ncox1

I just finished the AECP so you should check the website for the most up to date requirements. You don't need an associates but rather an acceptance to a BSN program that you can complete in 24 months that has a $9000 tuition cap per year. The school has to be within a 50 mile radius of an Army MTF. Must complete your SAT and have a combined score of over 1000 in math and english. There are some other things but that's what comes to mind right now. There is a Facebook site that has others in your shoes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/GoAECP/

Thanks for the heads up. Will try to figure out the edit thing. Do appreciate all the info!

Am going to be finishing up BOLC here in a bit and transitioning to the CNTP program at Tripler. Haven't really had this portion of the program broken down for me yet. Anyone familiar with this and can give some insight? What's the usual structure, are we taking test's weekly, how many hours does a CNTP student work a week (generally), etc. Any information would be helpful. Thanks 2LT Cox, Nathan

I just finished the program and am reporting for Officer training tomorrow. I found out that I got excepted from another Soldier in my unit congratulating me. I was like "wait, how did you find out?". It comes out in a MILPER (think that's how it's spelled) message that your 1SG will look at. As far as received you should have a SFC POC at USREC that will be tracking it. Once submitted I called and they verified. After you will get an email if anything in the packet needs to be corrected. On the Soldier end I had no idea how competitive or who I was going against. To be honest I had a lot NOT going for me and I still got accepted so just submit anyway. I even got an extension and turned it in like 3 months late. Everything was still pending on mine (security clearance, classes, academic worksheet, acceptance letter from school) and I had an age waiver. The only going for me was my letters of recommendation and GPA (that was later destroyed during nursing school with almost straight B's...) There is an Facebook site that is for Soldiers in the same boat, check it out and a lot of people can give there 2 cents cause they are in the same boat. Hope this helps a little, if anything else you can PM me or go to the facebook site (I'm there too) and will get you squared away. https://www.facebook.com/groups/GoAECP/

JULY 15th but report on the 10th (tomorrow). Through this website hooked up with another AECP Soldier who will be driving through Houston tomorrow on the way there. Will pick me up tomorrow morning then we should be in San Antonio by the afternoon.

I use to work in the ER as a Medic at Madigan up in Washington State. That experience gave me the motivation to go to nursing school. I would be happy with either the ICU or ER. I'm a new grad so will be looking to LT's like you to show me the ropes. I've been doing the Army thing for 9 years and plan to ride it out for the full 20 ending with NP school. That's the end goal anyway.

I'm going to Tripler in Hawaii. You? When you see me there I will either be SGT Cox or 2LT Cox, either way you will have to look real hard cause I'm going to be wearing cammo...

I am a new graduate nurse waiting on my BOLC date for the Army so I don't have the experience. Maybe some of you experienced military nurses can chime in here. How does "safe harbor" work within the military hospital?

So as stated before, anyone else slotted? I'm going to be there for JUL 15th.

Best place to find any type of list would be the POC of who gave the brief. When I was applying I asked for the same thing and got an outdated list. Honestly I just had to find one by my own research based upon the criteria from the PP presentation. I just finished the AECP program and am awaiting a BOLC date. The school I went to was University of Texas Health and Science Center School of Nursing in Houston. I would highly recommend this school because it's right in the center of the largest medical center in the world. All your clinical rotations are at some of the best hospitals in their respected fields. And yes, you are correct. That packet is a beast in of itself.

Are you saying on average the first duty station is about 18 months? I have Trippler, Carson, and Madigan for my top three picks. Would like to go in some sort of a high acuity setting like ICU or ER.

In enlisted Army basic you take an "unofficial" PT test in the begining. Army does the same thing, you end up taking the "official" at the end. Sometimes we will throw around the term "diagnostic PT test". Moral of the story is to never put yourself in a position to have PT affect your career regarless if it's for initial entry or retention.

Good references, thanks.

In enlisted basic we rarely sat in a class room, more like march out to a field, got some instruction, then execute. Are you saying that a lot of the time is spent in the classroom? Do you rotate rolls? Like, your platoon leader for a week, that kind of thing?

Thanks, hope this is the case for a new nurse. I know that we have our preceptor-ship and additional training after that, wasn't sure if that was the case with our first one. Your correct, only the 7 major MTF's will be our option for initial training.

My list to our program manager was Hawaii second to Carson. Haven't been to either one but would like to.

