US Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing (USAGPAN) FY2025

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Was wondering who all was applying to USAGPAN FY2025? 

Specializes in ICU.

I agree with MikeyD, I personally submitted my application May 2023 and it allowed [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] plenty of time to review it to make sure nothing was missing and everything was in correctly 

Other than that you'll find out in sometime in August. 
 

Being Direct Acession I had to have all my Nurse Corps Board stuff submitted to my AMEDD recruiter first week June 2023

End of July 2023 I think like the 27th I got a call from the recruiter that I got chosen by Nurse Corps Board

21 August 2023 was when the decision letters were sent out and got my acceptance 

 

 

 

 

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32SoulPatrolRN said:

I agree with MikeyD, I personally submitted my application May 2023 and it allowed [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] plenty of time to review it to make sure nothing was missing and everything was in correctly 

Other than that you'll find out in sometime in August. 
 

Being Direct Acession I had to have all my Nurse Corps Board stuff submitted to my AMEDD recruiter first week June 2023

End of July 2023 I think like the 27th I got a call from the recruiter that I got chosen by Nurse Corps Board

21 August 2023 was when the decision letters were sent out and got my acceptance 

 

Hi, did [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] notify you if you miss anything after submitting application?If yes, was that close to the due date? I have submitted my application but have not received any message from [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] yet.

 

 

 

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Specializes in ICU.

I emailed her about two business days after I submitted it saying I had everything done including phase 2 shadow/interview and if there was anything that wasn't complete 

she was very prompt and by the next day emailed me back 

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32SoulPatrolRN said:

I emailed her about two business days after I submitted it saying I had everything done including phase 2 shadow/interview and if there was anything that wasn't complete 

she was very prompt and by the next day emailed me back 

Got it, I am gonna email her to ask, thanks!

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Hi everyone! I have been talking with my recruiter since this past October (2023). I am applying for the USAGPAN FY2025! I feel like I have been on top of everything, but I still have a lot to do. I finished MEPS, my recruiter sent my CV and scroll last week. I do my phase 2 interview in 3 weeks in El Paso with MAJ Shellabager. I graduated my BSN with a 4.0. I was told they do not look at ADN GPA? My science GPA is 3.22. I planned on taking my CCRN, GRE, and an organic chem class. I have worked in a med/surg ICU for 1 year and 2 months, some overtime on a cardiac care unit, and currently working in the OR. Will this hurt my chances of being accepted? I am very nervous to interview, can anyone give me some pointers/advice? Anything specific to this location?

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Specializes in ICU.

I did my Phase 2 interview in El Paso last year. It was an amazing experience and I hope to go there for Phase 2 clinical next June

during my shadow days [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] assistant clinical site director and was prior Army service and graduate of USAGPAN, [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] also USAGPAN graduate) were both preceptors of my student and asked me some questions while we were in the OR that I was able to answer. [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] asked me about the ventilator - different modes and the different waveform characteristics depending on pressure vs volume control modes; he also asked me about difference of end tidal C02 value on the ventilator vs PaC02 on the blood gas; he also asked about lung zones and how V-Q mismatch changes when a patient is standing upright, supine or prone - [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] is an incredibly intelligent individual and made the experience fun and cool to talk to

Same with [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME], he was working on a presentation regarding pediatric airway management  especially in a trauma setting and asked me some questions - nothing too hard although my ICU experience is high acute PICU

For the actual interview it was probably 95 percent personal/emotional intelligence questions. Be prepared to tell them your "why" of being a CRNA and additionally "why" you want to serve in the Army. I had a question converting a drip from ml/hr to mcg/kg/min which wasn't too bad

I had a "for fun" question, [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME]'s words not mine where I had to figure out the concentration of epi/bupivicane for a regional anesthetic to make it like 1:1000 or something like that - I was honest and told him I don't know how I would make that without knowing conversion factor and he said it was no problem and walked me through it, giving me a little bit of information and had me solve it from there which I was able to

they want to see you're passionate about being a CRNA but also being an officer in the Army, wearing the uniform and wearing it well, they were really interested in hearing about my support system and how my family would be able to handle not only the stress of CRNA school but being in the Army

They both told me and from what I've heard from other student and the student I shadowed is that people who fail out of the program is almost always due to family/personal issues and not being able to balance the commitments 

they also wanted to be real with me and that failing out of the program doesn't mean I get to just return to civilian life, I would repay the Army with time and service as an ICU nurse 

my wife and I talked for years about this and we have both been on the same page but going through it was still rough even with all the planning we put in place 

