Nurses who serve in the various branches of the United States military are a special breed of nursing professionals. As healthcare providers who deliver essential services for active duty, reserve, and other members of the military, their functions are central to the multifaceted health and well-being of those in the Navy, Air Force, Army, Marines, Coast Guard, and reserve forces.
Keeping our active duty, retired, and disabled military personnel healthy is a dire necessity, as is urgent and timely medical care in the field for those putting their lives on the line each and every day. Especially on Veterans’ Day, we at NursingCE.com salute the nurses who are a part of the community of American military healthcare providers.
The Numbers Tell a Compelling Story
According to our popular Mental Health for Veterans Nursing CE continuing education course, there are 23.4 million military veterans in the United States, as well as 2.2 million active duty service members, and 3.1 million military family members.
Taking into consideration the statistics published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), we have complex and urgent military healthcare needs to address on a daily basis. Approximately 18.5 percent of those service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan live with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression, and 19.5 percent have experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) during deployment.
Additionally, only an estimated fifty percent of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who need support for such conditions choose to seek out care and engage with the mental health system. That number is obviously much lower than any of us would like to see, especially when we consider the vital nature of receiving expert ongoing mental health care for these and other potentially debilitating conditions.
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans website reports the following:
“Roughly 45% of all homeless veterans are African American or Hispanic, despite only accounting for 10.4% and 3.4% of the U.S. veteran population, respectively.
“Homeless veterans are younger on average than the total veteran population. Approximately 9% are between the ages of 18 and 30, and 41% are between the ages of 31 and 50. Conversely, only 5% of all veterans are between the ages of 18 and 30, and less than 23% are between 31 and 50.
“About 1.4 million other veterans, meanwhile, are considered at risk of homelessness due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.”
Taking into consideration these and other alarming statistics, we can see just how important a task is faced by military nurses, doctors, mental health providers, and other medical military personnel who care for these heroes who require our ongoing assistance and compassion over the long haul. They sacrificed for us, and we need to give them the respect, honor, and care they deserve.
Who and What Are Military Nurses?
Nurses in the military hail from the same diverse backgrounds as other personnel. Having been through training like other members of the armed forces have undergone, military nurses understand and attempt to embody the six central traits of the military ethos, which are selflessness, loyalty, stoicism, moral code, social order, and excellence.
The U.S. armed forces place high value on their healthcare providers. From the battlefield and overseas bases to V.A. hospitals, clinics, and domestic bases around the country, care is delivered 365 days a year to those who need it most. Members of the military and their families have the same health concerns as American civilians: chronic disease, acute injuries, physical or mental disability, maternal-child health, cancer, HIV/AIDS, the effects of aging, and a plethora of other issues needing to be expertly addressed. Thus, skilled nurses are always needed in order to support the medical care and health-related goals of military personnel and their families.
American military nurses are generally commissioned officers, and they may serve in direct bedside care, battlefield medical operations, primary care clinics on military bases, and myriad duties both at home and abroad. Research is an essential aspect of military medicine, and nurses may find themselves involved in studies conducted by the Veterans Administration or other branches of the military healthcare infrastructure.
Nurses in the armed forces can rise to a high rank in the military hierarchy, and they may serve in non-clinical roles such as administration, clinical operations, executive leadership, and other valuable functions.
A mentioned above, military nurses are officers, while Corpsmen are enlisted personnel. The training for these nursing professionals is top-notch; some will stay and become career healthcare professionals with the U.S. military, while others will choose to return to civilian life and build a career from that vantage point.
What Will You Find in Military Nursing?
Military nurses on or near the battlefield need to understand the care and treatment of personnel with severe physical injuries including TBIs, traumatic amputations, burns, and injuries related to ordnance, and a plethora of other conditions requiring immediate care and evacuation to appropriate facilities.
For nurses working in the military mental health field, aforementioned conditions such as PTSD and depression necessitate professional attention, as do anxiety, chronic pain, addiction, suicidality, and the challenges of homelessness and permanent disability. Mental health nurses may also provide care for the children and spouses of military personnel since those vulnerable individuals suffer alongside their active duty family members and have their own unique health challenges.
In V.A. centers across the country, veterans receive inpatient and outpatient care for acute and chronic conditions, health maintenance, and other supportive interventions. No matter what kind of nurse or nursing care you may find in the civilian world, you’ll find a mirror image of the same in the military medical system.
Praise and Gratitude for Our Military Nurses
Nurses in the U.S. armed forces are worth their weight in gold, and then some. The military is a central aspect of how we keep our country safe, our allies defended, and the vulnerable protected, and the entire system would collapse without the nurses who devote some portion of their careers to such noble service.
Military nurses become veterans, as well, and many will face the same challenges of their non-medical brethren, including mental health issues, addiction, acute injury, chronic illness, and ongoing health maintenance across the lifespan. No one is exempt from the human condition, thus our military nurses deserve our respect, praise, and unconditional positive regard.
On this Veterans’ Day and beyond, we salute our American military nurses and the essential functions they fulfill. May they and their loved ones thrive and live long, satisfying, happy, and healthy lives during and after their selfless service to an appreciative and grateful country.