lasarazen

okey doke!

Hey there FightingOrange, PM me, I went through the process of having a VA disability rating this past year. It was craaaaazy but I did it. Too much to post here lol.

Thanks, you're welcome, and fair winds and following seas to you!!! :) Feel free to PM whenever you like, I will definitely have more useful info to share once I get underway at my duty station in November. :)

Interesting about your hippie HS!! Weird, they are doing a disservice to all their students. Anyways! To answer your questions in reverse order: 1. Average student: if you mean grades-wise, possibly. "Average" to me means in that range you mentioned, 3.5 - 3.8; not to sound like a snob, but GPAs reflect effort as much as they do intelligence and the military wants people that throw everything they have into an endeavor. I achieved a 3.95 GPA as a mother of a preschooler who's spouse deployed frequently. There is NO excuse for anyone with less obligations than I to achieve less, IMHO. DON'T FORGET though...in any branch, you will be a Sailor/Soldier/Airman FIRST, and a nurse SECOND. For application purposes, this means you need to demonstrate some kind leadership ability - think volunteerism, think creating/directing community projects, along those lines. Think outside the box - I started a local FB community for nursing students who are Veterans, pretty informal, but it made an impact and I even got my nursing school and the university's Military Student Services Center to endorse it. If you are into any kind of sports (running, biking, swimming etc), look into Team RWB (Team Red, White & Blue - Home), it is an organization dedicated to further the lives of Veterans thru community outreach (usually via physical activities like races etc) - there are local chapters all over the country. Team RWB is always looking for volunteers and will usually have leadership opportunities open to anyone who wishes to step up. This would look AMAZING on a young person's application. Or you can look into volunteering at a nursing home or Veteran's home. Anyways, those are just some examples of things that can make your kit (application packet) shine above the rest. 2. Application process: well I already had a Bachelor's so I got to jump in mid-stream to a BSN program at the University of Texas in the city I'm in. That was 5 semesters (pre-nursing is one semester before you start the "meat" of nursing school) - not counting the generic Bachelor's degree courses that I got to bypass. I didn't take a summer break, so actual nursing school was a little over 2 yrs. I was hired at my ER job before I even passed my NCLEX - I graduated May 2015 and went to work that July. I did EXACTLY 12 months at that job, it all just happily worked out that 2 days before my last day, I got my selection letter! And I took all those certs pretty much within those 12 months (except ACLS and PALS, which I did during winter break before my last semester). I started working on the elements of my kit in February 2016 or thereabouts. The Navy only requires 3 months of RN experience to "credential" you as an RN (in my case, I am credentialed as an ER/Trauma nurse) - so I was in like flint for that portion. BUT I had a lot more to do for my kit than you will, I am prior service Army so that's more paperwork; also I had to clear up some medical clearance issues (THAT was a whole huge hot mess in itself lol). I have an EXCELLENT recruiter which made a world of difference. Not every recruiter would push so aggressively as mine did. Even with her efforts, I had a LOT of admin hoops to jump thru (mostly related to the medical stuff), so we were aiming for the April board , but I wasn't medically cleared by then, so I got rolled to the next board...and the next...lol. Finally got put in for the June board and found out as I mentioned in early July. I would say 3 to 6 months or longer is not uncommon to complete a kit - I would not start one with less than 3 months unless you had a SUPER motivated recruiter lol. 3. Personnel needs of the Navy: even the recruiters don't know what the follow fiscal year's needs will be exactly until they get the billets from NAVPERSCOM. My recruiter was VERY forthcoming and reviewed the past few years' billets with me to give me an idea of what a crap shoot it is lol!! One year can have 12 ER slots, the next year 2 slots (or 0!). And these days, with the battlefield changing as it is...who knows what it will be like in the future. ONE constant I can tell you about (and this is true for Army and Air Force as well) - they need perioperative nurses BAD. Now, this is a catch-22 because in most areas, you cannot get an OR job as a new grad nurse. BUT! If you live in an underserved area like I do, there are new grad nurses being hired into periop since hospitals are so short of them, and they are doing something like an extended preceptorship to get new RNs trained up for the OR - I very nearly accepted a job just like this, but I couldn't do the on-call requirements with having my son and my husband gone all the time. SO! If this field interests you, look into that possibility. In general, across the board, all service branches are cutting all classes of personnel. But there are always people retiring or getting out, etc. DON'T let yourself get discouraged, you have SO much more time to achieve your goal of being a Navy Nurse!! I am turning 40 in September, it took me this long a** road to get where I wanted to be :) But here I am and I am not letting go lol. Don't be scared to get the eff out of whatever area you live in - if you don't have kids or an unwilling spouse, GO where your dreams are! Go start your nursing career in San Diego or Newport, big Naval medicine hubs, somewhere other than where you are now. 4. Navy Nurse is a Navy Nurse - I have yet to get to my first duty station, but after EXTENSIVE research into Navy nursing opportunities (and having been around military bases in my time) I can tell you there is a huge rainbow of possibilities for you as a nurse. There are nurses on ships, as well as the hospital ships (USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort) - as for the hospital ships, I hear that there are actually waiting lists to get assigned on them, they are highly sought after positions. I think there's someone here on Allnurses that is currently on a fleet ship (not hospital ship) I can't think of their name tho. What I was offered for my first duty station choices were Newport (one of the Big Three naval hospitals), several Marine bases, and Naval Hospital Jacksonville - all are ER positions. I'm hoping to get the chance to deploy once I get settled. I do know that Navy nurses can end up in hospitals/forward clinics in combat theaters (such as Kandahar, Afghanistan, where I was deployed). It's my general impression that nursing jobs on ships are far less numerous than the jobs on land - i.e., not every job type will go to sea, or at least not on a regular basis (anyone with more experience is welcome to correct me on that tho!). I hope this helps if just a little bit. Keep that fire that you have!!!

