay in full. Since I got an accession bonus, I didn't want to deal with the extra debt, so I paid in full. They will help you get all the required uniforms you need for ODS! The ladies at the shop in RI are amazing! Really nice, and really know their stuff. I showed up with nothing, and I got it all in RI. The class chief you have will sit down with you and show you how to wear your uniform as well. They understand that most of the people in your class are new to the military and don't know what the heck is going on. The senior chief for the other company was female and she even gave a lesson on how to wear your hair... which I didn't know before I went, so I cut it, but it was right on the border of being too long, so I used her tips to wear my hair in a bun, which is much easier to do! If you need the tips, let me know! Also, there were plenty of prior enlisted people who had commissioned and had to go to ODS too, so they were a great help in getting us ready for uniform inspections and how to do a really good spit shine on your shoes. Between prior enlisted and your class chief and officer, you will have good resources! Be sure to bring a good COMBINATION lock with you. A few people had key locks and wore the key around their neck. When our chief found the nonapproved "jewelry" we all got dropped, and those few people were told to get combo locks. Work on memorizing the lock now, and put it into your head that you never, and I mean NEVER walk away from your locker unlocked. We spent a good 20 minutes in the sand pit (not fun) for a locker unlocked and had our rooms/hallway trashed both times it happened. The cheifs really like doing the trashing... don't give them the satisfaction. Since you have a trusty lock, I can also suggest that you bring a good amount of cash. You have to pay for your meals in the galley. Luckily it only costs about 10bucks a day, and there will be a money officer who pays for the whole company, but you do need to have the cash. For the first week, you are really restricted to the barracks, but for those who needed essentials our chief gave them permission. But things I would bring, OR if you arrive before Sunday, you can buy these things at the NEX (Navy Exchange) -Black Socks -White undershirts, crew neck (for girls, I bought mine in the boys section and just bought large or extra large boys sizes) -shampoo -conditioner -soap -hair gel for girls and a heavy duty hair spray, as well as bands matching your hair color and barrettes (depending on hair length) -two (TWO) towels ( i thought i would save on suitcase space and only bring one, which was hard on the days we went to the pool, because my towel was usually wet for either the pool or the shower later that night after a pool day... i wished I had two but was lazy to go buy another one!) and washclothes -white athletic socks (i ended up buying crew ones once there because my ankle socks were too cold with the sweat pants) -long johns (I also bought these in the boys section. I used them the last week under my khakis when doing watch duties... it was really cold! I don't know what it is like in RI for the winter. Dont wear them during an inspection, but if it's cold enough i'd do it otherwise) -battery-operated alarm clock -pens for notes -cuticle scissors (worked best for cutting the little threads on your uniform) -ruler (I didn't know what the ruler was for until I realized that everything is measured to the T on your uniform inspection.. i hated having to borrow others!) -swiffer wipes (great for keeping your room, rack and locker clean) That's all I can think about for now. I'll try to write more as I think of it. Keep the questions coming and I would be Happy to share with you my answers and experiences, since I just left there! I know I was seriously looking all over for answers before I left! Good luck and congrats! ENS Jordan

I am not sure about the age limit for the navy, or what they do about commissioning single moms. I think the biggest thing is that you have a family care plan in place, which is a document that shows that you have a plan for your child if you are deployed, because being a single parent is not a reason to not go on a deployment. If your mom is moving in to help, then you should be good in that area. I don't believe that you have to sign over custody, but I do think you have to do a power of attorney if/when you go on deployment. I know there are lots of single parents in the navy now, but not sure if the children came before or after enlisting/commissioning. I would call an Officer Program Recruiter and talk about your options. Good luck! ENS Jordan

