Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1294870
October 5–November 9, 2020 Working Nurse l WorkingNurse.com 17 One 1964 ad showed an attractive, well-scrubbed nurse at work and out on the town, emphasizing that "modern nurs- ing's most stimulating jobs" also included "the fine social life that is part of being an Army officer." Another Army brochure actually declared, "Don't be surprised if a diamond crops up on your left hand!" As the war escalated, some ads appealed to nurses' patriot- ism, but glamour and empowerment remained central recruiting messages. "Today's Army Nurse can do more," proclaimed a 1969 ad. "Heading up her own staff. Making her own decisions. Specializing in the field of her choice." Most Vietnam-era military nurses were in the Army, with smaller numbers serving in the Navy Nurse Corps and a handful in the Air Force. The average age was 23, but some nurses were as young as 20 and a few were in their 40s. Many nurses were recruited directly out of nursing school. Only 35 percent had two or more years of nursing experience when they were commissioned. While nurse recruitment efforts were often aimed at women, about 20 percent of the military nurses who served in Vietnam were men. The Army Nurse Corps had accept- ed men since 1955, while the Navy Nurse Corps commis- sioned its first male nurses in 1965. A few male nurses who served in Vietnam were draftees, part of a mostly unsuccessful effort to fill ongoing shortages. Although there were proposals to draft female nurses, they were never implemented. "I Knew I Could Make a Difference" N urses' motivations for joining the military were as diverse as the nurses themselves. Some joined to satisfy a sense of adventure. "I didn't join for a noble cause or thinking I could change the world, I just wanted to see some of the world, like Germany, Japan or England," says former 1st Lt. Louise "Lou" Eisenbrand, RN, who was an ER nurse at the Army's 91st Evacuation Hospital at Chu Lai in 1969–70. As today, some nurses joined for financial reasons. "They had something called the Army Student Nurse Program, through which you could have your last year or two paid for," explains Phyllis Breen Cogan, who was stationed at Chu Lai's 27th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital from 1969 to 1970. "Six months before I graduated, … I was commis- sioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, and they paid for my last year of school. It was wonderful." Cogan 3 1 2 4