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I'm a new BSN RN grad and interested in a direct Army Reserve commision. Have a couple of obstacles though:?

(a) I'm a little bit over the age limit of 46 1/2 years--but I have 12 years active federal duty + 12 years reservist time, so I believe the Army Reserve will consider me to be about "34 1/2" years old for direct commissioning application purposes. This, according to my local Army Healthcare Recruiter office, will not be an issue. (b) The second obstacle, however, appears to be tougher. I was recently non-retained from a state army ng QMP retention board. I had elected by endorsement to be placed in the IRR just in case, as I had feared, I was not retained due to failing two consecutive APFTs (I hurt my back but didn't have a permanent profile--my back is presently fine and I can pass the APFT now). I was discharged from the state army ng with an honorable discharge (NGB form 55 A), RE code '3' with a character of seperation code 'A' and placed into the IRR. Reading various AR 600- and 135- regs getting a RE-3 waiver is possible (but not easy); I'm not exactly sure about the seperation code "A", have not yet found the appropiate table that explains these codes. The healthcare recruit commander I initially talked to said he could arrange the paperwork to request a waiver regarding the RE code 3, relating that he was fairly confident based on my service record packet (or "curriculum vitae", as he put it) that I would get a waiver. However, he has been promoted and moved on, and the (brand) new healthcare recruiting commander seems to be relying on his NCOIC, who says that I cannot send a packet up because I need to be a TPU soldier. And the catch is, of course, I cannot be a TPU soldier now that I have been honorably discharged due to non-retention. Wondering if any current/vets soldiers, especially recruiter types, have any insight to my situation. btw, I'm an former DLI east asian language grad who otj learned Pashto during OEF5 and was awarded the "Spirit of Army Nursing" at nursing graduation. I'd like to practice psych nursing, think I can still significantly contribute to the Army. Thanks for your insight to my situation, New RN, Old GI

Public Comments

1. I know that you can get a waiver to go Active on the enlisted side with RE-3A for APFT failure. I've seen it happen. And compared to what Regular Army recruiters can pull off, AMEDD recruiters are true Magicians. I think you may need to enlist in the Reserve(TPU) first, but I don't know much about how their stuff works. You may need to shop around for a new AMEDD recruiter. Oh, and congratulations on the degree!