Quick Tip for ANYONE considering nursing in the military

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Folks, a quick tip:

To pursue commissioning opportunities as a nurse in any - and I do mean ANY - branch of the US Armed Forces, please be sure you are talking to a Health Professions Accessions recruiter or whatever that branch's equivalent is. The folks you commonly meet in the the recruitment offices in shopping malls, plazas, and at high schools are ENLISTED accessions recruiters and generally know nothing about officer recruitment, much less health professions recruitment. You'll find a few officer recruiters that way, but most of them are strictly for enlisteds.

I'm only pointing this out because I've seen several posts that are leading me to believe folks are talking to enlisted recruiters only.

Another commissioning source may be ROTC; you can look up ROTC detachments through local universities and colleges. Any ROTC Det cadre member at any school in the country would be able to explain available cadet opportunities for nurse candidates for their particular service, if any exist.

For the Guard and Reserve, be sure the recruiter realizes you are ultimately interested in a commission as an RN by the most direct route possible - their funding and processes are a bit different from the active duty side of the house.

Just a quick tip. I don't want to see anyone get blindsided into enlisting when that's not really what they want to do. Once you're enlisted, becoming an officer is highly competitive and sometimes downright impossible. You want to go for the commission and the RN from the start if at all possible.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with being enlisted - I'M prior enlisted, my father was career Navy, my oldest brother is retired Navy, and my other brother is retired Army - that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is if you want to be an RN from the first moment you raise your right hand, you have to go for a commission and not for an enlistment.

Just my :twocents:

I know a 21 year old R.N. She has no Bachelor's degree in nursing. She has an Associates Degree and she has her RN. What position could she hold in the enlisted ranks in the military? I ask this because the military will turn her away, despite her being an RN, as she does not have her BSN. I, personally, find it strange that the military would 1. perhaps turn a R.N. away and 2. underutilize an RN as a medic or corpsman.

There was a time when the Navy took (commissioned) R.N.s with Associates Degree's in Nursing. The only limitation was they were limited to the junior ranks (LT. CMDR on down). But...I knew one who was waved and made Commander.

Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Associates degree nurses cannot commission in the military in any branch right now. I'm not sure how long ago you're talking about. These days you need a Master's degree to reach O-5 (commander or Lt Col). You need a bachelor's degree in nursing to initially commission.

So, if she joined with an associate's degree, she would need to enlist as an E-4 in the Army or E-3 in the Air Force. Not sure about the Navy. She would be utilized as a CNA II, EMT-B, or LPN level depending on the branch.

This was during the Vietnam War, when I was corpsman 70-74.

Personally, I believe the military, today, is short changing itself, and in a way - degrading the accomplishment and status of being a Registered Nurse. The logic of having an experienced Registered Nurse do CNA II, EMT-B, or LPN work is nil. There should at least be a Warrant Officer classification for these RN's and/or Commission upon agreement to secure the Bachelors within a specified time.

I sense there are too many RN's in the military at this time. Thank you for your response and info, Jfratian, BSN, RN.

I know this is an old thread but all you need is one year of OR experience in order to apply as an OR nurse for the Army. They need Active Duty and Army Reserve OR Nurses. There are also bonuses available right now for OR nurses among a few others as well. I am a Nurse in the Army currently so, I am open to answering more questions if need be.

Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

You also need a BSN. He was asking on behalf of an associates degree trained nurse he knows who wants to join.

Chris52, there certainly isn't a huge need for new grad nurses right now. RN to BSN programs only take about a year and can be done completely on-line. In that time, the 21 yo you know could have a year of specialty experience (OR, ER, ICU) in the civilian sector and a BSN; that's a pretty strong applicant right there.

Continuing education and training is pretty important to today's military.

If this person isn't willing to further their education, I'm not sure if the military is a good fit anyway. Hell, all of my enlisted techs except 1 have their associates degrees; several have bachelors degrees and 1 is nearly done with a masters.

