AMEDD?

[Saudade]

Does anyone have any information regarding joining the military through AMEDD? DH is meeting with a medical recruiter tomorrow and submitting the initial paperwork to join the nurse corps. He is currently an ICU nurse and supposedly they're looking for ER or ICU nurses more than med/surg, so he is hopeful that they'll take him. 

I don't really know the first thing about the military or the nurse corps. I fully support him, find it to be exciting, and yet, I'm perfectly scared shitless.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

[meltoine]

I don't know anything specific about the nurse corps, but the general advice about joining is to visit several recruiters through tall four branches and see who offers you the options that work best for your family. Also, you should go with him to the recruiter and ask your own questions. Not necessarily on the first visit, but definitely before he signs anything.

[nsl]

Has he investigated civilian careers within AMEDD? My H is a physician in the Army, and more than half of the nurses he works with are actually civilians. Take my advice with a small grain of salt because after 12 years I'm getting really burned out on military life, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend going active duty for someone who wanted to work in a military hospital versus a civilian facility if they've already finished their education.

[ilovecandy]

I dont really know anything about the medical stuff so i just want to second nsl. Talk to different recruiters. Ask your own questions. Really think about if you guys are ready for this change. H has been in 6 years and we are counting down to when his contract ends (3.5 more years!). His experience will differ from what your husbands is because he is not in medical but his schedule the amount h is gone is definitely wearing on both of us. I dont know anything about hospital staffing schedules so it probably won't be the same as h's schedule. If the recruiter promises him something make surr it is in his contract he signs. Otherwise you wont get it.

[dcn]

Also keep in mind that even if he goes in as an ICU nurse or whatever, the needs of the Army dictates his assignments and he could have to fill a slot he may not really like down the road.

If he is interested in administration or further education there are some good opportunities through the Army. As he gains experience and earns promotions he may also move away from patient care. Some people don't like that but others (like my DH) enjoy more of the admin side of health care.

I agree that he should speak to a few recruiters if he can and even shadow someone currently In that position he could really see what it is like.

[beans]

I can kind of answer some questions. I'm getting a doctorate in clinical psyc and have the Air Force HPSP scholarship. I went through a recruiter. There are some differences between line and non line officers, but at the end of the day you are an officer first then a medical personnel. That can be a hard mind frame for people to switch to.

How did the meeting go?

[Saudade]

Thanks everyone for the replies. DH is interested in joining and also going to school for CRNA.

His meeting went ok. I didn't go due to work. At this point he is ineligible due to his former gauges that haven't fully shut (< a pencil width but new regs say no light can be seen). It's been 8 years since he removed them so they're not likely to close more. If he is interested in pursuing it more he will need to surgically close his ears.

Other than that, the recruiter felt as if DH was a good candidate. He won't move forward with the application until DH makes a decision on his ears.

On the DH front, he is not sure what he wants to do. He's very interested in joining but has slight hesitation regarding his ears. I don't know what he/we will end up doing.

[amaristella]

Aug 6, 2015 10:53:13 GMT -5 Saudade said:

Thanks everyone for the replies. DH is interested in joining and also going to school for CRNA.

His meeting went ok. I didn't go due to work. At this point he is ineligible due to his former gauges that haven't fully shut (< a pencil width but new regs say no light can be seen). It's been 8 years since he removed them so they're not likely to close more. If he is interested in pursuing it more he will need to surgically close his ears.

Other than that, the recruiter felt as if DH was a good candidate. He won't move forward with the application until DH makes a decision on his ears.

On the DH front, he is not sure what he wants to do. He's very interested in joining but has slight hesitation regarding his ears. I don't know what he/we will end up doing.

I don't know your husband at all, but something tells me if he is hesitant that there is more he needs to think over than simply his ears. Especially if that many years have passed since he put anything in them.

My husband had eye surgery done so that he would be eligible to become a pilot. He ended up going a different direction in the end but there are a lot of people out there for whom a simple procedure to close a gauge wouldn't be too much of an issue.

For you, maybe try to dig deeper and see if there isn't something else that's bugging him. Maybe you can help talk him through it.

[Dory1988]

I'm enlisted medical so obviously my experience is a little different from an officer's. Taking care of active duty and retired service members is truly rewarding at the end of the day. However, I could have done that as a civilian and done my shift and gone home at the end of the day. I wouldn't have all the extras that I do. I wouldn't be going to work on my days off to take care of all the additional things the military expects from you because, while I'm working patient care, I don't have time to be doing military administrative stuff. I think I expected it to be just like the civilian hospital but it's not. I mean for our civilians it's like any other job but it's painfully obvious how different it is for active duty when my husband is complaining about how much I have to go in and do extra stuff or you see your coworkers everyday of the week because we're always coming in to do little extras for the eval. You're not just a nurse, respiratory therapist, doctor, etc. you're in the military too. There have been times, like when I was on nights and was working all night then staying into the day or coming in early to take care of things that I was exhausted and zombie like. I maybe saw my husband 30 minutes everyday when I was on nights because his job, at the time was very time consuming. End of the day I probably wouldn't do it different but that's stuff to consider when thinking about joining the medical side of the house. And keep in mind that could just be partially a quality of my command that life is like that for us.