What should I expect at my first duty station

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Greetings:

I am in the Navy Nurse Candidate Program and just found out where my first duty station will be. I am due to graduate in December of this year, then I'm off to OIS in January.

I also know I will be a part of the "Fleet Hospital Platform", which will give me "outstanding operational training and field experience". I take this to mean that I may be getting deployed somewhere, or at least trained and ready to deploy.

Can anyone with Navy nursing experience explain to me what being assigned to a fleet hospital means and what types of deployments I may expect? Would this happen in my first year as a nurse? I'm just feeling a little in the dark as to what I should be prepared for, and wish to prepare myself and my family accordingly.

Also, any tips for success at OIS would be appreciated.

I would be grateful for any tips, hints, or valuable information which would serve a future Navy ensign well....Thanks for any comments anyone may have.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

Hello and welcome to the family of allnurses. Enjoy your stay and good luck!

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I have been in the Navy for 5 years now. I did not go to OIS, I did ROTC, so I can't give you any advice on that. But at my first duty station, Naval Hosp San Diego, I was on the fleet hospital Bremerton. I was on the platform for about 1 year and I only did classroom training with it. The fleet hospital was deployed while I was on the platform, but they only needed a certain number of people from the platform, and they did not activate me. Fleet hospitals are by no means on the front lines. But your experience with fleet hospital may be entirely different than mine, as some people did get deployed for 6 months at a time.

Being an Ensign was very fun, but a lot of work. If you go to one of the big 3--San Diego, Portsmouth, or Bethesda--get ready to work hard. But it's really a time to learn how to be a nurse and how to be an officer. The navy is an exciting place to start out as a nurse.

Good luck. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Greetings:

I am in the Navy Nurse Candidate Program and just found out where my first duty station will be. I am due to graduate in December of this year, then I'm off to OIS in January.

I also know I will be a part of the "Fleet Hospital Platform", which will give me "outstanding operational training and field experience". I take this to mean that I may be getting deployed somewhere, or at least trained and ready to deploy.

Can anyone with Navy nursing experience explain to me what being assigned to a fleet hospital means and what types of deployments I may expect? Would this happen in my first year as a nurse? I'm just feeling a little in the dark as to what I should be prepared for, and wish to prepare myself and my family accordingly.

Also, any tips for success at OIS would be appreciated.

I would be grateful for any tips, hints, or valuable information which would serve a future Navy ensign well....Thanks for any comments anyone may have.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I have been in the Navy for 5 years now. I did not go to OIS, I did ROTC, so I can't give you any advice on that. But at my first duty station, Naval Hosp San Diego, I was on the fleet hospital Bremerton. I was on the platform for about 1 year and I only did classroom training with it. The fleet hospital was deployed while I was on the platform, but they only needed a certain number of people from the platform, and they did not activate me. Fleet hospitals are by no means on the front lines. But your experience with fleet hospital may be entirely different than mine, as some people did get deployed for 6 months at a time.

Being an Ensign was very fun, but a lot of work. If you go to one of the big 3--San Diego, Portsmouth, or Bethesda--get ready to work hard. But it's really a time to learn how to be a nurse and how to be an officer. The navy is an exciting place to start out as a nurse.

Good luck. Let me know if you have any more questions!

Even though I was 'just a corpsman'(jk) at Balboa and Portsmouth, I must agree this info is authentic.

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Specializes in Palliative Care.

Hi,

so...are you assigned to a hospital first? the big 3 is what I was told, and there for your whole first enlistment? Is the fleet platform in addition to the hospital assignment? I'm considering.

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"Hi,

so...are you assigned to a hospital first? the big 3 is what I was told, and there for your whole first enlistment? Is the fleet platform in addition to the hospital assignment? I'm considering."

The fleet platform IS potential additional duty that they train you for regardless. You could go out for 2 wks just for training purposes too. Not that bad, usually not far from the coast which is a tease!

If a catastrophe(ex. Katrina)/mission(ex. Iraq) needs medical support, they could pull you if you are on a platform to go help out. Go bye bye for a few months. Life at the Balboa hospital goes on w/o you.

I'm pretty sure you spend your first 4 yrs at your first command as a NC officer. I'd love to do that(if I was still in)!

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