Hey charliegboma, We may end up in the same ODS class. I am also waiting on scroll/commissioning documents/PCS orders. And I was selected from the June board! I have already spoken to my detailer, so I know where I am PCSing to, but that's about it. All I have is the selection letter as well. I was told by my detailer that if I don't scroll this week, I may be pushed to the next ODS class (first one for FY17) - I am SUPPOSED to go to the last one of the FY (10 Sept to 14 Oct), but there have been administrative hangups delaying my commissioning and thus PCS orders. It is the end of the fiscal year, so funds are scarce and I'm told it wouldn't be unheard of to receive PCS orders a few weeks from your ship date. This totally sucks for the Servicemember and their household members - re your earlier question regarding moving your family. There is a letter of intent that you MAY be able to get from your detailer which may help some issues, but you still won't be able to schedule your HHG move (household goods) or get your family on DEERS or any of the important stuff. I wasn't able to get a letter of intent yet because I haven't scrolled. And I'm supposed to leave for ODS in 30 days? ha ha. Welcome to the military life (if you haven't already had the pleasure). At any rate, as for your lease, read about the SCRA and see if you can invoke it in your case - there's a brief summary here: Terminating Your Lease Due to Deployment or PCS Again, if they are expecting us to show up for the 10 Sept ODS class, they are screwing us (and our families) by not having orders for us at a minimum of 30 days out (any other normal PCS is usually 90 days, or it used to be...seems like things are changing across the services). As for delaying your HHG move, I was told (but with the caveat that she was not 100% sure this still stood) that you have up to 1 year to have the govt-funded PCS move. Realistically, your family would kind of have to stay put, unless you wanted to find them temporary lodging in Newport (if you mean for them to stay in your general area while you're in ODS). You should be granted some leave to go house hunting once ODS is finished, but from what I understand, this is leave you haven't accrued yet, so you will be "in the hole", i.e. you won't be able to take leave again until you've been on duty long enough to pay back the days you used to house hunt. Personally, I am trying to find (via internet search/telephone) a little condo at my duty station so I have somewhere to go immediately after ODS graduation. My family will be back in Texas and I won't move them til I get a house on base (which is a whole other hoop-jumping affair ha ha), which may be 3 - 6 months later. Anyways!! Message me if you like, I probably don't have much other useful info to share at this time, but it never hurts to make good contacts in the military ! :)

