Big Brass

Today I had the honor of meeting Major General Jimmie Keenan, the 24th Chief of the Army Nurse Corp.  On February 2, 1901, the Army Nurse Corp was formed.  Today at Walter Reed, we had a birthday party celebrating 111 years.  Major General Keenan was in town for a conference and it just happened to work out that she was able to make it to our party and be our guest speaker.  She was promoted from Colonel to Major General on January 12th when she took over for now Lieutenant General Horoho, who is the first female and nurse serving as Surgeon General of the Army.  She actually skipped over the rank of Brigadier General (1 star) and went right to Major General (2 star) to take on her new role as Army Nurse Corp Chief.  She was so nice and even gave me a hug!

(This is MG Keenan at her promotion ceremony.  Found this on the web)

We did get a picture of her with a big group but I don't know who the camera's belonged to to get a copy.  If I find the picture from someone I will post it. 

I started working nights and had my first night shift this past Tuesday.  It was rough!  The hours of 0200-0500 were really hard to stay awake and keep myself occupied.  Not a whole lot to do when all of your patients are sleeping!  I was supposed to work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday but since I was asked to attend the Nurse Corp birthday party as one of the representatives from my unit I got the night off of work!  Bonus!  So I only have to work Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

I'll keep posting as more exciting things happen!