If you would like to serve your country while attending to the health care needs of those who require medical attention and treatment consider a career as a military nurse. Most branches of the U.S. military employ specialized military nurses. These nurses are often organized as a distinct nursing corps.
Some popular examples of nursing corps include the Army Nurses Corps, the U.S. Navy Nurses Corps and the U.S. Air Force Nurses Corps. If you wish to join any branch of the military then you can take your training as a nurse before you join or the military can train you after you have joined.
The Work of a Military Nurse
Military nursing takes into account all aspects of traditional nursing care. Military and uniformed service nurses working in the air force, army or navy practice in both peace settings as well as during war time settings. The classifications for nurses in this capacity include active duty, reserves as well as employment in the civilian sector.
The military offers many tremendous opportunities for nurses who wish to become officers in the military. For a nurse this can be a whole other world that provides something for her she would not get if she chose to accept employment in other nursing areas outside of the military. Military nurses can be placed on active duty which means that it is their full time job. Or they may work as part time nurses which means that they would be in the military reserves or the guard categories.
If you seek employment as a full time active duty nurse then you will perform all of the same duties as a nurse who works in a civilian environment. Guard or reserve nurses will sometimes be on active duty and other times be on inactive duty. It all depends upon when and where they are needed. The missions required will be different based on which specialty you have chosen as a nurse.
A military nurse can choose from any number of specialties in the same manner as a civilian nurse can. The specialty she chooses depends on a variety of factors including her level of education, her interests and the needs of the military branch she has chosen to serve with. Nurses do their jobs as the nurses they were trained to be regardless of whether they choose to join the air force, army or the navy.
As a nurse in the armed forces you will care for members of the military as well as their dependents. You will also take care of retired military members and their dependents. As a military member yourself you may be posted or deployed to any area of the globe. For this reason you may be responsible for the care of individuals wherever you happen to be.
Nursing with a Rank
Being a military and unformed service nurse differs from a civilian nurse in that you are an officer. What this means is that you are a professional with a military rank. Being promoted in both the military and civilian environments has to do with the competency with which you conduct yourself in your work. The difference is that in the military you have the opportunity to move up in rank.
Your rank is very significant in that it plays an integral role in the way you communicate and interact with military doctors. What is obvious to both professionals is where they stand in the larger sphere of things in respect to their prospective ranks. Rank can serve as an equalizer. There may be instances where a nurse and doctor are the same rank. In other cases the nurse may out rank the doctor. This is a scenario that is never encountered in a civilian environment. What are beneficial in the military setting are the team mentality and the level of cooperation that helps to improve the relationship between a doctor and a nurse. In a military community nurses often have more autonomy than their civilian nursing counterparts. This is particularly the case when it comes to deployments and critical care settings.
Education and Salary
Nurses in the service are faced with many opportunities for both professional and personal growth. They need to become registered nurses (RNs). Those who are on active duty are required to have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from university. A BSN is not generally required for the military reserves or civilian employment in any branch of the service. The length of your commitment varies according to which branch you choose. For example, the air force requires four years of its members while the navy requires only three years. After that time you can sign up for longer or get out and look for work in the civilian world.
The average starting salary of a nurse on active duty in the military is $40,000. This number rises as a nurse increase in rank. Some military nurses make upwards of $57,335 and higher.