Are you saying that you've already started your 2 year program? And there were no traditional BSN programs in your area? If it's not too late to change schools, and there is a BSN program (NOT an RN to BSN bridge, a full time BSN program) in your area (or you can move to one!), there is the Navy Nurse Candidate program. This is NOT the same as NROTC. I tried attaching a flyer from my recruiter's office (I'm in southwest Texas) , I don't know if it will come out when I post this comment lol. Anyways, the bare bones of it: You apply within a certain time of graduating with your BSN, they give you a small stipend while you're in school (with no drill or training commitment during school), you pass your NCLEX, and you will be then commissioned as a Navy Nurse Corps officer. Obviously, you will have no RN experience at that point, but after attending some Navy officer training, you will be stationed at one of the "Big Three" naval hospitals (most likely on a med/surg unit), and that's where you will learn to be a nurse. There is also nothing wrong with what the previous responders to your post suggested. I myself knew I wanted to re-enter the military after I finished nursing school, but this is a harsh time for getting into military nursing. And I had missed the window for the Navy NCP program. Most of the services (ESPECIALLY the Army) are overstrength and are cutting more personnel than they are accessioning. BUT!! Where there's a will there's a way, if you come to a recruiter with the strongest application packet you can possibly come with. I was recently selected for direct accession as an ER/Trauma nurse (after only ONE year of working in a civilian ER - granted, a SUPER busy one lol), and this is what I brought to the table: Summa Cum Laude BSN graduate (3.95 GPA); certified in almost every possible Emergency Nursing certification outside of a CNS; 1 year of all-ER work experience; relevant letters of recommendation from a former commander and from a few of the ED physicians I worked with; and prior commissioned officer service (non-medical). Whatever you decide to do, attack EVERYTHING like your future depends on it...you will have to compete hard to get in. Who knows, this may change in the next few years, and it may go back to like it was in '03 - ' 08, when they were letting anyone with a pulse into all the branches. But for now, it is what it is. Best of luck!!!

Hey there! Are you talking about the class beginning 11 Sep??? This is the last one for FY16 (I believe its Class # 16120, but I'm not 100% sure). I got this info from my detailer, but I don't even have orders or commissioning papers yet....I'm told this is normal for the end of the FY. Message me if you like, I have been trying to look for other folks going as well!!

There should be a regulation that your recruiter should be able to refer you to to answer these questions very specifically. HPSP exists in other branches, and Ive seen the Army's and Navy's regs that spell out what is and is not covered by HPSP. Briefly searching for a similar AF reg, I came across this, although you may have to read closer as it is also talking about folks coming in via med school , so it may not apply in your case exactly. But perhaps you can find something useful here. http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/af_sg/publication/afi41-117/afi41-117.pdf

In our ED, it was a requirement to get it within your first 6 months or so (and hospital paid for it, yay). It is helpful to expose you to the emergency nursing way of thinking (I.e., rapid assessment and prioritization of your ABCs), but won't necessarily give you any street cred if that makes sense lol. I took TNCC within my first 45 days on the floor, but I had already taken ACLS and PALS right before my last semester of nursing school (which many people tried to discourage me from doing, but I found it helped me excel in my first year as a nurse), so it was a good follow-on to that even though I was lacking a bit in floor experience. If you haven't already, and you are trying to make yourself marketable to an ER, get ACLS and PALS first. Yes, employers will usually pay for you to take it once you're hired on, but if you are trying to be competitive and show you are committed to continuing to develop yourself as a professional, having those certs in hand helps (trust me when I say staying ahead of the pack will bring you dividends down the line!). But also as mentioned above, networking can be the key to getting you where you want to go! In my ED, we are so slammed with high acuity cases most of the time that we easily end up holding/boarding inpatients (one day a few months ago, we were holding 36 of our 40 ER beds that were inpatients! And that went on for about 2-3 days). The ER nurses that had med/surg experience were our go-to resources for m/s documentation, time management tips etc! Don't be afraid to talk up the skills you already have, we use those in the ED too! :)

Learn to be confident in saying "I'm sorry, but there are more critical patients ahead of you. Your wait time will be according to the severity of your emergency." Or some version of this if I am in the back with fussy, stable, non-emergent patients while also caring for not-so-stable patitents. It took me almost a year to get there, but now I actually enjoy saying this with my straightest face and most unctuously professional tone to the - ahem - more vociferously difficult patients. It's the truth, and we need to educate the public on what is and is not an emergency or it will continue to be abused like it is as an urgent care/primary care office! I just made it through my first year as ER RN pretty damn successfully I must say, it was an insane journey, but it was worth it for what I was able to parlay that experience into