I can see now why they wanted to stress on the support so much. I moved here to Fort Sam, TX from Central California taking my wife, 8,7,5,3 year old where we don't have any other family that is close and coming straight off the street into the military, moving here and then in just two weeks going off to the Direct Commission Course in Fort Sill OK leaving my wife alone with all the kids for four weeks was very stressful, my 8 year old boy has never had issues with school but the first two days I was away at DCC my wife told me he cried so hard at school for two days he went home early - he's a lot better now but still was hard to hear that while I was away at DCC and my family is back in Texas  

I had never been away from my wife/kids longer than the three days I went to El Paso to shadow so that was hard, but my wife and I talked about ways she could get help such as the family wellness center and we chose to live on post so the neighbors were very helpful while I was away

coming back here to Texas for BOLC is nice because I get to be with my family every night but also hard because I'm gone all day as well, luckily my wife has found her routine and there are a couple of friends in my cohort who have wives/kids around the same age as mine so she's been hanging out with the other mom's and kids to help with that 

also the relationship/finance dynamic - my wife went from working as a very skilled NICU RN to now being a stay at home mom so that I can focus on all my Officer training and CRNA school

while starting my army journey we made sure to save as I knew there would be a decent gap from when I leave my civilian job to getting paid by the army. We got by fine but it's still stressful to see us spend a lot of money on moving and still having somewhat of a normal routine for our kids and not have an income for about a month 

Very long post sorry but main point is that they want to know that you will be ready to deal with a lot of stress and that your support system will be strong enough to understand your service as an Army Officer and as an Army CRNA and that there will be a lot of sacrifice

I will say though my family and I are in a really good routine right now and hopefully it continues 

one of the big reasons I want to go to El Paso is that almost all the out rotations are in El Paso so I can see my family more which is important to me 

my interview was a little over an hour but it felt like just a nice long conversation with [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME]

after that they had my wait outside 5 minutes and then they brought me back in and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] told me he would highly recommend me for the program and that from his perspective I didn't need anything else for my application 

overall great experience and super blessed and lucky to be here and excited to finish BOLC and officially start USAGPAN June 3rd!

 

 

1
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32SoulPatrolRN said:

I did my Phase 2 interview in El Paso last year. It was an amazing experience and I hope to go there for Phase 2 clinical next June

during my shadow days [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] is assistant clinical site director and was prior Army service and graduate of USAGPAN, [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] also USAGPAN graduate) were both preceptors of my student and asked me some questions while we were in the OR that I was able to answer. [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] asked me about the ventilator - different modes and the different waveform characteristics depending on pressure vs volume control modes; he also asked me about difference of end tidal C02 value on the ventilator vs PaC02 on the blood gas; he also asked about lung zones and how V-Q mismatch changes when a patient is standing upright, supine or prone - [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] is an incredibly intelligent individual and made the experience fun and cool to talk to

Same with [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME], he was working on a presentation regarding pediatric airway management  especially in a trauma setting and asked me some questions - nothing too hard although my ICU experience is high acute PICU

For the actual interview it was probably 95 percent personal/emotional intelligence questions. Be prepared to tell them your "why" of being a CRNA and additionally "why" you want to serve in the Army. I had a question converting a drip from ml/hr to mcg/kg/min which wasn't too bad

I had a "for fun" question, [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME]'s words not mine where I had to figure out the concentration of epi/bupivicane for a regional anesthetic to make it like 1:1000 or something like that - I was honest and told him I don't know how I would make that without knowing conversion factor and he said it was no problem and walked me through it, giving me a little bit of information and had me solve it from there which I was able to

they want to see you're passionate about being a CRNA but also being an officer in the Army, wearing the uniform and wearing it well, they were really interested in hearing about my support system and how my family would be able to handle not only the stress of CRNA school but being in the Army

They both told me and from what I've heard from other student and the student I shadowed is that people who fail out of the program is almost always due to family/personal issues and not being able to balance the commitments 

they also wanted to be real with me and that failing out of the program doesn't mean I get to just return to civilian life, I would repay the Army with time and service as an ICU nurse 

my wife and I talked for years about this and we have both been on the same page but going through it was still rough even with all the planning we put in place 

I can see now why they wanted to stress on the support so much. I moved here to Fort Sam, TX from Central California taking my wife, 8,7,5,3 year old where we don't have any other family that is close and coming straight off the street into the military, moving here and then in just two weeks going off to the Direct Commission Course in Fort Sill OK leaving my wife alone with all the kids for four weeks was very stressful, my 8 year old boy has never had issues with school but the first two days I was away at DCC my wife told me he cried so hard at school for two days he went home early - he's a lot better now but still was hard to hear that while I was away at DCC and my family is back in Texas  

