Rose3721

The transition program is between 24 and 26 weeks long. I came in last July for OBLC, got to Hood in September and finished the program in April, so about 6 months long. Holidays it just depends, you work your preceptor's schedule. So if they're working so are you. However, a good Head nurse will give you holiday time so if you work Christmas they'll give you an 8 hr day off the next pay period. They recognize that civilians get paid extra for holidays but we don't so we get comp time, but this is totally up to your command. We got it for every holiday but Easter so far.

Taking leave in the Transition Program is highly discouraged and ultimately up to your command. At Hood we were not allowed to take any leave during the program except for emergency leave. The reasoning is because you ahve to meet a certian number of clinical hours to graduate the program. So I've been at Hood since September and I'm taking leave for the first time this month. I finished the Transition Program last month. :) I would try to talk to your supervisor once you get to your duty station and they will decide if they'll let you or not.

You should get BAH for where your dependents are located, as long as they are under you in DEERS. My husband carries my daughter in DEERS, we're dual military, so I was considered a "single soldier" and didn't get any BAH during BOLC. But if you're not dual military or you are and the dependents are under you, you will get BAH for where your dependents are located. Just be prepared for it to take a while to get your pay right. I know it took a while at my class in July...

It is incredibly hard to get into the ER specialty course because it is only offered at Ft Sam. Usually what happens is that you go to your specialty course enroute PCS to another duty station. So before you go to the school you go ahead and ship your home etc and go straight from school to your new duty station. Sometimes you can work it out to return to where you were but not always, just depends on needs of the Army. Even if you get accepted to go to the ER course be prepared to sit on the wait list for a year before actually getting a date for the course. This is what we were just told by our Chief Nurse last week. And your Chief Nurse has to approve for you to go anyways so they can always delay you if they don't feel you're ready. You can't even apply to go until you've finished the Nurse Transition Program, which lasts 6 months. So plan to be in for at least 2 years before going to the ER course, but you really need that basic nursing practice first anyways, in my opinion. I know that our Chief Nurse here won't send anyone that has been out of the program for less than a year ot the ER course because they don't have enough nursing experience. Hope this helps. :)

Walking during your run is strongly discouraged!!! I woudl not do it. Once your're at your unit if your enlisted soldiers see you walking during a two mile run you will lose a lot of respect in their eyes. PT is an integral part of the Army. Even though on the AMEDD side it is a little more laid back than in a line unit. Do your best to go prepared to pass the APFT on the first time. If you're making a committment to be a commissioned officer being able to pass an APFT at any time is absolutely required. Don't think that they will prepare you to pass at BOLC. You will take your APFT within 7 days of arriving at BOLC and that is not enough time to train to pass if you haven't already been working on your own. A lot of recruiters tell people that they will prepare you at BOLC to pass, this isn't true for the first APFT. If you fail the first one then you will do more PT with cadre in preparation for the re-test. I highly encourage people to begin running, doing situps and pushups for at least 2 months prior to BOLC to be prepared. Hope this helps!! :)

BOLC is 9 weeks. The Nurse in Transition Program is 24-26 weeks. So after BOLC she'll report to her duty station and begin the NIT program. The Program is undergoing some major changes right now. When I came in we rotated throughout the entire hospital for 12 weeks then did a 12 week preceptorship on Med-surg. Now the rotations have been taken out and you just do a 24 week preceptorship. Depending on your hospital you may split the 24 weeks. We do 12 at Med-surg and 12 weeks on mother baby.

