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Hi,

I am still a nursing student, and an LPN, and about 3 years (give or take) from having a BSN, but I am strongly considering some form of military nursing. I am thinking Navy mostly because I love the water and the beach, but I have some questions.

I'd also be interested in knowing the same things about any other branch that has nurse corps as well!

I know I have to talk to a recruiter but I dont want them to sugercoat it so I'd rather get the answers from you guys if you'd be so kind:yeah:

1) My husband would be quitting his job as a state trooper to move wherever we are sent, is there plenty to do on base to keep him entertained? As I am not sure he'd be working because of all the moving.

2) What is military base housing really like? Is it better to live off base? I like the idea of having the tight knit base community but is the housing actually nice? We just built a brand new house and I would feel bad uprooting us into not-so-great conditions. Also are dogs allowed on base? We have one and he is a part of the family, according to my husband:icon_roll

3) What is the maternity leave like if there is any? We don't have kids yet, but we will try probably a year or two into the service committment.

4) What is your favorite part about the nurse corps?

5) Deployment - average length, time, are you on the ship or in the field?

6) What is the 5 week training period like for Navy? Also, is there bootcamp involved with the other branches (e.g. Army, Air Force)

Thanks in advance everyone:bowingpur

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Specializes in ER/Critical Care.

just a question..... why wouldn't you consider the reserves????? Hubby could continue being a trooper ( I know CT troopers make decent $$$ and their retirement plan is really good) and you could get really good training and get your skills under your belt, then perhaps after he retires go active ...... you could do Navy or one of the other military branches.

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Hi runningmom,

I had not yet even considered the reserves! Hubby does not retire for another 17 years so I am not sure we want to wait that long to go active duty. We like the idea of traveling and moving down south hopefully (its cold in CT!) but yes him leaving his job that he's worked so hard for is a problem so maybe I will look into it!

Thanks for your help - are you in the reserves?

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Specializes in ER/Critical Care.

Hi!!!! I am in the reserves.... I just commissioned in December, my unit is in West Hartford, CT. I actually live in Webster, MA. My manfriend (seems kind of weird calling a 50 y.o. man a boyfriend and I saw the word "manfriend" on one of those ditzy reality shows over the w/e and thought I'd adopt it) is a cop in Uxbridge, MA but he "tried out" to be a CT trooper but they failed him because depth perception failure in one of his eyes....

I am considering going active in a few years, when my youngest is ready to enter high school (he is 11 y.o. now).

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I am a nursing student as well and graduate in December. I am planning on going Army when I graduate. The reasons I chose Army is because the deployment is (supposed to be 3 months)..but you may have multiple deployments within a year and the Navy deployments are 1 year or longer from what I understand...you will also have the possibility of being stuck on a ship at sea for whatever time...My army buddy is also an RN stationed at walter reed..his housing allowance is $1600 a month but he shares a townhome with another officer and pockets the leftover money...from what he tells me he has every available amenity there is to use on base..the exchange, gym, etc. and as far as boot camp, he said its more classroom time than pt, but the pt is very easy stuff. sorry i cannot give you more info about the NAVY but I hope this helps somewhat..

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
I am a nursing student as well and graduate in December. I am planning on going Army when I graduate. The reasons I chose Army is because the deployment is (supposed to be 3 months)..but you may have multiple deployments within a year and the Navy deployments are 1 year or longer from what I understand...you will also have the possibility of being stuck on a ship at sea for whatever time...My army buddy is also an RN stationed at walter reed..his housing allowance is $1600 a month but he shares a townhome with another officer and pockets the leftover money...from what he tells me he has every available amenity there is to use on base..the exchange, gym, etc. and as far as boot camp, he said its more classroom time than pt, but the pt is very easy stuff. sorry i cannot give you more info about the NAVY but I hope this helps somewhat..

The Army's deployments have never been 3months since my time in the service (7+yrs). I am AF by the way, but I work in tri-service envirnoment. The Army's deployments used to be 6months, but that hasn't been for several years probably about 6yrs. The Army now deploys anywhere from 6-18mo at a time, and yes you can come right back and be deployed again for the same amount of time. There are legitimate reasons why the Army has the highest suicide rates of any service.

Navy deployments are 6mo, and I haven't heard of any of the Navy nurses I work with doing any longer deployments than 6mo (they are probably out there, but I just haven't heard of them). Navy deployments also aren't always on a ship. There are a lot of Navy deployments that are at land based hospitals supporting Marines. The AF used to do 3month deployments, and now does 4 or 6mo with some doing up to 1yr deployments.

Now as far as the other things you have talked about those things are not significantly different than any branch, and by the way did your buddy tell about his/her lovely camping trip at Camp Bullis? One other thing by the time you graduate, and get through officer training there probably won't be a Walter Reed Army Hospital anymore. Walter Reed Hospital is intergrating with the National Naval Medical Center, and will become tri-service hospital.

I know I am being a little sarcastic, but there are a lot of good and bad things about each branch and you should do A LOT more research into each one before choosing one.

Some of the benefits to the Army: Faster relative promotions, lots of bases, extensive opportunities for training, lots advanced education opportunities, frequent travel (if you like that), one of the largest services, some of the biggest military hospitals all over the world.

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thanks for clearing that up, I'm still trying to learn...

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