I had never been away from my wife/kids longer than the three days I went to El Paso to shadow so that was hard, but my wife and I talked about ways she could get help such as the family wellness center and we chose to live on post so the neighbors were very helpful while I was away

coming back here to Texas for BOLC is nice because I get to be with my family every night but also hard because I'm gone all day as well, luckily my wife has found her routine and there are a couple of friends in my cohort who have wives/kids around the same age as mine so she's been hanging out with the other mom's and kids to help with that 

also the relationship/finance dynamic - my wife went from working as a very skilled NICU RN to now being a stay at home mom so that I can focus on all my Officer training and CRNA school

while starting my army journey we made sure to save as I knew there would be a decent gap from when I leave my civilian job to getting paid by the army. We got by fine but it's still stressful to see us spend a lot of money on moving and still having somewhat of a normal routine for our kids and not have an income for about a month 

Very long post sorry but main point is that they want to know that you will be ready to deal with a lot of stress and that your support system will be strong enough to understand your service as an Army Officer and as an Army CRNA and that there will be a lot of sacrifice

I will say though my family and I are in a really good routine right now and hopefully it continues 

one of the big reasons I want to go to El Paso is that almost all the out rotations are in El Paso so I can see my family more which is important to me 

my interview was a little over an hour but it felt like just a nice long conversation with [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME]

after that they had my wait outside 5 minutes and then they brought me back in and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] told me he would highly recommend me for the program and that from his perspective I didn't need anything else for my application 

overall great experience and super blessed and lucky to be here and excited to finish BOLC and officially start USAGPAN June 3rd!

 

 

Hi! I can imagine how hard it is for your wife to take care of 4 kids all by herself when you are out for training! I know moving can cost a lot! But as I know Army should pay you money to move, not sure if you know that.  Also regarding"one of the big reasons I want to go to El Paso is that almost all the out rotations are in El Paso", I don't quite understand "out rotations" mean? I also apply for 2025 Summer, just curious about the up and down sides of this clinical site.  Thanks in advance!

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Specializes in ICU.

They paid me back and actually I did make some money off my move since we did a whole do it yourself move, it just took some time to get reimbursed for everything 

for outrotations you won't get all the cases required by the NBCRNA to credential as a CRNA such as trauma ,OB, cardiac or pediatrics at most military hospitals so you will outrotate at civilian hospitals to get those experiences

for example those who go to Hawaii will do a trauma rotation in California for 4 weeks and I believe a rotation in Florida for 6 weeks

For El Paso almost all of the outrotations are in the city of El Paso so I wouldn't have to be away from my family as much 

 

1
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32SoulPatrolRN said:

I did my Phase 2 interview in El Paso last year. It was an amazing experience and I hope to go there for Phase 2 clinical next June

during my shadow days [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and[ MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] is assistant clinical site director and was prior Army service and graduate of USAGPAN, [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] also USAGPAN graduate) were both preceptors of my student and asked me some questions while we were in the OR that I was able to answer. [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] asked me about the ventilator - different modes and the different waveform characteristics depending on pressure vs volume control modes; he also asked me about difference of end tidal C02 value on the ventilator vs PaC02 on the blood gas; he also asked about lung zones and how V-Q mismatch changes when a patient is standing upright, supine or prone - [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] is an incredibly intelligent individual and made the experience fun and cool to talk to

Same with [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME], he was working on a presentation regarding pediatric airway management  especially in a trauma setting and asked me some questions - nothing too hard although my ICU experience is high acute PICU

For the actual interview it was probably 95 percent personal/emotional intelligence questions. Be prepared to tell them your "why" of being a CRNA and additionally "why" you want to serve in the Army. I had a question converting a drip from ml/hr to mcg/kg/min which wasn't too bad

I had a "for fun" question, [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME]'s words not mine where I had to figure out the concentration of epi/bupivicane for a regional anesthetic to make it like 1:1000 or something like that - I was honest and told him I don't know how I would make that without knowing conversion factor and he said it was no problem and walked me through it, giving me a little bit of information and had me solve it from there which I was able to

they want to see you're passionate about being a CRNA but also being an officer in the Army, wearing the uniform and wearing it well, they were really interested in hearing about my support system and how my family would be able to handle not only the stress of CRNA school but being in the Army

They both told me and from what I've heard from other student and the student I shadowed is that people who fail out of the program is almost always due to family/personal issues and not being able to balance the commitments 

they also wanted to be real with me and that failing out of the program doesn't mean I get to just return to civilian life, I would repay the Army with time and service as an ICU nurse 

my wife and I talked for years about this and we have both been on the same page but going through it was still rough even with all the planning we put in place 

