TripleM33

The navy has its ups and downs, definitely. You work more than civilians, at least 50 hrs a week. You have to do alot of extraneous duties, and come in on many of your off days. The pay and benefits are good though, and you get to travel. You will often be used and abused by people who are lazy and will pawn their work off on you because they outrank you. You have to get everything you want to do approved by your command, and it is needs of the navy first always. If they want you to be an administrative nurse, that's what you'll do. You get to feel pride of being a part of the service, and they even make you an officer. Although because there is a rank structure there is great potential for abuse. You may not be allowed to take all the leave they supposedly give you, but the civvies you work with will always get their pick. For every upside there is at least one big downside. Don't do this to yourself just for money, do it to serve. Honestly, I am glad I was given the opportunity to be an active duty navy nurse. But this lifestyle is not family friendly, and not for everyone.

I think that it is possible, although my thoughts are that the nurse corps would want to hold onto you. The interservice physician assistant program mainly recruits from medics and corpsman, although I would think that if the Navy/Army/AF was offered the choice between losing a nurse vs gaining a fresh PA student, they would choose the latter. Always depends on the needs of the service. Of course if the IPAP or HPSP program doesn't accept you from active duty nurse to active duty PA student, then you could always get out after serving as a nurse and go to PA school, then come back in later. I have nurse buddies that have/are considering this route, because PAs seem to get in more of the action than FNPs or PNPs.

Quite a discussion I started here. For those on the fence about joining - the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. I would like to think that is where my outlook lies as well; an inspiring optimism with a healthy dose of realism. The reason I originally started this was because I have seen numerous Navy nurses and corpsman do all they can to avoid deployment and shirk responsibilities on the unit. It is my thought that these people joined for the wrong reasons, and they asked too many of the questions that I see posted here - things like "how soon will I get a pay raise," and "how much bonus money can I get for doing X number of years." While those are all valid questions, they should be relatively unimportant in the larger scheme. You know what I asked when I was joining? Things like "what kind of stuff do I get to do in bootcamp?" and "What kind of cool things will I get to do on deployment, how soon can I deploy, and what kind of interesting places will I visit?" I haven't been disappointed in those regards one bit. I feel like I joined for the right reasons. I will most likely transition from active to reserve for the right reasons as well. Not because I hate being in the Navy, or because I do not want to work (quite the contrary, I assure you); rather, because there is more still yet waiting for me and my career out there in this still yet wonderful land of opportunitiy. For you long time vets: Respect. Enough said. For those fellow JO's out there: I feel ya, but let's just do our part to stay positive and motivated until it's time to decide. And lastly, for those potential future coworkers: if your reasons are right, please come on in and help make military medicine even better. But if your reasons are wrong, do me and you and favor, and don't sign on the line.

To continue on what I was saying previously, The reason that I am most disappointed with Navy Nursing is not because of any of the above. Those issues are just things that I commonly see people becoming unhappy over. The real disappointment came with the realization that no matter what I do in a military sense, I will always be second-rate, and never truly respected as a commissioned officer. At least, that is how it is in the Navy, where there is a huge distinction between staff corps and line officers. That last point I made is why I will not remain in active duty - NOT because I can't hack it. I am one of the most positive and go-getter types that you will ever meet. The problem is that it doesn't matter if I someday am given the honor to become a Commander in the Navy Nurse Corps (O5), I will always be disrespected either covertly or overtly simply because I am "just a nurse." This last point makes all the hardships and nonsense completely not worth it. There is no pride, no honor, and no esprit de corps. I still try to be the best Naval Officer that I can be, despite all of the enlisted and other officers not taking me seriously. I really do strive to maintain professional bearing, a sharp uniform, and outstanding PRT scores (hey, nurse officers can be physically fit too). Case in point - did really well on my PRT. The enlisted folks were AMAZED. That is not surprising, considering most nurse corps officers are indeed out of shape. Officers should be better than their enlisted counterparts in every way - more highly educated, more physically fit, and with impeccable moral standards. That isn't reality. And to anyone who tries to make light of the situation, saying "he's just exaggerating..." or "but but, the benefits, and the money, and the bla bla bla" - come on in! Don't say I didn't warn you when times get hard. I literally worked 75 hours this week (came in every day), and on top of that I worked out like a mad man, and worked on my grad school class. I am loving it! Motivation!

To be fair, deployment is a deployment, unless you go to GTMO...

mmm333, Professionalism? Really? I see waaaayyy too much hanky panky, fraternization, and nobody gives a care. Its happening left and right, its out of control. I feel like I am the only normal person in the sense that I don't get in bed with corpsman or senior officers. I guess I am just a stick in the mud. You should have seen the pictures from our dining in (which got really carried away when everyone decided to go out to the clubs in seville quarter). So glad I didn't go cause I was working that night.

dude seriously don't join. Just don't. Too many people trying to get out of deployments where I work, drives me nuts. I volunteered for mine.

AD Navy nurse here, and I want to tell it to you all straight. Keep in mind these are my opinions, not the Navy's. Overall, I see many people asking about benefits, minor details, can I go here, do this, yadda yadda bla bla, and I have to give you all a word of warning. Do not join any branch or part of the military for the benefits, pay, lifestyle, etc. -The pay and all that is not worth it. You are expected to literally be on call 24/7, and I am not joking. This is not my hospital's policy, this is NAVY POLICY. That means when you are asleep because you are on night shift and they call you in the middle of the day, you must answer and come into to do whatever stupid thing they make you do, or else you'll get a good chewing-out. -30 days of leave? HA! Good luck getting the leave when you want it, and when you do get it, it may very well be arbitrarily rescheduled and you'll lose your airline tickets (seen it happen twice already). -You better check your earning statement extremely well, because if the government overpays you (happens all the time), they will underpay you accordingly on the next pay check, regardless if you have bills to pay (this is happening to two of my corpsman, they got paid only $400 one month). -You will come in on many of your off days. We work Wed-Thur one week, then Mon Tue Fri Sat Sun the next week. For example this week I had to come in on Monday and Tuesday for collaterals, work wednesday and thursday night, then stay until 11AM for training on Friday, and I may get called in to work this weekend if one of our civilians calls in sick (bug is going around). Next week I will literally be at the hospital every day, Monday through Sunday. On my two off days I have numerous items to attend to. And you know what? I just suck it up. Everyone here does. Many fellow navy nurses are miserable, simply because they joined because they thought this or that and didn't consider that you will sacrifice an immense degree of personal freedom to serve our nation. The point I am making is that one must join simply out of the desire to serve. I love the Navy, but it kinda sucks sometimes. It's supposed to suck - it's the military. Know what I mean? If you want to proudly serve your nation by putting on the uniform, working hard everyday for your sailors marines dependents and retirees, at other times risking life or limb, or even dying for your country (see: 2 nurses killed in Iraq), then go for it. Otherwise go work for Christus St. John's. ENS M out.