Reserve Bonus

PMHNP Man, MSN, APRN, NP · May 24, 2019

4 minutes ago, Spring624 said:
To be honest it’s different than I expected. Not bad just different. You will get out of it what you put in. You have to be a go getter or you’ll miss the opportunities. (You have to look for them.) & there’s some really awesome people to meet. Last but not least I’ve learned they’ve got the hurry up & wait game down to a science. Lol
I’m still waiting to go to DCC in September & hopefully get BOLC scheduled in November. Once those are completed then I can actually become more involved & productive

May I ask what you had in mind versus the reality? I've found federal employment to generally be a drag so I'm sure there's some similarity. I miss my old practice which closed.

For me, applying for direct commission was more about being in the army, albeit as a reservist, more so than being a nurse. I wanted to be an officer all my life and even had plans for it. I'm not sure where they derailed. Having said that, I know there's little "soldiering" to do for reservists much less officers much less nurses. My former coworker an army psychiatrist was biding time for retirement. The major encouraged me but said I'd hate "battle assembly." So....yeah.

What do you find yourself doing on your weekends?

Spring624 · May 24, 2019

39 minutes ago, PMHNP Man said:
May I ask what you had in mind versus the reality? I've found federal employment to generally be a drag so I'm sure there's some similarity. I miss my old practice which closed.
For me, applying for direct commission was more about being in the army, albeit as a reservist, more so than being a nurse. I wanted to be an officer all my life and even had plans for it. I'm not sure where they derailed. Having said that, I know there's little "soldiering" to do for reservists much less officers much less nurses. My former coworker an army psychiatrist was biding time for retirement. The major encouraged me but said I'd hate "battle assembly." So....yeah.
What do you find yourself doing on your weekends?

I guess I had thought that during BA we would be training or working on skills that may need to be utilized if/when deployed. I understand that this was the last commanders view as well but with a new command comes a new perspective & technique. The current focus since I have been in is to focus on the numbers. From what I understand my unit looks great on paper.

I also thought there would be some sort of direction provided to new soldiers or officers coming in. If you don’t know what to ask or who to ask, typically you just won’t know or will find out after the fact.

Our BA’s consist of a lot of time getting forms turned in or waiting in line to get files reviewed. Not much training at all...