It sounds like you aren't sure what your priorities are at this time (which is understandable, given your age). Do you want to be a Marine or do you want to be a Nurse at this time? I would not recommend trying to be in the MC Reserves while you are in nursing school (sorry if I'm misunderstanding your plan, your post is a little confusing) - nursing school is not something that's like any other degree, it is VERY time intensive and although you would likely be given permission to go to drills and whatnot, missing class or clinicals would not be in your best interest if you want to be successful in your schooling. It would be different if you went via ROTC specifically for nursing school (I know Army does this, don't know about the other services) - it is more coordinated with your school's program. Or, if you went the Navy Nurse Candidate Program route (they pay for a certain amount of your schooling in exchange for years of service to begin upon you passing the NCLEX). I've seen recent photos of Navy nurses deployed to the Role 3 medical facility in southern Afghanistan, so you are very wrong about "only shorelines"...where Marines go and need medical support, there goes Navy personnel as well. If you have heard anyone in the Navy or Army "breezing by" their time in service, it's because they're not managing their careers aggressively or are actively avoiding challenging assignments. All the branches that have medical corps have a ton of opportunities to grow and gain advanced education if you are motivated to pursue it. As far as the Army having bases in the "middle of nowhere"...not sure if you are talking about stateside or deployment areas of operation, so I'm not sure what point you're getting at there. If you really want to get the full deployment experience as close to the "action" as possible as a medical professional, then you should be a Hospital Corpsman (Navy) or Combat Medic (Army). Not that RNs aren't utilized in combat theaters (read a little on military nursing history from WWI thru Vietnam thru the present!), but there are far less of us, and by necessity there are many more medics who get sent into the fray with the ground units. There are some opportunities down the line to get attached to a Spec Ops unit or some such (like this young woman Army Capt. Jennifer M. Moreno | Military Times). But, if you go enlisted as a HM or medic, you can kiss being a nurse goodbye for the years you are serving your initial commitment. After that, there are "green to gold" programs that allow enlisted the time/funds to go to nursing school and become RNs and commissioned officers, but I understand those programs are pretty competitive. Not sure if any of this is helpful, but it sounds like you need to talk to some active duty or veterans (not recruiters) and get a little more perspective on what it is you're looking for.

I have exactly 1 year of ER experience (my first RN job right out of nursing school), so was able to be "credentialed" as a 1945 (ER/Trauma nurse), and that is the billet I was selected for. I'm not sure what they do with NCP accessions, but 99.9% sure you will start out as Med/Surg (or I've heard possibly L&D - I know the Air Force NTP program accesses new grad RNs into either M/S or L&D). I will absolutely share my ODS experiences with you! There is a blog I found (not sure if I can hyperlink it here), some gal from WA that talks about going to ODS and being a new Navy nurse (via NCP) - just Google "Life as a Navy Nurse + navynurse26" and it should pop up. I have no PCS orders at this time, but PRAYING for San Diego. In the meantime, I am reading In and Out of Harm's Way, and plan on getting a copy of the Bluejacket's Manual before I head out to ODS. There is also a few pages of memorization items that are in the "ODS Smartpack" on their website....better to have those locked in prior to arriving at ODS, as there will be a bit of a culture/schedule shock for you to begin with (unless you are prior service military and have been thru this type of training before), and rote memorizing will be the last thing you will want to do lol!

Hi there! I am not an NCP participant (coming in as a direct accession), but I will be headed to ODS this fall - I just got my selection letter a few days ago, so I don't have a class date/number yet. However! I am a big believer in seeking out mentorship as well as offering whatever wisdom I can share as an ER nurse and former Army officer. I'll likely be done with ODS before you're headed out there, but feel free to add me as a contact, and perhaps I can be of some help to you down the line!

ER/Trauma RN in the Navy Nurse Corps :)

Just got my selection letter yesterday (Active Duty, credentialed as ER/Trauma), no ODS date yet and haven't talked to a detailer yet either. BUT! Extremely excited to start down this new path in my RN career. I'm hoping to link up with more experienced Navy nurses to ask all my embarrassing Navy newbie questions and (when I finally get PCS orders), seek guidance on duty station housing, schools (I have a 5 year old), pros/cons etc. A little about me: I'm former Army (HR officer), got my BSN in 2015, went straight into an ER job at which I just made my 1 year mark. During this past year, I secured my ACLS , PALS, TNCC, ATCN, and CEN certifications, and got some pretty solid high-acuity experience at a high volume Level 2 trauma center. I have been known to make myself hyper-prepared for things lol so I've already got copies of the ODS Handbook, In and Out of Harm's Way, and NAVEDTRA 12967. Want to bring my A-game to my new Corps!