What path did you choose?

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2005

Do th not train nurses in the military in th US? In the UK you can train in he armed forces to become an RN, they train as a student nurse but get paid for by the army, airforce or the navy which ever one they choose. In return they have to sign up for 7 years. Which I might add includes their training. An advantage is they get paid around $40,000 a year

Jetter2 · Sep 26, 2005

Unfortunatly no they don't. You can't join any branch of the US Military to learn to become a nurse. The most you can do "off the street" is become a LPN.

Whats the salary like for ADN's? Is it enough for a Young single guy to live comfortably ? =]

NurCrystal22 · Sep 26, 2005

Unfortunatly no they don't. You can't join any branch of the US Military to learn to become a nurse. The most you can do "off the street" is become a LPN.
Whats the salary like for ADN's? Is it enough for a Young single guy to live comfortably ? =]

What is wrong with being an LPN, and LPN is a nurse. And once you do that you can do an LPN to ADN program.... and work as an LPN while you are going to school, get it? I'm currently an LPN, and I'm going to school for my ASN now in an LPN to ASN program, after that I can do an ASN to BSN, then I can do the masters program if I wish. Furthermore, if you are just going into nursing for the money, you might be making a mistake... but yeah it's enough money to live comfortably, the salary varies from state to state...

~Crystal

Jetter2 · Sep 26, 2005

I'm not going into nursing for money, but obviously I have to have enough to live comfortably to justify all the student loans etc that I'll be taking out.

NurCrystal22 · Sep 26, 2005

I'm not going into nursing for money, but obviously I have to have enough to live comfortably to justify all the student loans etc that I'll be taking out.

That's true, but if you go into the military don't they have tuition assistance?

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2005

Yes, with an ADN you will be able to get a job and support yourself. Just don't get yourself tied down with a wife (or girlfriend) and kids. Many hospitals offer a tuition reimbursement to their employees so you can take advantage of that to help pay for your tuition in a BSN program. Having gone that route, however, I recommend that if you have the finances to get your BSN, go for that and forget stopping along the way for an LPN or ADN.

If you get into the military and for some reason do not qualify for flight school, think about becoming a corpsman if you can qualify for that. Corpsmen are comparable to LPNs and used to be able to take the LPN boards coming out of the military. I thought you had to have a college degree to get into flight school? Am I wrong on that? I thought that with a high school background the military tested you and put you in a school to learn a skill that would benefit their purposes--no choice on the soldier's part in it at all, is that true?

If you get your BSN first and then go into the military, you go in as an officer. There used to be programs for the reserves where the military paid for your tuition as long as you were a reservist. There were a number of male students in my nursing program doing that. One of them was working toward becoming a flight nurse.

twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN · Sep 26, 2005

Have you thought about ROTC? Alot of 4 year institutions have that going for them.

Personally, I did 4 years army service back in the '90s and am doing the ADN route now.

If you know you want to be in the military, then get them to pay for your degree!

NYCRN05 · Sep 26, 2005

Unfortunatly no they don't. You can't join any branch of the US Military to learn to become a nurse. The most you can do "off the street" is become a LPN.
Whats the salary like for ADN's? Is it enough for a Young single guy to live comfortably ? =]

Hi Jeter!!

I'm an ADN, just passed boards last week, but I've been working since July 11th. Here in New York City ADN's make anywhere from $55,000 to $60,000 per year. Once you have your BSN you only get $1,000 more per year. Go figure!!!

grimmy, RN · Sep 27, 2005

as a nurse that is a pilot, i would make sure that you have the qualifications for a military pilot - perfect (or near perfect) eyesight, meet height/weight requirements, no colorblindness, no issues with hearing or underlying medical condition that could disqualify you. and, if you do become a pilot, what will you do with it once you are out of the military? career prospects for non-military pilots are dim, to say the least. this is not about "the money" but about a livelihood. there is a lot to think about here. nursing, by contrast, has fewer of those types of qualifications necessary, and it is eminently portable. but, it's version of "flying with your hair on fire" is very different. flying is fantastic, and i'll never say it isn't. i love the smell of hot radios, leather, and kerosene in the morning. but for this person, it is not a big career prospect. i have plenty of friends and loved-ones that fly, are in the military, and in medicine - some all three at once! only you can choose.

USA987, MSN, RN, NP · Sep 27, 2005

Unfortunatly no they don't. You can't join any branch of the US Military to learn to become a nurse. The most you can do "off the street" is become a LPN.
Whats the salary like for ADN's? Is it enough for a Young single guy to live comfortably ? =]

Sorry, but that is so not true. My DH is active duty Navy. Yes, the Navy does have Corpsman...similar to LPN, but...One of our close friends was an SK2 (store-keeper/e-5). He was accepted into a program where they put him through nursing school at San Diego State University and upon completion he became commissioned and is currently working in the Oncology department at Naval Station San Diego.