US Military Nurses: Serving Within the Chaos of Disaster.

The purpose of this article is to share US military nurses' experiences of responding to disasters. Using phenomenology, 23 participants serving as US military nurses from different service branches and the US Public Health Service volunteered for a single face-to-face interview. Five polar themes plus one final theme emerged from the narratives. Nurses expressed a sense of loss, reshaping of thoughts regarding disasters, and new appreciation of how people's lives are totally disrupted. Findings showed a need for change in nursing education, practice, training, policy, and recommendations for higher education and how the military may better educate its personnel.