Topics About 'Army Nurse Corps'.

After I became an RN, I remember looking at the Army website, just musing ... but I saw that I needed a BSN for active duty. I had started an RN-to-BSN program with Chamberlain College of Nursing, but even with only 10 courses required (I had 206 cre...

So many levels of bureaucracy -- in-processing to the post, then the hospital. But both are necessary, so I tried to be patient (not one of my strengths, certainly). The first thing we tried to do was to get me logged into APEQS, which is the AMEDD P...

Good times! I was lucky enough to get to fly in a Blackhawk as part of the casualty simulations on Tuesday, which was amazing. Wednesday, I was elected by my cohorts in crime to be a triage nurse at a simulated explosion, so one of the PAs in our pla...

December and the holidays flew by, and it was suddenly the first part of January. The next step in my Army career centered around when I'd hear from the branch manager who would determine my first duty station, as well as when I'd go to the Basic Off...

I'm kidding, I really wouldn't trade my firstborn for a shower ... but only because I'm not having children! When I last blogged, I was getting ready to take the final exam, and I'm happy to say I passed it easily. I am much more pleased with my 88% ...

PT, PT ... how I love and hate PT! I just completed my semi-annual Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) during the last week of October, and I was very happy to pass with a decent margin and score. I had been working hard on my sit-ups -- my Achilles he...

It has been a while since I have blogged, and I apologize for that! You know how life gets away from you, especially with shift work -- those 12 hour blocks seem to make the weeks disappear even faster, and I'm not sure why that is. Anyway, enough of...

This morning at 0700, the phone woke me from sleep. It was my brother, calling me from Alaska to tell me how proud he was of me for joining the Army. Granted, Alaska is several hours behind Virginia, and he clearly had been up all night, indulging in...

In March I hit my one-year-in mark. Hooray! How are things going, you ask? Overall, not bad. I still work a lot of hours, and it's still probably too much (in others' opinions). The difference is that I have one employer instead of three, as I did in...

We transitioned right into Nurse Track the day after graduation. Tuesday we all wore our ASUs (dress uniforms) because we were scheduled to have a video teleconference with Major General Patricia Horoho, our most excellent Corps Chief, first thing on...

Almost more than the whole "hurry up and wait" business, the Army is crazy about lines. We stand in line for just about everything: meals at the dining facility (DFAC), getting our FTX (field training exercise) equipment issued at CIF (Central Issue ...

My apologies for failing to blog last week ... it's been non-stop, and I've been stressed and tired. Lots of PT, lots of sit-ups! I will start with the good news: I passed my PT test today! Hooray!! I was so excited after passing my sit-ups that I ju...

I am speaking fondly to my direct commission brethren (and sistren?) who don't know their ORB from their iPERMS. Some of this will seem obvious to prior service folks, or people who have been in for a while ... as one of the Majors/PAs who works in m...

1. Do not count on getting paid for the first 30 days, although I got paid sooner than that. We started 23 March, and I didn't get paid until 15 April. This was during all the potential government shutdown shenanigans, so pay on 15 April was even ten...

Let's see, where were we last ... oh yes, departing for Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC). I drove from Virginia to Jackson, Tennessee on the first day. It was a fabulous drive -- lovely weather and a huge playlist on the iPod. I am a machine wh...

Lots of good things this past week: another formation run without vomiting, which was great. But also our first record (official) PT test, and I'll say right up front that I still didn't pass the sit-ups, darn it! Very frustrating. I did more this ti...