Chadmasters

My wife and I are considering rejoining the military (prior service Air National Guard enlisted). I was wondering two things: 1. Does the Active Duty side still try to keep spouses together? We're both nurses and will be NPs by then, though I'll do psych and she's going for family. 2nd, any chance of getting stationed at Maxwell AFB? She's from a town less than an hour away and we currently live 1.5 hours away. Part of me thinks there might be a chance because there probably aren't a lot of people wanting to be stationed in Montgomery, AL. I'd rather not uproot the kids for 3 years if I can avoid it but will if the mission necessitates it.

I'm new to the VA system (less than 2 months). I live squarely in between two different VAs. The one I work for is outpatient. I work Monday-Fridays. The other location is inpatient psych. I want to pick up extra shifts on the weekends at the inpatient psych facility. Is that allowed? Has any VA nurse done this? P.S. Please reassigned this post to the government topics section. I have no idea how to do that.

I ended up leaving law enforcement and I just graduated nursing school in May. I also just took the NCLEX today so hopefully I passed. I decided to do psych nurse practitioner instead of CRNA. I hated the time spent away from my daughter in nursing school and that was just 5 semesters. The local CRNA schools are all moving to doctoral programs which require double the time at double the intensity. Leaving law enforcement was the best thing I ever did. There are so many opportunities as a nurse that it's unreal. I highly recommend it!

I am not being negative. I do not want to go back to the Army. I served honorably and I am proud of my time in the Army but I don't want to do it anymore. There is nothing wrong with that. Most people don't retire. The only ones being negative is you and ArmyMedicRN. I want to make sure our troops are getting the care they deserve and I don't need to be in the Army to do so.

Not making that mistake again!

Guys thanks for the responses. Please keep in mind that I want to work overseas as a nurse practitioner that, as of now, is a minimum program. There is no need to tell me the military requires a BSN.

Darn! No wonder some of those jobs where only up for 2 or 3 days. Did the hospital you work at have a psychiatric floor?

Not as a civilian and I'm enrolling in a BSN program that will begin this fall. Thanks.

I'm graduating in May as an ADN. My ultimate goal is to become a Psych nurse practitioner. I've always wanted to live overseas and I want to provide psych services for our troops so I figured the best way to kill to birds with one stone is to become a psych nurse for the troops stationed overseas. I've watched usajobs.gov like a hawk since I began nursing school (August 2016) and I never see any psych jobs on military bases overseas. What does the military do for soldiers who start to have psych problems while stationed overseas? What about their families? Does the military not provide services for troops overseas?

This post is one of the reasons I think twice of joining the PHS. I bet the poster is a civil service employee who advocates for PHS officers constantly being used for holidays and other crappy shifts the civil service employees don't want.

Thanks. My wife is now looking into the Adult-Gerontological Primary Care Nurse Practitioner program at South Alabama. Thanks for the idea!

My wife and I are both LPNs going through a mobility program to RN. I'm scheduled to graduate May 2018 and she is scheduled to graduate in August 2018. We both want to be nurse practitioners (she wants to become a FNP and I want to become a FNP/Psych Nurse Practitioner). I know that I want to go work into a hospital setting, however, my wife is unsure. The main issue is that we have a young child (she'll be 2 in August) and next year we plan on having more. The hospitals in our area seem to only offer 12 hr shifts and since we have no family to watch our little girl for a few hours until we get home. As a result, my wife is considering staying in LTC until she can get into a FNP program but will that experience even count as Med-Surg? Anyone entered a FNP program with only LTC experience? Edit* Does working in a doctors office or clinic count as Med-Surg experience?

Why not get an Associates degree and work while getting your BSN? That way you can gain experience as an RN while you're working to get a online BSN and continue to work until you begin your NP program.

My dad, a Nigerian immigrant, was the same way except for me it was about joining the Army after high school. All he wanted me to do is be a doctor. It caused a lot of problems between them. I eventually had to do what I wanted to do with my life and so will you. It may help is you educate them about nurse practitioners even if you don't want to be one. Tell them you'd rather pay your way through school and make approximately 100,000 without any debt. Also, inform them that it's no real guarantee that you'll be a highly paid doctor. You could be a family doc making 150,000 with hundreds of thousands in debt.

Any chance a moderator can move this to a more appropriate forum?