Stuttering as a Military Nurse

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Hello all. I've been in the USMC as an V-22 Osprey mechanic for three years now. Prior to just recently, I had been taking pre-engineering courses to prepare myself for an engineering college to land a civilian career in chemical engineering after my 5-year contract expires in 2009. However, it has dawned on me that that won't make me happy either.

I love the military. I hate working on aircraft. My MOS is the reason that I'm not exactly a happy guy all the time, NOT the Marine Corps or military itself. So I did some searching around for an MOS that I could get that I would like. And I think I found it in Army nursing. The whole field just really seems fascinating to me and I think of myself as a caring person, and also an intelligent person that is capable of handling the heavy courseload and after school is over, workload of being an RN.

The problem is...I have a stuttering problem. I had to get a speech waiver to get into the Marine Corps back in 2003, and it felt like an act of Congress. I remember being stressed out by the whole situation because it took about 8 weeks and 3 trips to MEPS. And now I fear it'll be even harder to get a speech waiver to become an officer and especially for an MOS like an RN; someone who has to speak efficiently all the time. When I am in a state of confidence, I rarely stutter, or if I do, it is barely noticeable and no big deal. My stuttering happens more often when I have to address a large group of people or when I get nervous.

Is there anyone with any kind of experience with this dilemma?

P.S. I also just found a program offered by Walter Reed for military members with a stuttering disorder. 4 weeks long. I'll give that a shot, hopefully it'll help.

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Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
Hello all. I've been in the USMC as an V-22 Osprey mechanic for three years now.

...The whole field just really seems fascinating to me and I think of myself as a caring person, and also an intelligent person that is capable of handling the heavy courseload and after school is over, workload of being an RN.

The problem is...I have a stuttering problem. I had to get a speech waiver to get into the Marine Corps back in 2003, and it felt like an act of Congress.

... I rarely stutter, or if I do, it is barely noticeable and no big deal. My stuttering happens more often when I have to address a large group of people or when I get nervous.

Is there anyone with any kind of experience with this dilemma?

P.S. I also just found a program offered by Walter Reed for military members with a stuttering disorder. 4 weeks long. I'll give that a shot, hopefully it'll help.

Hello,

I do not have stuttering yet, would like to encourage you to bring your intelligence, empathy and caring to a field which desperately needs you, Nursing.

You say your stuttering is mild, I cannot imagine that it would interfere in your one on one care with patients or with you communication with your nursing team.

You also say you *have* the waiver, so, you already *have* that puppy taken care of. :)

I wish you the best,

Good luck!

Gen

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Specializes in ER,ICU and Progressive Care Unit,Peds.

Also, just to add, the LCPO of the Peds department at my hosptial stutters. And pretty bad sometimes, depending on how worked up he gets. However, he's still in, and is a LCPO. I don't see how that would be much different for officers. But I have offically researched it yet either.

Good luck!

ENS PM

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