So some Chief from the Navy talked to us nursing students yesterday....

[Skrawberri]

...and got me a little interested :)

I am a senior in a BSN program, graduating in May 2008. Every week hospitals will come to my school (Auburn University.. war eagle!) and serve us lunch and basically talk about their hospital and why we should work for them. This week, someone from the Navy came to speak with us. She was a Chief Officer and has been in the navy for 18 years.

She basically explained a bunch about it, the pay, benefits, a $30,000 4 year sign on bonus, etc. But of course, a room full of mostly girls is wanting to know if we will be deployed to Iraq. She said there are only a handful of navy nurses in Iraq (she said a low number.. either 12 or 35, can't remember). Is this true?? She said you can choose where you want to be stationed at.... won't be onboard a ship (she said there are either 12 or 35 nurses on all the ships combined... can't remember which number)... Is all this true?? Alot of what she said sounded a little too good to be true, but maybe not??

She said after graduation you go to OIS?? an officer training thing for 5 weeks. Doesn't sound too bad.

Oh yeah, and after 6 years, making $78,000 a year?? As a nurse?? Is THAT true?? Because if it is, I'm in!

I guess I'm just wondering.. Are there any navy nurses out there that can back up these facts and maybe give some more info?? How do you like navy nursing??

And this may be a dumb question but.... Who are you seeing, typically, in a navy medical hospital?? Military ppl and their families??

If you can't tell, I'm CLUELESS with anything military.. Nobody in my family was ever in the military and none of my friends either!! So it is totally different from what I know.

Thanks a bunch!!

[DanznRN, RN]

Skraw-

First thing, Navy nurses in Iraq 12-35, that wrong. At any given time from my facility alone there are at least 2 gone. So you take that and multiply it by the number of hospitals in the Navy, you get the picture. Iraq is not the only theater of operations, we have nurses in Africa and Afghanistan to name a few others. We will you get deployed, the answer is yes. When where and for how long is a luck of the draw. Most Navy deployments are for 6 months, some up to 12. As a new nurse you generally don't get deployed for the first year, but that's not an absolute. With that said, I've been in the Navy for 10+ years and have never been deployed overseas, spent time with the Marines, just haven't gone to the desert yet. I'll probably go this coming summer, I'm in grad school right now, so I'm not deployable.

OIS, yeah 5 weeks isn't so bad. That is if you can handle getting up at 0400 to workout and then go to class all day. It's a crash course in being a Navy Officer. My wife hates to get up early, but she survived, anyone can do it. It's only 5 weeks.

Money, yes the Navy is offering sign-on bonuses and they are pretty big right now. I have been in for 10+, like I said and this is my pay break down:

For 2007 Jan 1, 2008

Base Pay - $5602.80 Base Pay - $5798.70

Housing - $2470 Housing - $2470

Food - $192.74 Food - $192.90

Total - $8265.54/ month Total - $8461.44/ month

Per Year - $99,186.48 Per Year - $101,537.28

Keep in mind that's before taxes, I live in a tax exempt state, so I only pay federal taxes, no state.

So yeah, $78,000 in 6 years, totally doable and don't forget free medical/ dental and 30 days paid vacation a year. Is that worth being deployed every now and again? To me and my wife (she's active duty too.), yes.

Now it all sounds peaches and cream, but I suggest you do some searching on this forum about how things can be and are in the military because there's more to it, but you're just getting started. Now that may or may not be what you wanted to hear, for me and my family it works great, for others not so much. Think of some questions and ask away, I'm happy to help, ask anyone on here.

LCDR Dan

[CRNA10]

DanznRN: Can you please tell me if a similar deployment scenario applies to Navy reserves? I have been speaking with an Army reserve recruiter and they have a prety atractive program, but the main concern my wife and I have is the deployment possibilities and length of each. Not sure if you know about the differences betwen the 2 branches, but hopefully you could shed some light.

Thanks a million.

[DanznRN, RN]

CRNA-

To be honest, I'm not sure how reserves are being deployed at present. I know there are units out there and for the Navy they have about the same timeframe as well. The lines separating reserves and active duty have become very blurred since the war started. If you are a CRNA as your username implies, expect to be deployed, period. There are only 141 of them in the active Navy and they are always on the go. Sorry, I couldn't be more help.

LCDR Dan