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CONUS orders are 3 years accompanied or unaccompanied. OCONUS are 2 years unaccompanied/3 years accompanied. Operational tours (Field Med with Marines/Ship's Nurse/FST) all 2 years regardless of location and accompanied/unaccompanied. You can expect to stay at CP for 3 years and probably stay on the med/surg or L/D for 18 months before transferring to a speciality area. Unless you get to the ER/ICU there is little to no chance of getting a "sea rotation" without 1945/1960 codes, as you apply for those speciality billets. As far as DUINS and PICU, just let your leadership know what your goals are (learning your job on the floor you are assigned). I'm not sure if CP has a PICU since NMSD is right down the street; you should look into that. Hope this helps

Try and get certified in whatever area you want to be in before you commission, even if it's not in your package. The recruiter makes it seem easy to just get into the ICU. It's not like that. Often they make you wait and do your time. I know of one nurse with 2.5 years ICU, got stuck on a step down unit. Another was CCRN, with other certs and got stuck in the PACU.

Ask for whatever you want; if you don't ask, you don't get. The worst they can say is no

If you're credentialed as a 1945, the Navy is bringing you into be a 1945. The whole point of being a DA is to get civilian trained nurses streamlined to working in speciality areas (ED, ICU, OR). Is there a chance you get placed elsewhere? Yes, but not likely. As a 1945, you have basically every duty station "available". The odds of you going to Europe are slim; the detailers tend to take care of our recently deployed nurses with these tours; as they should. If selected, they will probably float Guam (probably the closest to a civilian ED) and Oki for overseas. CONUS- Big 3, JAX, CP, Lejuene.

You'd commission as O-1E, depending on your enlisted time. 1. Your experience would count towards creditentialing as a 1960K, critical care experience with CCRN, but you wouldn't get additional rank since that time was spend as an ADN prepared RN. I think the AF counts it towards rank. If selected, they should send you to an ICU, but it's not 100%. 2. There's little difference between everyday life as a civi RN and JO RN. You are responsible for collaterals, but as an O-1 and O-2, you would be working as a RN and doing little as far as military is concern. There might be some TDY opportunities, but you're being brought in to fill a staffing need. There's a big misconception about Navy nursing and being at sea, so it's unlikely you would see a ship for the first few years; maybe the Comfort or Mercy only. Carriers and FSTs are for LTs.

This link says 2014, but the totals are the same for CCRN. You can't double dip, no isp and accession bonus. http://www.med.navy.mil/bumed/Special_Pay/Documents/FY14%20Special%20Pay%20Plans/FY14%20NC%20Special%20Pay%20Implentation%20Guidance%20(14Nov12).docx it does lock you into the bedside for as long as you agree to take the bonus. So if you plan on DUINS after your first duty station, you need to complete the isp time first.

I'm not sure how the military housing works. All the officers I know in SD either own or rent privately

I'm an East Coast cat, so as far as SD I can't help out. Anything else Navy related I can.

Getting there on the 10th is fine. You'll check in at the quarterdeck and get your room assignment. You should be free all day Sunday until 1600ish. What at duty station are you going to again?

3rd week at ODS

So Bethesda has the largest number of ICU beds between the SICU and MICU, I want to say it's over 30.

I meant Camp Lejeune, not Camp Pendleton

If you wait until April, your options might change. Everyone of those places has its own benefit, depending on what you want for your career and your family. If you want to be close to big cities, WRNMMC or Belvoir. If you want your best chance to deploy, NMCP or CP. If you want "sicker" patients, WRNMMC or Portsmouth. Cost of living is high for WRNMMC and Belvoir. If you want to learn the Navy, then NMCP or CP, WRNMMC and Belvoir are joint

charlieg, you do not have to have your CCRN to be credentialed as a critical care nurse. Unless something changed within the last 12 months, but it hasn't. You may need to produce paperwork showing you have experience. Talk to your recruiter and if she doesn't know who to contact, PM me and I'll give you the information for who to contact. The Navy will pay for ECCO. I know they make the new RNs from the floor take it within the first year of being on the unit. Depending on the number of hours you have spend in the unit, you can take the CCRN, there isn't a 2 year wait any longer. There are talks about the Navy utilizing ACNP, but as of now they don't (there might be a few here or there, but it's not the norm).Last year there wasn't many applicants for CRNA, but this year there was almost double letters of intent than openings. It differs year to year. Also, TA covers $250 per credit, so that's an option. Civilian nursing is much, much different. I worked like 6.5 years civilian before joining. HM3, it sucks Portsmouth made you do their residency, luckily I skipped that.

GPA isn't the end all be all for deciding your acceptance into the Nurse Corps. My GPA wasn't great and I got accepted first look, so don't think because you didn't have a 4.0 you won't be accepted. The board looks at your entire package and every piece has importance, especially references and interviews with NC officers. The Navy does place nurses everywhere, but for your first tour as a new grad you will be at one of the big three (Portsmouth, Bethesda or San Diego). Being on a ship or assigned to a FST (fleet surgical team) are more like a second or third tour, and reserved for ER and ICU nurses, sometimes OR nurses as well. As of now, deployments are minimizing for the NC. Unless you are a ships nurse, FST, or assigned to a Marine battalion, the main deployment opportunities are the Role 3 (ER/ICU/OR nurses) and hospital ships which take all flavors of nurses.