One of soldiers I worked with had a nursing degree. Came in as E4 because he wasn't a US citizen. One of the hardest working soldiers, one of the smartest soldiers, and one of the fastest soldiers I had ever worked with. Dude had it all, brains and brawn.

He applied to the army nursing corps. The recruiter told him that all that was needed was a 4187 from the commander who promptly denied it because he was needed for a mission. They could have pulled any schmuck from any hot dog stand and trained them to do the mission would have been fine. Dude gave up on the dream to be nurse in the army. He left. He is currently finishing up Doctorate in Nursing.