Questions about military branch nursing!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jan 5, 2018

Greetings, hope everyone is enjoying the start of 2018 !
I created an allnurses account because I wanted to reach out to some experienced nurses and those who know the ins and outs of nursing in the military branch.
I will be graduating in May with my BSN and am interested in joining preferably either the air force or navy once I pass my NCLEX. Before I go on asking questions I was wondering if anyone could explain:
- essentially what the application process is like and what to expect after your application is approved?
- Moreover, what time of commitments can I expect ? and when can I go back to school for a graduate degree (CRNA preferably) ?
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing your responses!

The best source of information is probably your recruiters. I was married to an Air Force nurse and a close friend was a Navy nurse. The application process at that time (1984) was pretty easy. The recruiters practically stood in the parking lot and knocked out and dragged nurses into the office. OK, that's a little exaggerated. They tried very hard to recruit me, even though I had expressed no wish to enter the military. It's probably much different now.

The time commitment, though, is something that I can speak to. In addition to the 40 hours a week at their duty station (husband was in the ICU of the USAF hospital, a small room crammed with four beds and four monitors) there were mandatory meetings, mandatory social events and meetings that I was asked to attend to teach me how to be a better military wife. My husband got into some trouble because I worked full time in the ICU in the nearby big city hospital and didn't attend my quota of wife meetings, nor did I volunteer at the gift shop or any of the other charity events.

Still, my husband enjoyed his time at the base hospital and within four years, was sent to CRNA school. Most of our neighbor's were enrolled in graduate school (correspondence courses, since this was before the Internet). Education was strongly encouraged.

I hope you get answers from folks with more recent experience.

Guest374845 · Jan 11, 2018

I'll do my best to give you some information, and it probably won't be what you were hoping to read, but don't let it discourage you... time is your friend during this process.

If you meet the basic qualifications to commission as an officer in the US military (which is what you would be as a BSN-prepared RN), you're looking at 1 year+ just in the recruitment process. You're not walking into a recruiting office and signing papers as an officer-hopeful, you're applying to professional boards in the respective branches. This requires good grades, a minimum duration of civilian experience, and some resume-padding with leadership and professional certifications.

Time is your friend. You can spend it researching what will make you competitive, achieving it, and getting yourself in shape - physically and clinically.

Broadly speaking, once you have decided on a branch that you would like to serve in, you'd contact a healthcare recruiter for your area and start filling out an extensive packet about yourself (demographic info, credentials, resume) and submitting documents. Your recruiter puts all of this together and submits it for approvals, sure to be fraught with bounce-backs and delays for minor things. Then there's generally some kind of interview with a senior nursing officer somewhere, and the military entrance physical at MEPS. After that, there's nursing boards that only meet a few times a year that ultimately decide if you swear your oath next week or next quarter.

I haven't heard of a recent direct accession/commission taking less than 1 year, and most are averaging 18 months even for slam dunk, gold-star certified candidates.

Good luck! If you shoot for CRNA school standards (maintaining the highest GPA possible, getting the best acute care job you can), you'll be on good footing to compete against others.