We've heard that instead of rotating throughout the hospital first in phase 2 then precept for 12 weeks that you will do your preceptorship on your assigned floor first then rotate around. One of my biggest complaints in this program was that we were rotating everywhere but had no idea where we were going to be assigned. Everyone would ask us "which floor will you be on?" and we could never answer. Coming from my leadership though, you will still do rotations throughout the hospital. Here the Med-Surg floor wasn't big enough to accomodate all the LTs at once so we had half precept on mother baby for 6 weeks with the other half on med-surg for 6 weeks then switched. Some got permanently assigned to Med-surg, some to mother baby, some to L&D, some to PACU, and NICU. Because they brought so many new LT RNs at once they couldn't put us all on Med-surg, so it kind of worked to our benefit. :) For Peds, those of us that have told our leadership that we want to do peds have been told that we will float up to peds for a month at a time. They won't assign us there because our facility doesn't get a lot of inpatient Peds. Big Army is trying to bring back Peds as a specialty for Army nurses so I wouldn't be surprised if some ANs got assigned there.

For the TNCC question from Lunah, you should be able to be excused from TNCC if you already have it. So you'll get a Saturday and Sunday off. It was taught to us by civilians with no military specific traning so I don't think it will be any different for you than if you did it on the outside.

Just curious, where did you see the information showing a link between shortages in the Army nurse corps and the suicide rate of the Army? I've never seen that material and I would be interested in reading it. I've never heard anyone address the shortage of the ANC and reference the reason to be the suicide rate currently seen in the Army. Thanks!

I bought my ASU at the clothing and sales on post in Hawaii, not at Ft Sam. It is much cheaper than Marlow White, think it was $400 for everyhing including all the brass etc. And when you purchase from clothing and sales they do the alterations for free. I asked several friends who have been in the Army for 20 years if it was worth it to buy from Marlow White since the fabric is a little higher quality. I was told not really, that you really won't wear it often enough to justify the extra expense. I highly recommend going to Ft Sam with as much of your uniforms as possible. The clothing and sales will sell out of certain items. Make sure that you have your beret already shaved and shaped so you don't look silly. Have your rank already sewn on your soft cap as well. I was lucky that we were right by a post so I went with everything and it really made my life easier. So if possible I highly recommend you doing the same. Let me know if you have any other questions. Also, Ft Hood is only 2 hours from Ft Sam and we have a well stocked clothing and sales. If you are driving down to OBC you might detour here and grab whatever uniform items you need. I have no problem meeting up with you here and helping.

I am also a new grad going into the NICU. I graduated in May and have been rotating around my hospital at Ft Hood completing the Army Nurse Transition Program, the Army's new grad program basically. I just found out yesterday that I am being assigned to NICU after my Med/Surg and Mother Baby preceptorship in April. So excited!!!! I actually am going to be cross trained in Mother baby and Peds in addition to NICU so I can work all 3, thought NICU will be my home. :) I can't wait to start in May!!! I've been looking for good textbooks too so I go ready. Any suggestions?

The leave policy is different for each program, just up to your supervisor. I know here at Hood the only leave you can take while in the NTP is emergency leave and you have to make the time up after you get back. We had 2 weeks after OBC before we had to report to Hood. I reported the day of graduation because I didn't want to be charged any leave. :) Plus while I was at Ft Sam I drove up to Hood and found a house already so I was ready to get settled. :)

Tattoos are very common, even in the ANC. No worries there. :)

Originally Posted by armyfnp72 At this time the army nurse corps is what they call 'fat and happy'. They don't need anymore RNs. So not only are they not recruiting new RNs, but they treat their current ones like crap. It is very unprofessional to bad mouth your professional organization. Just because you are having a bad experience does not mean that the Nurse Corps as a whole treats its nurses badly. I have heard no complaints from the army nurses at Ft Hood other than the usual scheduling complaints, which is inevitable. Please remember that you are a commissioned officer and conduct yourself accordingly. Your behavior reflects on all of us.

Yeah the 6 months of free temporary housing is definitely too good to be true. As previously stated 10 days is allowed. As far as our leadership here you don't have to stay under the radar to survive. They want to know what you want to do with your career and how they can help you get there. We have monthly counselings with the director of the NTP and she always asks our short and long term goals and then we address the feasibility of those goals. So please don't think that you can't say anything to leadership, it's not like that at all. We are a team at CRDAMC and leadership wants to develop and grow us so we can take care of them one day. :)