I can see now why they wanted to stress on the support so much. I moved here to Fort Sam, TX from Central California taking my wife, 8,7,5,3 year old where we don't have any other family that is close and coming straight off the street into the military, moving here and then in just two weeks going off to the Direct Commission Course in Fort Sill OK leaving my wife alone with all the kids for four weeks was very stressful, my 8 year old boy has never had issues with school but the first two days I was away at DCC my wife told me he cried so hard at school for two days he went home early - he's a lot better now but still was hard to hear that while I was away at DCC and my family is back in Texas  

I had never been away from my wife/kids longer than the three days I went to El Paso to shadow so that was hard, but my wife and I talked about ways she could get help such as the family wellness center and we chose to live on post so the neighbors were very helpful while I was away

coming back here to Texas for BOLC is nice because I get to be with my family every night but also hard because I'm gone all day as well, luckily my wife has found her routine and there are a couple of friends in my cohort who have wives/kids around the same age as mine so she's been hanging out with the other mom's and kids to help with that 

also the relationship/finance dynamic - my wife went from working as a very skilled NICU RN to now being a stay at home mom so that I can focus on all my Officer training and CRNA school

while starting my army journey we made sure to save as I knew there would be a decent gap from when I leave my civilian job to getting paid by the army. We got by fine but it's still stressful to see us spend a lot of money on moving and still having somewhat of a normal routine for our kids and not have an income for about a month 

Very long post sorry but main point is that they want to know that you will be ready to deal with a lot of stress and that your support system will be strong enough to understand your service as an Army Officer and as an Army CRNA and that there will be a lot of sacrifice

I will say though my family and I are in a really good routine right now and hopefully it continues 

one of the big reasons I want to go to El Paso is that almost all the out rotations are in El Paso so I can see my family more which is important to me 

my interview was a little over an hour but it felt like just a nice long conversation with [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME]

after that they had my wait outside 5 minutes and then they brought me back in and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] told me he would highly recommend me for the program and that from his perspective I didn't need anything else for my application 

overall great experience and super blessed and lucky to be here and excited to finish BOLC and officially start USAGPAN June 3rd!

 

 

Congratulations!! I enjoy your long, in depth response! I've been trying to connect with individuals who have interviewed/ completed the USAGPAN program, but have a hard time finding these people. I can definitely see how it would be difficult to move your family across the country. I am 22, married, with no kids. My husband is going to join the Army as well, as long as everything goes as planned and I get accepted. I have a really great support system, my parents will also be moving with us, as Texas is across county for us too. I've always been motivated to achieve what I want. I started college classes my freshman year of high school, graduated as a junior, and started nursing school immediately. I started working as a nurse extern (full time) in the ICU half way through my ADN program, so I started completing nursing tasks under a registered nurse. After graduation, I already had a great insight on critical care nursing from my externing experience. I didn't go back for my bachelor degree right away, as being a new grad working in the ICU was already overwhelming enough. I've always had an interest in CRNA, before I even went to nursing school. After I built a solid foundation in critical care, I started my RN-BSN program, and completed it in 6 months with a 4.0. I started working in surgery to gain more insight on the flow, teamwork, and individual roles of interdisciplinary team members in the OR. I can confidently say that the OR is my home and it is my goal to become a CRNA! Although I am young, I am motivated! I am nervous for this interview process, as I've not experienced many interviews. The two individuals mentioned, [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] were the only two people interviewing you? 

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Specializes in ICU.

That sounds like great experience and support system! [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] and [MODERATOR EDIT OF NAME] were the only 2 individuals who interviewed me

depending on how much time you have for interview, I would highly encourage you do a mock interview, I did two mock interviews on the TeachRN website with Calvin Mulyadi and Josh akers- they were great and offered very good feedback

Although my interview was almost all personal questions, I prepared clinical questions as well, basically I studied my CCRN prep and reviewed my ACL/PALS just in case 

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Specializes in Cardiac cath lab, critical care.

@32SoulPatrolRN -- what was it like finding a place to live on post? I know you asked this question when you were applying and wonder if it was easier or more difficult than you imagined. 

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Seprina l said:

Hi! I can imagine how hard it is for your wife to take care of 4 kids all by herself when you are out for training! I know moving can cost a lot! But as I know Army should pay you money to move, not sure if you know that.  Also regarding"one of the big reasons I want to go to El Paso is that almost all the out rotations are in El Paso", I don't quite understand "out rotations" mean? I also apply for 2025 Summer, just curious about the up and down sides of this clinical site.  Thanks in advance!

Every location is different. I am in El Paso and I did 8 month at William Beaumont army medical center, then 6 weeks at El Paso childrens, and 6 week a piece at 4 other hospitals to get cardiac surgery, thoracic cases, lots of blocks, OB, and some emergency trauma stuff. All things to get you the numbers you need to graduate. I loved outrotations, super fulfilling. 

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