Some Questions???

[CJRN02]

Hi all! First off, I am fairly new to this board and I wanted to thank each and every one of you for serving our country. I am VERY patriotic and have a strong desire to serve.

I have been a nurse for almost 5 years and am working on my BSN, mostly so I can join the Navy or Airforce and get my NP. My husband was in the Navy for 6 years as a Navy corpsman and is now out and using his GI bill to get his nursing degree, but I am missing the military sooo much it is killing me. Granted, I was only a spouse, I loved the community and pride of knowing I belonged to such an incredible organization. Okay, now for my questions....

I am just wondering for those of you who have been in civilian and military nursing, how different the two are?

Also, I will be certified in OB/neonatal nursing and wanted to know that with my experience and certs if I could be mostly gauranteed an assignment with that specialty?

And lastly, how competitive is the FNP/Midwife programs in the Navy?

I have many other questions, but have tried looking through all the threads to get my answers....I'm sure I will be posting more as I think of them, as I can't join for at least two more years when my hubby graduates.

Thanks!!!

[DanznRN, RN]

In my opinion military and civilian nursing are night and day. They are both very different, if you do a search using my username you'll find detailed posts on the differences I have made. As far as guaranteed assigments, not going to happen. You can have a subspecialty code, I have 2 and my wife has 2, but that doesn't guarantee anything. I am billeted as an ER/ Trauma nurse, 1945R and the Mrs. is a cert in Women's health /OB and she is a 1920K (I think). Nonetheless, depending on where we are and what the hospital needs we could be on a Med/ Surg floor, they try not to do that, but no guarantees.

You can apply for the FNP or Midwife program, they are seperate after you first 3 year tour. The programs have been less competative over the last 3 years, but who knows what will happen in the future. You still need to have a good officer record and a good GPA from undergrad, the rest is all paperwork and experience.

LCDR(s) Dan