playdbluz

I perhaps confused my meaning by speaking of collateral assignments. Yes, I have never heard of a Nurse converting to another job (infantryman) and I NEVER meant to imply that. However, I often hear students say they will Join the Navy Reserves (for tuition assistance) because they believe they will never see combat, as if they have a choice. Navy corpsman and nurses are regularly assigned to Marine units. My many years on board amphibious aircraft carriers confirms this. That is all I meant to say.

My apologies if there was any misunderstanding. "Crossover" is the term with which I am familiar. "Slice element" is new to me. As always, slang changes from service to service. The purpose of my post was simply to state that any nurse, regardless of the branch in which s/he enlists, may be called to front-line service.

This has always been the case, though it is not commonly practiced. I am a 5th generation military veteran. My father was pulled from the Navy Seabee Corps to work with Army Engineers in Korea. The medical Corps are the most crossed over, but that is usually during times of war. These, of course, are times of war. Every enlistment contract includes a phrase which basically says that during a war, it doesn't matter what you signed up for. In the Navy, the saying is, "as dictated by the needs of the Navy." Ultimately, as a commissioned officer, you are bound to the direction of the Executive Officer (the President). When I was a weapons officer in another life, I used to get young sailors telling me, "I am a barber (or whatever). I didn't sign up to run a machine gun." My reply always was, "if we are under attack, no one is going to need a haircut." Ultimately, when you are in uniform, you follow orders.

I only am responding to such an old post because there has yet to be an fully accurate response. Branches of the armed forced can write waivers for anything they want if a particular recruit fills a need. According to the Navy Reserve website, waivers may be granted to age 67 for persons in the medical corps. HOWEVER, if staffing levels are currently high, the chances of receiving a waiver decrease. For anyone considering military service at this time, it should be known that ALL members of the military can be "crossed over". That is, you might sign up for the Navy, then the Army experiences a shortage in your specialty and tomorrow, they hand you an Army uniform. It happens, but recruiters don't talk a lot about it.

of the 24 new students at SVCC Sobo, 6 are LPN to RN. 3 students under 20. 10 are 20 to 30. 7 are 30 to 40. 4 over 40. I am 43.

Everyone will have their own opinion to post about the quality of of a particular program, SO I'll try to keep to the facts. The programs in keysville and sobo accept 40 to 50 students a year combined. For the class that began this summer, there were over 350 applicants. I saw some VERY good students not get accepted. I know of a woman with a 3.9 GPA who did not get in. Her scores were all good but she didn't have as many or the prereqs done as other who did get accepted. Try to get your NLN exam and Application in early. When I applied, I had Eng 111 and 112 completed, Western Civ, Nutrition, Soc, Psy, Humanities, A&P 1, Statistics, and drug dosage. My GPA is 4.0 and my NLN was 99th percentile. My application was in by December. It all helps. About half of the student who begin will graduate, which seems low, but I already can see 3 students who may not make it due to financial hardship. Others are sure to fall for a variety of reasons. I spoke to the new dean about this and she is in favor of even harder entrance guidelines to ensure only the most dedicated and capable students get it. That will improve the attrition rate, but not overnight. Of those that make it through the second year, they have a GREAT chance of passing their NCLEX. In fact, SVCC has the HIGHEST NCLEX PASS RATE IN THE STATE. Better than ODU, VCU, even UVA. You can google "NCLEX pass rates in Virginia" to confirm this. I looked into it before I applied. I am not beating the drum here, as there are things about the program I do not like, as far as the pedagogy is concerned, but those are my personal opinion. I believe that anyone who makes it in has all the skills and intelligence they need to complete the program, but perhaps not the finances, willpower, determination, ect. If you want it, it will happen. Good luck