The First Steps - Pick me!

Intro/Processing  (Feb-March 2019)

I’m a mother of two boys: ages 3 and 8. I’ve been a nurse since May 2015, and I’ve had a background in cardiology, PACU, ICU, and now ED respectively. Once I decided it was time to pursue my ARMY dream (after extensive talks with the hubs), the amount of paperwork and confusion that followed was pretty substantial. I spent hours and hours looking through google searches for the answers to my questions and realized there weren’t many people out there who chose to share their information and guidance during this process. So, I decided to share mine in case there is someone out there who might want to know how this works. Here goes!


So you’ve decided you’re ready to talk to a recruiter. If you’re a medical professional with a degree (dentist, nurse, doctor), talk to an AMEDD recruiter. Once I went to the army recruiter and he slyly tried to sign me on as a medic (an EMT basically). Nice try, bud. You may have to drive far for one of these so use your visits wisely and have a list of questions written down. Make sure that before you meet with someone that you ACTUALLY want to do this and you have a real interest in joining. They can put some pressure on you, so be prepared.


These are all the things you’ll eventually need to submit your “packet” or application. Your recruiter may ask for them in a specific order but try to start finding these things early on, you’ll need them. I promise. 


What to take: Once your questions are answered and you’re prepared to move forward- 

Documents for you/spouse/kids- SSN, Birth certificate, passport 

Nursing License and official transcripts

Certificates (BLS, ACLS) make sure these will be current when you submit your packet

Marriage certificate

Divorce paperwork/custody agreement/child support paperwork 

DD214 if prior service

Resume- He/she will provide you with a template format you must follow (to the T)

Letter of motivation- He/she will also help you format this correctly but write this from the

heart!

DCA PACKET:  The DCA packet is the largest time-suck you may ever see in your life. This is a huge excel sheet with questions that takes days to finish. This sucker is a big deal to finish on time so start early and READ THROUGH IT BEFORE you begin… it’ll help. You’ll need to start asking all family members for their employers, addresses, and phone numbers. You’ll need all of your residences for the last 10 years, no gaps, and the name/number/address for someone who knew you at each location (cannot be family). Then you need all of your medical history, insurance info, doctors names, dates of procedures and results. Things like pap smears, surgeries, specialist exams (mammograms/ eye procedures/ knee scope) all the way down to tattoo locations and allergies.You need your passport info, travel information outside the country, employment history, information about trouble with the law… the list goes on. I’m exhausted just trying to remember everything that was on it. Good luck!


Checklist: He/she will provide you with a checklist with some of these things on it, as well as some forms for you to have filled out by your manager stating you have met the hours requirement and you can perform certain skills. Now is the time to tell your manager your plans, because you will need their help to move forward. Get them on your team to move your life in the direction you want to take!


Recommendation letters: Start these early!!! People take forever (een with reminders) to get these done because their lives are busy. You will need a minimum of 3, but I was encourage to provide 5. At least one needs to be from a supervisor, and the rest should be peers from work. Choose people that will help you move forward and have plenty of good things to say about you. There is a format required, so have your recruiter send this to you before you start asking people so you can provide it for them. I had a hell of a time going back and asking people to change their format and then sign them. THEY MUST BE SIGNED! Disclaimer :) 


Now. You’ve turned in a crap ton of things to your recruiter, and you’re exhausted. You may have entered a texting relationship with him or her. Don’t abuse it! Try to turn things in in bunches so you don’t overwhelm them with communication. Keep everything you gave your recruiter (after they made copies) in an army file for later… you’ll need many things again. 

 


The nursing board meets every so often (two months? ish?) so you’ll have a deadline to meet. Ask your recruiter what it is!! It will help you kick your own butt into gear in order to finish this stuff. Turn in your packet and checklist items and your recruiter will ask for those other things I mentioned at his/her own pace. 


You may be asked for documentation on any medical problems or procedures, and once you provide that it will be sent up to a MEPS location (a processing station that every new soldier must pass through to be evaluated by docs- medical qualification). After MEPS has looked through your medical papers, they will be ready for you to set up a date to be processed. The locations in my area were Chicago, Indianapolis, and Lansing Michigan. I chose Michigan because fewer people means less confusion/yelling at enlisted folks. You set up this date with your recruiter who will hopefully go with you. Ask what to take and what to wear! Don’t be the one looking like an idiot in business casual clothes and wearing sexy underwear. You’ll see.


The board will convene to decide which nurses they will take based on everything you’ve submitted, and a certain amount of time after they convene, you will be notified if you’ve been selected. Huzzah!! If you’ve made it through all of these things, you’re definitely committed and I applaud you. However, there is more to wait for and to stress about. Once selected and these processes are complete, things will start to move faster and you will be grateful for that. This whole process up to selection and MEPS took about 10 months for me (yikes!). If you make SURE your recruiter is correct in filling everything out and that you’ve completed everything correctly, things may move a little faster for you.


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