All They Can Be
Military RNs serve their country while practicing and developing their nursing skills

By Phil McPeck
October 13, 2003

This is Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. It's here in classrooms, dormitories and on a campuslike post that registered nurses become something more, something special in their black berets, camouflage fatigues and combat boots.

It doesn't matter how or why they came to the military. It doesn't matter where they earned their nursing degrees or where they are going. At graduation from the Officers Basic Course after 10 weeks, they are all Army nurses, with an emphasis on Army. They are soldiers, officers and leaders.

Three RNs chosen by the command of the AMEDD Center and School spoke with NURSEWEEK about their Army experience so far and their aspirations. Once or twice a year, we will try to catch up with 2nd Lts. Franchesca Desriviere, Rahul Lall and Jeanie Rhodes, wherever their nursing careers take them.

Jeanie Rhodes, RN

Fairfax, Va., is home for Rhodes, 23, who grew up with a father in the U.S. Coast Guard. It's not surprising, then, that the military was in her future. At George Mason University in Fairfax, she was enrolled in ROTC. But nursing hadn't crossed her mind yet. She was a computer science major.

"I took an internship and decided that was something I didn't want to do," Rhodes said. "I was a lifeguard and taught swimming for five years and I really liked the first-aid aspect." So she switched her major to nursing, earned a bachelor's degree and committed to the Army for four years of active duty.

"I didn't realize the amount of leadership experience I would gain from this situation," Rhodes said of the Officers Basic Course. It's an in-depth study of the Army, its chain of command, standard operating procedures and elements that every officer must have. "It's actually turned out to be a great thing, because I've had to prepare myself to be in a leadership position and that entails a lot of extra work besides school," she said.

This training for her comes on the heels of a three-week airborne school.

"It's really physical for the first two weeks. The third week, that's when you get to finally jump out of airplanes," Rhodes said. "You do two Hollywood jumps, which is a jump without any kind of equipment. And then you do three combat jumps. You have all your gear on. You have your ALICE (All-purpose, Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment) pack and you've got your weapon on your side.

"It was very intense. And it was a great feeling when you graduated. It was like a huge confidence builder," she said.

Her next stop is Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She said her interest is in intensive care or a step-down unit, but her assignment will be determined "depending on the needs of the Army."

Franchesca Desriviere, RN

Walter Reed is Desriviere's destination, too. "I'll be doing med/surg for the first year because I'm a new graduate and I don't have any nursing background. So that will be my foundation," she said.

Desriviere, 25, was born in Port au Prince, Haiti, and became a naturalized citizen two years ago. New York City is home. She joined the Army-a direct commission nurse-with a bachelor's degree from Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y., and was given a course guarantee to later choose specialized training in medical/surgical, emergency, intensive care or obstetrics and gynecology.

She once was a premed student and said she probably will choose intensive care training to practice that aspect of nursing. Ultimately, though, she plans someday to open an obstetrics clinic as a nurse practitioner with a specialty in midwifery in Port au Prince or perhaps a Third World country.

On an introductory tour of Walter Reed, Desriviere said she was impressed with the leadership opportunities afforded relatively young nurses. "You can come on your unit and within the first month be in charge of putting everybody's schedule together," an administrative path that might take years to follow in the civilian world. "Of course, they have people to help you, but because you're a leader, you're an officer, you're expected to be able to do that right off the bat."

Although there have been adjustments-even slight frustrations-in Army life, they are a small price for the education. For instance, if she is to be somewhere at 0900 hours, it comes down as 0850 and then 0830 as the order is passed through the chain of command, she said. "I'm there at 0820 … just to make sure I'm there on time. If you're a person who's usually on the go, on the move, you do this and you do that and move on to another task, that's a little frustrating. But I'm getting used to it and I'm on time for everything," she said with a laugh.

As for schooling, "The Army forces education down your throat, whether you want it or not," Desriviere said. "I love education. My parents always taught me that education was the way to get anything you want in this life. The more education you have, the more valuable you become to the people you're working for and to yourself. So that aspect of it is just thrilling to me, to be able to go to school and have them pay for it. It's a beautiful thing."

Rahul Lall, RN

Unlike Rhodes and Desriviere, 28-year-old Lall of New York City is not new to the Army. He had served eight years as a combat medic with an infantry battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., and the 4th Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning, Ga., when he was accepted into the Enlisted Commissioning Program and assigned, on the Army's payroll, to earn his associate's degree in nursing at nearby Columbus State University.

"The beauty of the program is you stay on active duty. I was still being paid as a staff sergeant, getting all my medical benefits for my family, living in military housing," said Lall, who is married and has twin 7-year-old daughters. "My duty was to attend college and finish up my degree."

If all goes well, Lall is far from finished with Army nursing's commitment to education.

His post after Officers Basic Course is Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga., and "in a couple of years" he plans to submit an application to be considered for nurse anesthetist school. "But my short-term goal is to learn as much as I can about nursing from a critical care and emergency perspective," a carryover from what he enjoyed most as a medic, he said.

"You cannot be successful in the Army right now in the 21st century without education. That's the No.1 key thing for professional progression."