I have my BSN-RN as well as a BS because I did the accelerated route. I have a recruiter and I'm in the process of getting the HPSP for DNP-FNP through the AF. I was a non-select the first time I applied and I'm going to apply again for the October board.

My recruiter keeps telling me I'm unable to apply as a regular RN unless I do NTP or have a full year of experience (I'm an ER Nurse with 6 months experience). Is this true? He is saying my GPA is not high enough for NTP and that I should give it the one year before I apply if I get rejected for HPSP again. He said I need a 3.5 GPA and I was just shy. Can anyone confirm this for me? I want to commission as an RN, but it's not as easy as it sounds!

Thanks!

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
I have my BSN-RN as well as a BS because I did the accelerated route. I have a recruiter and I'm in the process of getting the HPSP for DNP-FNP through the AF. I was a non-select the first time I applied and I'm going to apply again for the October board.

My recruiter keeps telling me I'm unable to apply as a regular RN unless I do NTP or have a full year of experience (I'm an ER Nurse with 6 months experience). Is this true? He is saying my GPA is not high enough for NTP and that I should give it the one year before I apply if I get rejected for HPSP again. He said I need a 3.5 GPA and I was just shy. Can anyone confirm this for me? I want to commission as an RN, but it's not as easy as it sounds!

Thanks!

If anyone told you it was easy to commission as an RN, they were not being truthful. They are very selective. Yes, 3.5 is the minimum GPA. You need at least a year of civilian experience because the military counts it as 50% for constructive credit, so 6 months of civilian nursing only equates to 3 months of military credit.

Good luck!!

Can you explain what constructive credit is? I haven't heard that phrase yet.

So since my GPA isn't high enough, I straight up need to get the year of experience as my other option to join? Then once I hit my year I can finally apply to the board? Is this correct??

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Can you explain what constructive credit is? I haven't heard that phrase yet.

So since my GPA isn't high enough, I straight up need to get the year of experience as my other option to join? Then once I hit my year I can finally apply to the board? Is this correct??

For the Army, I commissioned as an experienced ED nurse and they still cared about my GPA. I am not sure at what point they don't care. You should revisit this with your recruiter.

Constructive credit is basically credit toward your time until you get promoted. I was promoted from 2LT to 1LT after I was in for only a few months because I already had 3 years of nursing experience, which counted as 1.5 years to the Army. Nurses without experience would wait 18 months for promotion.

Okay. I think it's similar in the Air Force as well. This whole process has been grueling! I began my application in March 2017 and I'm still unable to commission. My recruiter is not the greatest at responding so I appreciate the help.

Not really sure what else I can do aside from obtain the experience... otherwise it seems like it's just a waiting game.

Hi all,

I am highly considering military nursing, just think it would be an amazing experience. I completed my bachelors in Chemistry this May. I begin an accelerated BSN program this upcoming May. I want to start looking at my options now as far as military nursing goes. Will any of the branches take me while I'm still technically in school? I really need help paying for school, which is why I want to do it before I start my program. Will I have to resort to enlisting to get any kind of help at this point since military nursing is so competitive? Will they even let me do my program if I end up having to enlist?

Thanks

Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

You can actually apply to be a line officer in the Air Force (i.e. pilot, missiles, air battle manager, etc) with the BS in Chemistry. If your grades are really good (GPA 3.7+), that route is definitely a possibility.

You could also enlist, but you'd be making crap money (google what an 'E-3' makes in the AF) and doing potentially menial work for at least a few years (possibly up to your entire 4 year commitment). It would be very difficult (if not impossible) to do an accelerated BSN while on active duty. Reserves might be worth looking into.

If your end goal is an AF nurse, then you really need to take out some loans (in your name only and certified by US Dept of Education...no parent plus loans) and do the BSN first. The Active Duty Health Professions Loan Repayment Program (ADHPLRP) currently reimburses $40K in loans for a 4 year commitment as an active duty AF nurse. So, you'll get a sizable chunk paid back retroactively.

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