Military Nurses?

Question

Hi, I'm interested in becoming a nurse and I already know that there are "down falls" of becoming one, but I still would love to persue a nursing career. A friend of mine told me that certain branches of the military will pay for my college (I dont have a lot of money.) So... What is being a nurse or medic in the military all about?

Answer 1

You have a variety of ways you can go, and for the most up-to-date information, you need to speak to a recruiter for the
Army Nurse Corps and the Navy and Air Force equivalent of same. You can also speak to a recruiter for the active reserve component of those three services (the Marines use Navy medics and nurses).
A corpsman starts off as a basic private, goes through regular basic training and then on to a minimum of ten weeks training. There is also an advanced school in the Army that produces a "clinical specialist". You have to be recommended for that school, which means you have to do very well in basic corpsman school. It's forty weeks longn and when you complete it you'll be the Army's equivalent of an LPN - in fact, in some states that's enough schooling to admit you to the state exam for your LPN license.
Then there's the Walter Reed Institute of Nursing, which sends you to University of Maryland for your classroom studies and across the river to Walter Reed hospital for your clinical experience.
Upon graduation from basic corpsman school, you'd be either a Private E-2 or a PFC (in the Army - that's where I got my initial training, by the way) Upon completion of the 40-week Clinical Specialist course, you'll be an E-4 - commonly known as a Specialist -4 or a "Spec 4". Upon completion of your Bachelor's degree at U of M and Walter Reed, you are commissioned a Second Leutenant. You probably would take the nursing boards in the state of your choice as soon as possible. You'd be an RN in the service and out. Take my advice: go for the top and don't monkey around with basic corpsman or Clinical Specialist. After a long, long time I finally took my RN schooling on the GI bill - wish I'd gone for that right out of high school...but guys weren't supposed to want to become nurses back in the 1960s...

Answer 2

In the Navy you have to have your college degree already to be an actual nurse. You can join as an enlisted person and then submit a package for a program like you are talking about to go to nursing school, but you have to be accepted into the program first after submitting your package to be considered for the program. There are a lot of requirements to be accepted into the program. The Navy also has Hospital Corpsman which is our version of a medic. It is not the same thing as being a nurse because a nurse is a college degree program, but you can do a million different things as a HM. It all depends on what you want to do. If you enjoy the medical stuff and don't need the title HM would be great for you. You could also enlist, do your 4 years, get out and use your GI Bill to pay for school. While on active duty you could also work on your degree while letting the Navy pay your tutition with tutition assistance. Great program for free college.

Answer 3

Go see your local recruiter, they will give you the correct answer. Military nurses all start out as officers. They do a great job, our military would be lost without them. They get the best experience, the down side is that they see very serious stuff, trust me on that one, I am a Viet Nam Vet. Spent some time in Military hospitals, Hey good luck, you can do it!

Answer 4

You should definitely speak with the military Recruiter in your hometown and get all the up to date information to pursue your career.

The military will even pay for your education; you may give a couple years of military service, but you end up with your diploma.

Answer 5

All Branches will pay for your schooling.

Check with a near by ROTC or look them up on line for the service you want to join (army, navy, or air force)

Answer 6

If your highschool grades are good you can go through the Army's nursing program where they pay for all of it and you graduate as an officer. Its one heck of a deal and military medicine is years ahead of civilian medicine.

Answer 7

Nurses are always in demand. ROTC scholarships are available for nursing students. Here is a typical recruiting incentive:

www.rotc.neu.edu/NUNursingFactSheet.pdf

I would also try to leverage it with the ARNG in your state - you may get a bigger kicker amount for funds.

Answer 8

the Army and Navy will both give you money for nursing school. contact a medical recruiter in your area.

Answer 9

recruiter- or maybe better a campus ROTC person