Should I Start Working as a Civilian Nurse or Join the Navy?

[NoahBellarosa]

Hello everyone,

Let me give you a little background information: I am currently in Nursing school, as a second bachelors degree student in an accelerated program. I will graduate in December and take the NCLEX shortly afterward. 

My entire goal for becoming a nurse is to go to school to become a CRNA. I have always wanted to join the military, particularly the Navy and serve our troops as a nurse. My goal is to attend the Military university in Maryland (Uniformed Services University) and receive my education there and then serve as a Navy Officer. Hopefully as a career. 

In order to apply to the program, I need to gain experience working in the ICU. My question is about how I should gain this experience. After graduation, should I work for a couple years in the ICU and then apply directly to the university as a civilian? Or should I try to commission and work as a Navy nurse in order to gain experience? My only worry with commissioning first is that I might not be guaranteed to work in critical care. A friend of mine joined the navy and was placed in Mother-baby for a few years and I don't want this to slow down my goals. However, I might have a better chance of being accepted to the university as a member of the military.

 

What are your thoughts? 

 

Thank you!

Noah

[SoldierMurse, DNP, CRNA]

If you know that you want to be a military CRNA then I would lean towards obtaining the required ICU experience and then trying to enter the program that way.  This will likely be faster then trying to commission as a new RN then obtaining the required ICU experience to be eligible for the program.  For one it may be hard to commission as a new RN without any experience and if you do commission you will likely commission as a MED/SURGE nurse before cross training to become an ICU nurse. I cant speak to the Navy side, but that is the general path on the Army side.  Myself, I commissioned as a new nurse in the Army in 2009, and wasn't able to attend the Army's CRNA program until 2018, I graduate this June. 

 

I would clarify and ensure that you can enter the Uniformed services as a civilian though, without being military. From my understanding the Uniformed Services is only eligible to active duty personnel and Public health officers.  If you are not only dead set on the Navy, you could look into the the Army's CRNA program, USAGPAN. Many of my classmates were directly admitted into the program as civilians and some even entered the program less than two years from graduating with their BSN. Good luck with the rest of your school. 

[sunshined, ADN, BSN, LVN]

Last I checked (6 months-ish ago), the Navy required 1 year of experience to commission in the Nurse Corps, if you are not already in some kind of program that ends up in a commission (such as ROTC). 

[caliotter3]

My friend had intentions to go to the USU some time after commissioning as an Army nurse.  I noted some time back that that never happened for her, but I don't know the details as we did not keep in touch.  She should have had a leg up due to her academic standing in the Army's WRAIN program, so if I were to extrapolate possibilities, I would advise you to try from the civilian perspective.  We would think that already being in the military would make it easier, but not necessarily so.  Talk to appropriate recruiters and try to get more input from those experienced with the process before you decide on a path.  Good luck.