What do military reserve nurses ACTUALLY do?

[BVS93]

Hello,

I have been contemplating putting together a packet for the Navy Nurse Corp. Unfortanetly it's been hard to get a good idea of what reserve nurses do on their drill weekends and 2 week active duty time. I was told by one medical recruiter that your weekends are spent in clinics doing physicals and drawing blood. There is some training available but nothing breathtaking. So what do you do as a reserve nurse? What training is available? Also, is enroute-care available to nurses in the reserve?

Thanks for the answers, just want some info because I don't want to join if I'm going to be doing the exact same stuff that I'd be doing as a civilian nurse.

[jeckrn, BSN, RN]

It all depends on your unit and what assets (materials & money) they have to train with. I was a HM in the Naval Reserves assigned to a Marine unit and most of the time we were at the reserve center doing some classes. When there was a medical readiness function we would drawn labs, vitals etc. We did get out to the field every now and than but not often. The RN's assigned to the unit only got to go to the field on our 2 weeks active duty. I was a RN in the Army Reserve and it was pretty much the same thing. There are some units that are in clinics & hospitals frequently but it all depends on the unit. Most military clinics are closed on weekends and very little happens in the hospitals on the weekends. In the reserves you are trained how to function as a military member not your medical skills which you are expected to keep up on your own.

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

Agree with jeckrn. Most units don't do much. But, Aeromedical Evacuation (AF) is manned 90% by Guard and Reserve. So what we do is train for deployment, then deploy, bringing home Wounded Warriors. My unit goes out the door slightly less than every 2 years. I think it is probably the most mission active medical specialty.