If I sign up for the Army Nurse Corp, will I have to end up being in the reserve or becoming a soldier?

Question

The Army says that you'll get a $10,000 bonus and they'll pay your student loans. But I'll have to commit to 8 years on active or inactive duty if I join the Army Nurse Corp. I don't want to end up going to war in Iraq as a soldier if somehow I don't qualify for the Nurse Corp or they all along are truly recruiting me for that. I appreciate what the soldiers do for our country but being a female and hearing all thats gone on on the news, it's scary to me. But I'd love to join the Army Nurse Corp.
I'm a Junior going for my BSN. Thanks for any help.

I'm not afraid of going to Iraq. I just want to be a nurse and not end up doing something I don't really want to sign up for, like ending up being a soldier.

Answer 1

Visit the Army Nurse Corps homepage: http://armynursecorps.amedd.army.mil/

http://www.goarmy.com/amedd/nurse/index.jsp

Do check out the Navy and Air Force options.

The Army Nurse Corps is 300 nurses short as of now, will take years to get this fixed. Enlisted who have two years of college can now apply to go off to civilian nursing school.

Be assured the Navy or Air Force may have different options, shop around. But no the Army will not hand you a rifle except for
training. You may or may not have a weapon even if in Iraq or Afghan. But one never knows as to the degree of risk, after you are in a few years, trust me you will be working the worst shifts, you can select such as speciality training in all areas of Nursing
at the Master's level. You may also move towards a "command" type tract where you can go to a medical battalion, company and sort of "cross train" with MS Corps and such.

But you need the BSN and to pass your exam.

Do keep fit!

Why not call and visit the nearest military hospital? Meet some real Nurse Corps folks.

Trust me there will be many enlisted guarding your facility, many who are also infantry veterans. But convoys do get attacked and helicopters can crash, but they will take you out to Camp Bullis when you are at Fort Sam Houston and show you how to fire a weapon. The failure rate for incoming nurses is very, very low,
just be physically fit. Yes, it is alright to be concerned, do clarify exactly how long active duty they want you for.

Good luck!

"Doc"

MS Branch officers run the day-to-day medical department operations and some are ROTC even West Point. Perhaps you can "audit" an ROTC course? I was ROTC but that was decades ago.

Answer 2

Don't sign on the dotted line just yet. You have a year until you graduate. Then you have several weeks before you can take boards, then several weeks longer before you hear whether or not you passed those. Once you have that piece of paper from your state's health department identifying you as a Registered Professional Nurse, you can go discuss the possibilities with the various service's recruiters. Talk to ALL of the services.

If you were to be accepted into the nurse corps of any of the services, it would be guaranteed in writing. You would not and COULD NOT be made to serve in any other way than as a nurse. And no, you would NOT be required to carry a weapon or train to use one!
I was an Army nurse. It was a good job. But had I to do it over again, I'd choose Navy or Air Force. That's experience talking, hon. In fact, if you were to work for a year in a good hospital as a surgical nurse, and THEN went to talk to the recruiters, you'd be even more desirable. A good scrub nurse is worth his or her weight in gold.

Again, there's no rush. The Armed Services are not going to suddenly lose the need for nurses - in fact, even in peacetime it's very difficult for them to recruit or retain enough nurses.

Be aware, too, that you'll be an officer, and that does indeed confer much better treatment, pay, quarters and benefits. Nobody's going to demand you get up at oh-dark-early and go pick up cigarette butts in the hospital parking lot!

Thank you for considering serving your country and your fellow citizens in this manner. But take your time; it's worth the wait.

Answer 3

When they say 8-years, it means you have to serve 4-years on Active Duty and 4-years in the Reserves. You will still go to Basic Training and become a Soldier. What are your chances of going to Iraq? Highly likely. Your job is very critical during the war and every military personnel overseas need your expertise.

Joining the military requires you to be obligated to the country. The thing that people don't understand is that when you sign-up, you are obligated to protect our country. Being a nurse or not. That is something the recruiter doesn't tell you. The bonus money sounds great doesn't it? But, people join the military and months later, they get the call of duty and they back out. The most common answer is that they didn't know they have to go to war.

So, my advice is to think about your options before you decide on the military.

Note: If you do go to Iraq, don't let people tell you that a facility is safe. No where in Iraq is safe. Medical facilities get mortar fire all the time. Transportation requires convoys or by air.