Trying to plan out my first duty station as a nurse (I've been 9 years enlisted so it's not my first first duty station but as a nurse). My wife want's to start getting her self ready for nursing school herself and wanted to ask out in the community what people's experience has been with their duration as far as how long they stayed there. I understand that every scenario is different but just wanted a general impression on what to expect so that we don't commit all in at our next duty station to just get pulled out 1 year into it. Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks

I was a medic for the Army for 9 years and have just finished nursing school for my BSN. I see all points but truly nursing school gave a more global understanding to medicine. I worked in the ER as a shift leader as a medic and just finished my high acuity clinical in the ER as a nursing student. With those comparison's alone having the assessment skills as a nurse and a more comprehensive understanding of disease process there was really no comparison. Medic's are trained for trauma with minor medication understanding (more what it's suppose to do rather than a nurse understanding the mechanism of action). Your only as good as your understanding and willingness to learn so yes, there are some crazy high speed medics out there but you can't compare the baseline schooling cause nursing far surpasses medics. If you disagree that's fine but you can only base your opinion from your own experience and this is mine so try not to tear that down...

Any good long ruck marches?

For those of you who went through BOLC as prior enlisted, what exactly did they go over that was not covered in either basic or WLC? Was just wondering on what specific "officer" training we can expect. In addition, you can't have Army training without traditional "smoke" sessions. Can I expect this as well? What kind of fun stuff do you get to do? Like ranges, rappelling hand to hand, gas chamber, ruck marches, uniform drills, etc.

Regardless of being in the medical field it pretty much is the same process. I'm medical but I didn't work with nurses so I didn't know any. What I did was make and appointment with the DCN (deputy commander of nursing) at the instillation's hospital. I basically went in there and was interviewed by the DCN and she wrote a letter based upon my responses from the interview. Seemed like a job interview cause a lot of questions that were asked me were the same like "why do you want to be an Army Nurse" and "how could you contribute to the Nurse Corps" kind of stuff. Just run it by your chain or command first cause they want eyes on that kind of stuff.

If your in school for your BSN then don't even worry about the LPN thing. In the Army you would be a 68WM6 (LPN) and kind of stuck there. To cross over is a lot of paperwork and waiting. Not worth it in my opinion.

Here is one word of advise on weight coming from an NCO who taught remedial PT (PT for those who did not make the weight requirements at their unit) for 2 years at his last unit to both enlisted and officers. Square away your weigh before entry and don't live on the edge. Don't think just cause you now in the military that you will be PT all the time and that you will lose weight in training. I have seen Soldiers do some drastic things to make tape and they basically live through hell trying to meet the standard, that's no way to live and unnecessary stress for someones life. Don't expect to go to "basic" and lose a lot of weight and you will be fine after that. Just trying to save from future unnecessary significant emotional events. Been and NCO for a long time now (will be 2LT in a couple of months) and believe you me, get your weight in check BEFORE training. I am not presuming that you have an issue with weight but this is more my soap box being a prior PT instructor for remedial PT...

Sorry, I just went through all my emails and am not able to find it. I remember I used the form straight from the packet. It was more of a fill in the blank form if I remember correctly. I just downloaded the FY 2013 and 2014 guidelines and they don't have the examples like I remember... Not sure why, maybe I just remember it differently. Work with what you have I guess. Following what's in the guidelines stated on the standard Army memo format (I just pulled up one of my Commanders policy memos and went off that) and fill in the blanks. Have your NCO check it for you then make an appointment with your Commander/1SG. Your command should be helpful in this process, not a hinder. Here is what it says in the guidelines: a. Option 2: If a school is unwilling to provide a CLA under Option #1 above, then Soldiers may prepare a Academic Plan Memo (APM) signed by them and their Company Commander in the grade of O-3 or above, that clearly states what if any pre-req's that they must meet prior to receiving an Unconditional Letter of Acceptance (ULA). Soldiers must show where they have a plan for acceptance into a minimum of 3 schools. Consolidate the plans into only 1 APM. Under this option Soldiers must have at the time of the board 9 SH or fewer total remaining pre-requisites and of these 9 SH, no more than 6 SH may be Math or Science related courses i.e. Biology, Algebra, A&P I, etc.. The APM must also state the projected date for the start of classes and the projected graduation date (Month/Year). These Soldiers must then if selected, provide the AECP Manager, NLT than 90 days prior to the start of classes the same items listed in paragraphs a and b at the top of the previous page for the school to which they were accepted. I only had one school in my packet and it worked just fine but that was 2 years ago. Just create the memo using your Commanders policy letters as a template and fill in the blanks. Good luck!

I had to do an acedemic memo as well and did get accepted with it. I remember it was in the example packet but that was two years ago so I'm not sure what they have done to the AECP packet (they change it every year). If it's not in the example packet at the end of the AECP book then email the POC in the book and they will give you exactly what I needed. It's good to touch base anyways with them cause you get more info then what's in the packet. I was short on my cumulative SAT score as well as my school was over the 50 mile distance from a MTF and I assumed that it was a no-go. I called and talked to the NCOIC and he said to send it any ways. Got accepted, go figure... Oh ya, on top of that I had to put in a age waiver and my security clearance was pending so I thought for sure that they would not select me. I just finished nursing school and walk the stage in 2 days.