Hey! Glad that you wrote. Let me try to answer your questions. After the board met, my recruiter called me two or three days later telling me that I had been selected. Getting my letter was a little bit of a fiasco. I was waiting to get my commissioning until after the fiscal year in Oct. I was selected in August and just waiting for the new fiscal year. I figured when October rolled around, it would be easy. Well, at the same time, the economy went down and the budged for FY09 wasn't settled yet, so my selection letter which "gives" you your bonus hadn't been sent. And without the letter, you can't get orders and without orders you can't get commissioned and without being commissioned you can't go to ODS. So, it came down to the wire, but my recruiter and detailer were amazing and I was able to get orders and commissioned all within 48 hours of receiving my letter. Commissioning wasn't that big of a deal, mostly because it was such a last minute deal. It was at the recruiter's office, and basically just held my hand up, said the oath and then signed my papers. And took a picture. That's it really. I guess some people will have family come and then all go out to lunch. But it wasn't huge. My family ended up coming to ODS graduation, which is a bigger deal, with an explanation of the customs and marching, and a color guard and all. It was fun to have them come up to Rhode Island and do some area sight seeing as well. Plus for graduation you wear dress blues and the pictures are way more fun! ODS isn't really a big deal. I was really worried before I went, since I had no military background at all. The first week was the "hardest", and was what I like to say a watered down version of what bootcamp would be. They woke us up early one morning, made us do pushups, situps, jumping jacks and the like. We had to stand at attention and march and all. There are several different rules that you will think are kind of dumb or silly, but the whole point is to follow instruction and learn military bearing. After the first week or so, you get the hang of it and some things become second nature. Like stepping off with your right foot or squaring corners when you walk. If you want you (and anyone else) can PM me and I can send a link to my webpage. I had weekly updates for when I was there. I'd say the one thing you should do now is work on situps and pushups. The run times aren't that fast, and doable if you are in decent shape, but I had to work a little on my situps and pushups. And they are old school, like you did in elementary school for the fitness tests. Also, I was worried about the swim test, because the 5minute prone float intimidated me. The most important thing is to just stay calm. When I was floating I would take a big breath and then put my head in the water and slowly count to ten while I was blowing out air and then lift my head and take another one. It took me about 2 minutes to figure that out and I had to talk myself out of dropping out at that point. But I made it, and ended up taking the 2nd class swim test, which meant I had to do it again! But I survived both times! No big deal if you do have to drop out, because they will just put you in the remedial swim and the instructors there are great and will work with you until you pass. Only 3 in our company were in remedial swim and they all passed after a few sessions. Bethesda was my first choice. It wasn't hard since it's a big hospital and they can always use more nurses. I wanted to work in DC, so it was perfect for me. I am currently in the nurse internship program, which as been a good introduction for me to the military way of nursing and how the hospital works. It is a great program for new nurses as well. Although I have experience, it's been nice to take the opportunity to see multiple units of the hospital and to network with other wards as well. I'm done next week with the internship and will be working on cardiac telemetry. I'm excited about it and am ready to get to the floor! Well, I think that's about it. Let me know if you have any more questions and I will try to answer them! I know I had tons before I went to ODS and couldn't find all of them! Until later, ENS Jordan

How is it going sassysailor and lubdubRN with the board dates? I'm curious to see when you are headed to ODS. I've been at my command at the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda for a month and a half, and it's going pretty well. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try to answer, since I've gone through all that most recently. Good luck!

I'd agree with that. Once the board meets, the results were pretty fast. My recruiter told me it would be a week, and it ended up being a day. It just took a long time to actually get my packet together, and then the board didn't meet right away. So that is the biggest challenge in the whole process!

It all depends on when the board is meeting. When I originally submitted my packet there was supposed to be a board meeting the next week, which got postponed for 2 weeks. Once the board met, I got a phone call from my recruiter about 2 days later, although I was told it usually takes about a week for them to officially "select" you. The biggest thing is just getting the packet together. It's a pretty intensive process. Mine took as long as SouthernBelles' did, since I also started working on everything in February.

Welcome back! I am headed to ODS this weekend (hopefully... it's a little dicey right now with timing on my commissioning papers). Do you have any helpful tips on what to bring, and what not to bring. I know there is information on the ODS webpage, but I would love some first hand advice from someone who knows and was just there. I am excited, but also a little nervous and don't really know what to expect! Would LOVE some advice!

Just for you all to know, Southern Belle and I are commissioning around the same time and headed to ODS together. We will try to update you all after ODS about what goes on. Things are a little dicey right now with commissioning documents, and I am hoping to be commissioned by Friday and leaving Saturday for ODS. Will keep you all updated on how things go! Please ask more questions, as we have both recently been through all the paperwork and transition and all.

Thank you to LTJG PM and LT Dan for answering so many questions on these threads. I have come to these forums the past few months as I have put together my packet for the Navy. I've been a nurse in civilian world for 3 years and decided to join the Navy Nurse Corps. Just found out on Friday that my packet was accepted by the board. Am waiting for more information, such as my ODS dates, and first duty station. I will be commissioned October 1st as an ENS. I will try to add more info as I get it, and try to answer questions once I'm in. But I just wanted to thank you both, since you've given me much information and helped me mentally prepare for what's coming ahead.

Lt. Dan, Thanks for all the great information you put on this forum and all the forums! I am currently in the application process to join the Navy Nurse Corps. My packet finally made it to the board and they are meeting this week! I will hopefully have good news in the next 2 weeks! I see that you are at Bethesda, which is one of the first duty stations I'd love to go to. I have 3 years experience in L&D, so I've been told, I have good chances of picking my first duty... but there's always the "needs of the Navy", so I take it with a grain of salt!! Throughout my application process, I've looked at posts on allnurses, just to get an idea of what to expect, and you post on a good majority of them. Thanks for the great information. It has helped me out a great deal!