Answer 4

I can not speak for the reserves because I was active duty for 20 yrs and I'm not sure of the changes that have taken place since I retired out. (95) But during the time ur in u have time to take college course no matter what country u r in. I took a class to speak Japanese, I was over there so why not, now they had many other things a person cold do as far as school went. I seen many I saying many men and women after there time in the service step out with up to a masters(not basket weaving)or very close to it. Can the reserves do that for you that is up to that service and how much you want to put into it. I retired out after 20 yrs and now 100% disabled. So I'm one lucky to be alive and 2. my medical is covered along with my family. I often wonder how the other side lives. I'm so thankful I stayed as long as I did.

Answer 5

You could very well end up in Iraq. But not in combat. Be that may...my job in the army is a mechanic. Im not a combat soldier, yet i did receive combat training, as all soldiers do.
Yet i found myself in two situations where i did end up in a firefight and had to shoot back. Scared me to death. Im no Rambo. I pissed my pants the first time. I was just firing blindly without thinking but hey im here today alive and well. Did i hit anything? I have no clue.
Being a nurse, even if you are sent to Iraq it is very unlikely you would ever see any actual combat. But there is always the chance something could go wrong somewhere and you could end up having to use your training to protect yourself and your fellow soldiers. (remember Jessica Lynch?)
I am not trying to scare you away. If anything i would tell you to go for it-its a great thing to do. But its not easy, and there always is a certain amount of danger.

Answer 6

As long as you have a BSN you will be a Army Nurse, but you will have to pass a very easy Officer's Basic Course and pass a Psychical Fitness Test...your duty could be from a Troop Medical Clinic to a Army Medical Center to a Combat Support Hospital...In Iraq they have fix facilities so it is like working in a regular hospital...

Answer 7

if you have your BSN you'll be a 2Lt in the Army Nurse Corps, a commissioned officer. You may well be sent to Iraq, or anywhere you're needed. You will have a service commitment of whatever you sign up for, but it wont be as a soldier.

Answer 8

You could serve in active duty, or the reserves (And possibly get called up)...With an eight year term of service, it is virtually impossible, I believe, that you would not be deploying somewhere at some point - It may not necessarily be Iraq, but somewhere, sometime down the line.

But one thing you need to get in your head - whatever you join as, you are still a Soldier.

As for females not being allowed in combat arms, as someone ..said above...If you are female, and are wanting to deploy and 'actually do something' in Iraq...Go for the Military Police Corps...We may be the guys that break up your drunken rampages in garrison, but we can, and do, kick *** and take names with the best of them. We're not classified as 'Combat Arms', and thus, females can join as MPs, but if you are in the MP Corps, and deploy to Iraq, unless you're stuck in the Green Zone handing out traffic tickets, you'll be 'doing something'.

One note: Though, as a nurse, and a commissioned officer, you would not be doing 'real soldier work', i.e. be out there with the Cav Scouts, Armored, Infantry, Combat Engineers, and the MPs....You'd probably be a fobbit(i.e. never go outside the wire) in the Green Zone, or some other large FOB.

This is not to say that your job is to be looked down upon, or that your work is somehow inferior to Specialist Johnny Johnson, M1114 M240B gunner...because the incredible medical care available to us, even in a deployed environment, is one of the most important aspects of our military, and one of the largest reasons we have had so few casualties in almost four years of the Iraq war, and being a nurse, you would be one of the people helping that medical care system to work quickly and effectively.

EDIT:

Mr. Mui, that's an extremely simplistic way of putting it....In nine months of service in Iraq, doing missions almost every day, and suffering mortar attacks on my FOB every three or four days, I A) Never fired my weapon in combat, B) Was only once, perhaps twice, fired upon, C) Never had my convoy hit by an IED or other hostile effort, and D) Never once saw a mortar or rocket hit inside our FOB (Which isn't to say they never happened - just to illustrate the rarity of deaths, or even significant injuries, from these attacks, due to their inaccuracy, the size of FOBs, and the limited size of such attacks).

Nor did I ever hear of anyone on my FOB who was killed or injured as a result of indirect (i.e. mortar or rocket) fire.

Answer 9

You will be a soldier and a nurse. You will be an officer, but work as a nurse in a field hospital or Army hospital.

Answer 10

Read your contract. Make sure to get your recruiter to put your specific interests in the contract. If they break it, then they will be in breach of contract, and you will have a choice whether or not to stay. Also, the military usually sends new recruits to school from the beginning, so if you finish, you will have a very good chance of getting in. They will always need nurses. But remember, just like any other branch, you are a rifleman first.