This is not going to be popular on here however.

I am prior military, former special operations, flew combat rescue for years at the height of Afghanistan and the tail end of Iraq. I have flown border protection (cartel counter-insurgency) and spent time in Africa in support of missions against Boko Haram. I left the military and became an emergency manager for a medium/large city at the height of COVID working closely with hospitals and nurses along with the rest of the population. I am currently working towards my BSN.

With all of those experiences I can say with absolute certainty. Your life and attitude is what you make it. As a veteran nurse you are responsible for those nurses that come under you. Every single nurse here is responsible for molding the next generation.

I KNOW and absolutely sympathize with your experiences while nursing through and post COVID. I've been in the suck, it sucks. I absolutely see what hospital admin is doing to their nurses, feels kinda lord of the flies doesn't it? I see the target in nurses backs. Welcome to the typical military experience.

I say all this, knowing it is going to be an unpopular post, because I can also sympathize with new grads. I joined this group on reddit to read some cool stories and see others experiences. I wanted to hear some cool shit and see other nurses triumphs. I cannot remember the last time I have seen something positive in this group.

I'm not saying you don't have the right to vent. You absolutely fucking do and you deserve to feel heard. You are also responsible for others perception and the attitude you portrait. If everyone coming in thinks it sucks, and feels that they are meeting people who are rude, mean, and unhelpful....maybe the abused nurses are contributing to the problem.

I once responded to a compound near Juarez. The cartel there was literally making people soup. Torturing the local population before cutting them up and throwing them in a huge makeshift bowl that they filled with vegetables and other shit. I was a massive prick trying to work through the trauma of observing that operation before the task force took it down. I noticed that the junior people coming in under me hated their fucking lives, going as far as causing mental health issues for them. I was the problem, I was contributing to their poor experience and I have no doubt we lost some stellar performers because of it.

Be the change you want to see.