Thinking of joining army reserve.

[RN55901]

I am a AD RN at a large teaching hospital who always has wanted to serve my country and join the military but circumstances arose and I never did. Now I am at point where I think I may take the plunge. I am working towards my BSN and think the STRAP program would be helpful for me to get this BSN done. I have a lot of questions so here it goes. What is the differences between TPU vs IMA? Would I join a medical support unit or combat support hospital or do I even have a choice. And what are the differences between the two? Are the politics within a units a problem or is this issue overblown. I think the camaraderie you would have could be a great experience. When you get deployed (sounds like when and not if) how long has it been recently? and where have most of deployments been to? I am meeting with AMEDD recruiter next week and want to go in with my eyes open. Any responses or thoughts related to this would be appreciated.

[just_cause, BSN, RN]

I'd first go to my states reserve website to see what types of units are in the local area that I'd be willing to commute to in order to get an idea of what types of units and resulting jobs are out there.

Best of luck with you recruiter meetup.

v/r

[jeckrn, BSN, RN]

i am a ad rn at a large teaching hospital who always has wanted to serve my country and join the military but circumstances arose and i never did. now i am at point where i think i may take the plunge. i am working towards my bsn and think the strap program would be helpful for me to get this bsn done. i have a lot of questions so here it goes.

what is the differences between tpu vs ima? -tpu is a unit that you drill with like a combat support hospital where you do your weekends and 2 weeks annual duty with. ima is you are assigned to a army hospital and you will do your 2 weeks annual training there. for your drill weekends you will have to find a local unit that you drill with.

would i join a medical support unit or combat support hospital or do i even have a choice. -you can request either one, it depends on if one is local or if you want to commute at your own expense. also, the unit has to have a position available for you to fill.

and what are the differences between the two? -not to sure what a medical support unit mission is and if they have many nursing billets

are the politics within a units a problem or is this issue overblown. can be like any employer there is problems at times and other times no, since you work for a teaching hospital you more then likely have to deal with it now.

i think the camaraderie you would have could be a great experience. when you get deployed (sounds like when and not if) how long has it been recently? -most reserve units work on a 5 year cycle so every 5th year you have to be prepared to be activited. this does not mean that the unit as a whole will be activited but individuals can be and sent to other units that need a skill. this does not mean that you can not volunteer to be deployed. some units have a higher rate of activation then most. before i came on active duty i was in a unit which needed to have 40% of it on active duty at all times to fill its mission, this is not the norm thou. this meant that it was 1:1 activation:dewell time. but many volutneer for more then one year at a time.

and where have most of deployments been to? -this too varies, my last csh unit i was in the rn's where farmed out all over the us to different army hospitals.

i am meeting with amedd recruiter next week and want to go in with my eyes open. any responses or thoughts related to this would be appreciated.

good luck, hope to see you in the ranks soon