Posted on May 3, 2020
SSG Practical/Vocational Nursing
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Greetings everyone,

Hope everyone is staying safe.
A huge shout-out to our nurses for their dedicated service since 2020 marks the Year of the Nurse.

I am an AD SM with a BSN degree, trying to Commission as an a AN (Graduated from an Accreditted School and have a RN license) However, I have been facing some obstacles due to lack of experience as a RN.. Is there a way I can waive the RN experience (and make up during the CNTP) or OJT in a MTF to fulfill the time requirement?

Please advise.
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CPT Environmental Science and Engineering
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I recently spoke to my buddy at the Denver Army Medical Recruiting Station regarding this very question. As the regs are currently written, all BSN areas you could specialize in (public health, MED/SURG, OR, ER, etc.) requires 1 year of experience. I don’t believe it’s waiverable, because they’re filling the positions under the current standard, but it’s worth asking. If you’d like, I can propose the question to him. He’s an actual RN that works for the recruiting team.
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SSG Practical/Vocational Nursing
SSG (Join to see)
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Sir,

That would really be helpful? May you please?
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CPT Environmental Science and Engineering
CPT (Join to see)
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SSG (Join to see) Certainly. Once I get back to the office tomorrow, I’ll shoot him an email. Add me on here.
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SSG Practical/Vocational Nursing
SSG (Join to see)
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Roger that Sir.
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CPT Advisor
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Edited >1 y ago
In my experience working with healthcare recruiters, it is not waiverable. The American Red Cross has volunteer positions that they place in MTFs to work shifts as nurses. They are still placing volunteers (at least where I'm at) right now even with covid going on. Depending on your availability, if you can work a shift once every week or two, this would be a great way to start building specific military nursing experience.
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Lt Col Jim Coe
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Talk to medical recruiters from Air Force, Navy, and Army. Also Resetve Component. Go with the Service that will give you the best deal.
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SSG Practical/Vocational Nursing
SSG (Join to see)
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Solid copy Sir.
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Lt Col Jim Coe
Lt Col Jim Coe
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SSG (Join to see), wanted to let you know I based my answer on my daughter's experience. I think it may be relevant to your situation. (I was on my phone earlier, hence the briefness of my response.) Daughter completed about 12 years in Air National Guard. During that time she completed her BSN. When she was licensed and got an RN job, she resigned from the Guard. She was an E-5 supply technician. During the next 10 or so years, she completed her MSN and was licensed as a Nurse Practitioner. She also worked full time at a variety of nursing jobs including surgical First Assist while getting her MSN. About 6 years ago she decided to look into Reserve Component nursing opportunities. She worked with Air Force and Navy recruiters. The Air Force would bring her in fairly quickly, direct commission, but wanted her to be a flight nurse with lots of opportunities to deploy. The Navy needed about a year to bring her aboard with a direct commission, and would put her in a Nurse Practitioner billet. She took the Navy deal. They direct commissioned her as a Navy Reserve O-3 (Lieutenant), sent her to a 4-week school, and brought her into a Field Hospital type unit. She just completed a deployment to Javits Center in NYC. Otherwise she works for the VA. Bottom line: shop around. It will all work out.
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SSG Practical/Vocational Nursing
SSG (Join to see)
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Sir,

Thank you for the detailed information. I will look into other Branchea as well. This really helps.
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Is there a way I can waive the RN experience or OJT in a MTF to fulfill the time requirement to direct commission as an Army Nurse?
MAJ Staff Crna
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Not enough information given here. What does “lack of experience” mean? Are you not working as an RN after graduating? If so how long, if not why?
Is AMEDD recruiter telling you specific policies on boarding new grads or those with less than X amount of time as an RN?
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SSG Practical/Vocational Nursing
SSG (Join to see)
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Good morning Sir,
Thank you for the prompt response.
1. Lack of experiece: the AMEDD recruiter told me that starting FY 20, all 66H applicants need a minimum of two year experience as a RN before being qualified to apply.

No, I am currently not working a sa RN since so called "moon-ligting" has been suspended right now due to the COVID 19 Crisis.
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MAJ Staff Crna
MAJ (Join to see)
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SSG (Join to see) I stayed in the reserves as a SSG 68C for a year before commissioning (prior service active enlisted). Took the first FT RN job I could get at a local hospital. Took a commission a year later, not because of time constraints but I wasn’t sure I was staying in at the time (eventually went active duty for CRNA school and recently retired). The rules on commissioning into the Reserves might be a little more lax depending on meeting recruiting goals. Doing that first night make your transition easier??
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SSG Practical/Vocational Nursing
SSG (Join to see)
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Sir,

Thank you so much!
Reserves is something that did not think about.

I will look into it.
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