N E info on a Hospital Corpsman??

[Bcimino]

Hey

 

 

My name is Brittany and am currently considering joining the Navy but before I do would like a little more information ... I feel like I have a good recruiter and am for the most part happy talking to him but he isn't always the easiest person to get ahold of so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

As of now i'm interested in possibly becoming a hospital corpsman !

 

1. Does anyone know how long you would have to enlist for to do so?

2. I'm a Medical asst working on my R.N. would that help me at all ? Even if i dont finish my R.N. ?

3. What jobs you would qualify for after the military ?

4. I've also read that you can be attached to a Marine Unit ? Does this apply to women as well ?

5. I've also heard that it is your chioce / and that it is not your choice.. Which is true??

6. Are women required to cut their hair in boot camp?

[saucymcsaucer]

Tasha, I'm a DA in the Navy currently. When you finish your basic corpsman a-school you are sent to "dental" school for 6 weeks. I say "dental" because they don't consider it a c-school. Once you finish dental then you can pick orders for a duty station, after about 6 months you can put in a package to be a dental lab tech, dental technician, advanced da, etc.

However, if you fail dental school then you are no longer considered a corpsman and are sent to the fleet undesignated. Once you pick DA you pretty much have to stick with it for a while before you can put in a package to go to an actual c-school or get out of the dental pipeline. I have also heard that they are now allowing the top 2 students of the class to go to advanced dental assistant school, which is 18 weeks long in San Diego.

 

 

As far as women going to FMTB, it's pretty rare, when our classes were picking orders in a-school they said they had no female FMTB billets available and that they are hard to come by. As a female you would have more of a chance to get Italy, Spain, Japan, etc. as your duty station than to get FMTB.

And now at corps school it pretty much is your choice, even for males, if they don't want to go FMTB they can pick somewhere else or get a c-school, it's not forced.

[tasha.olon]

wow! This is fantastic. Thank you so much for giving me this information! I am so happy to know that I can pick technician if i want to as long as i pass dental school. I attended a 10 day dental assistant class and graduated with a deploma at the top 3 of my class. This is a certified class. Would you say there may be anything that you didn't expect to be covered that I should learn more about? What about A school? Do you do much nursing now? I don't want to be a nurse, i want to be a da/technician...something in the dental line. Nothing in the hospital line. I know that I have to learn cpr and stuff like that, but will i be doing stuff like that outside of school? lets say in my final orders...will i have to do nursing duties during the day AND dental duties? Or is that all for emergencies? where are you stationed? Did you pick that place? if i, just for the sake of fun, end up at the top 2 of dental school, and i get to go to ada school, does that mean that i can't go to technitian school later? How often do da's go oversees as their order? and could i pick great lakes as a dental station?

 

[Anti M]

Once you are in dental, all you do is dental.

As for picking orders, you get to ask for what you'd like, but you are sent where the Navy needs you most.   

[saucymcsaucer]

Well 4 out of the 6 weeks was actual classes and the last 2 weeks were clinicals. A lot of was knowing the tools, dental emergencies, how to sterilize properly. In A-school the first 3 or 4 weeks is EMT-Basic and BLS (CPR pretty much) and the other month or so is HM Fundamentals, Beginning and Intermediate Nursing. 

If you picked Dental Assistant on your contract you can only pick orders that ask for Dental graduates and you will be doing mostly dental work, however later on down the road you can ask for orders as a quad zero (general duty corpsman). I highly recommend against that because you will be pretty much specialized in dental and it will be pretty difficult to adjust, but it's possible. If you decide to go advanced dental assistant you could put in a package to go to d-lab or dt school later.

Right now I am stationed in Bangor, Washington. I did pick it, there was an Italy and Spain billet, but the top 2 in my class got those :(

And you DO NOT want to pick Great Lakes as your duty station, it is a horrid place to work from what I hear.

Pretty much when you pick orders they have you go in one at a time to the office starting with the person who had the highest gpa, then next highest person, and so on and so on. You'll be asked where you want to go and if they have the billet available then you will go there. There's no such thing as a "dream sheet" anymore. You pick what you pick.

 

At my duty station I sterilize tools, start IVs on people that are about to go into surgery for dental, help with records, do x-rays. The ADAs get to actually assist the dentists.

[tasha.olon]

I don't quite understand why you suggest against "general duty corpsman" when you say "pretty much specialized in dental...". I don't want to do anything but dental. I strongly dislike nursing. I'm not good at it and it annoys me. I don't like doctors offices or hospitals...only teeth.

So, you are saying that I can only go to dental technician after deciding on ada? Is that correct? (bootcamp, a-school, dental school, ada school, then dt school?)

Is it true that I will be on a ship right away? 3 at sea and 2 on land?

I know that it sounds like a contradiction to say I hate doctor's offices and hospitals but then want to be a corpsman....i don't know if you get what i'm saying or not. lol.

 

[saucymcsaucer]

If you go dental assistant then you will only do dental duties.

You can decide to put in a package for dental technician after 6 months at your permanent duty station. Sorry if I am making it sound confusing for you.

You can put in a package to go to an actual dental c-school (ada, dt, dlab) after those 6 months as dental assistant, now it doesn't mean that they'll actually get picked up, but you can still request them. If you decide to go ADA then you can still put in a package for dt or dlab.

You won't be on a ship right away, for corpsmen shore duty comes first.

[RipleysWife528]

Hi Brittany,

I see you've already had tons of feedback on your questions, but if you want a regular contact for info, my husband is a corpsman also and he posts lots of youtube videos regarding his experiences and what's expected/what goes on. He loves to offer tips and advice, and answer any questions that people send him. His videos were even recently featured on corpsman.com, too. If you want to check it out, you can visit www.youtube.com/user/guitarjcr.

Best of luck to you!

Lindsey

[Bcimino]

Ya that would be great ! Thank You

[proud dad]

Our daughter is a corpman and her enlistment is five years active and three years reserve. She will be starting her third year in Sept. The rest of my info would be the same as you have been given. Good luck. If any questions please ask.

[Devil Doc Mom 661]

Hi, my Son is a Corpsman had he had to enlist for a minimum of 4 years. Yes, I am certain it would help you with your R.N. if not for credits, the Navy will pay for school. Yes Corpsman can be attached to a Marine Corps unit, (My Son is with the Marines in Afghanistan right now) for Women, I think it would depend on the nature of deployment whether or not you would go Greenside with Marines. When you are going through the enlistment process you are given a battery of tests and your job specialization choices are based upon your interests and aptitude. There are usually 2-3. No, women are not required to cut their hair but it must be worn in a regulation compliance above your collar and ears.