13 year Army Veteran wanting to be a nurse

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Hello all. I am a retired Army Veteran (medical retirement) and I have been wondering what I want to be when I grow up. I currently work in BHS. Don't get me wrong, it is a great job, I just don't see it as a career. I am 35 years old and was in the Army for 13 years. I was retired in 2004 due to Epilepsy. I have not had any seizures since 2006 and am off all my meds. A family friend just graduated nursing school and she said that she thought that I would be a ggod nurse. And it clicked. So this morning, I went and took my placement tests for college. I am going to be a nurse! Any advice?

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

Congratulations, and welcome to AllNurses! You'll find many helpful topics being discussed here, and in the pre/general nursing student's forums. My advice is to be prepared to study hard, and just push through the next couple years....best of luck!

Steve

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WELCOME!!

Congratulations ARMY on choosing a great career field. I was in the Marines for 4 years and then recalled in 2003 for 6 months before deciding on becoming a nurse. I am now staring down the barrel of graduating in May with my ASN and (God willing) getting my RN. It is a great career field of which I really had no idea prior to entering school. It is quite a change for an old jarhead like me but I started when I was 32 and so you are not that far out from me when you start. It takes A LOT of patience (not patients) and a willingness to learn from the mistakes of others and your own, but now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel I feel like I am on top of the world. You will be fine, just keep trudging ahead and you will make it. I am sorry to hear that you had to go into the army instead of the Marines, but I guess not everyone is ready to earn the title. :smokin: Just kidding. Thank you for your service and God bless in your nursing career.

Bolt

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Welcome to allnurses! :balloons:

You will find lots of useful info and support/encouragement on this site. Best wishes for your new adventure!

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Specializes in ER, Critical Care.

My advice to you is a VA nursing career. Because you are a veteran, you can buy back your time so that your 13 years of service will count towards your retirement. I think the most that you would have to put in is seven to 10 years. Then you can retire with another government pension, not to mention TSP and being covered under their medical insurance for the rest of your life after retirement. The VA also has a ton of educational opportunities. They will pay for the entire cost of your tuition once you are accepted into a school that accredited by the NLN. You have to apply for the program. it's called NNEI. Do a search for NNEI on the web and you can read all about it. I find it very rewarding taking care of those that have served our country and love what I do. I work in the ED at VA. The best of luck to you. Feel free to private message me so that I can give you some helpful tip and answers to any questions you may have regarding pay, benefits and anything else. Thank you for serving our country. Without you, we would not have the freedom that we take for granted.:yeah::bowingpur

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Welcome to allnurses. Its a wonderful thing to do. Figure out what you need to do to get started and go from there. I am going back to school to be a lvn right now since all the local RN programs have a 1-2 year waiting list. I was in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. I loved every minute of it. Then I got out and fell off onto the wrong path and hated my job for the last few years. Good luck.

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Way to go, man. 8 year Army Vet here. Biggest piece of advice I can give you is maintain all those study habits they grilled into us. Once you've faced down a table full of Sergeant Majors and First Sergeants at the promotion board, no Nursing teacher on earth can shake you.

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I was in the Canadian Armed forces (Army, Navy and Air force) for nearly 15 yrs, then moved to the USA to be with my wife. I'm 35 now and in my 1st yr of nursing!! Best of luck!!

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Dont worry guy, I was a AAV mechanic for 4 years in pendleton. Del Mar!! Not I build race cars, and fast street cars while I work on my nursing degree. I also plan on working with the VA if at all possible. As a 2 time combat wounded veteran I think I understand what they are going through. I would help at all if I could.

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Dont worry guy, I was a AAV mechanic for 4 years in pendleton. Del Mar!! Not I build race cars, and fast street cars while I work on my nursing degree. I also plan on working with the VA if at all possible. As a 2 time combat wounded veteran I think I understand what they are going through. I would help at all if I could.

Get outta here OORAH, I was an AAV crewman with second tracks in Lejeune. Nice to see a fellow gator in the mix. Of course I didnt fix em, I just drove em and broke em, but its good to meet you. YATYAS!!

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Good on yah mate, have just started my first year as RN student, after 22 years NZ Army service. Great to meet you from the 'Land of the Long White Cloud'.

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