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.
eky said:

@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. 

I would say it was both in some ways; in the beginning it was a little tough trying to coordinate when I could actually come on post before my report date to move into my house because I had to get sponsored by our NCOIC to get a pass to come on post

One of my classmates got a pass from his student sponsor so that he could look at housing before we reported as well

as far as applying for housing I just had to keep telling the office I was a new soldier coming straight off the street so I didn't have some of things they needed like an LES form ( basically army paystub) so they used my civilian pay stubs for proof of income 

I was fortunate to have the house available to move into a day before my report date so that I could move everything in before DCC

I followed the advice of MikeyD and some other individuals of contacting housing as soon as I got my orders because it took me about three weeks from when I applied before I was offered a house 

 

 

 

 

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MikeyD said:

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. 

Hi MickeyD,

how are the staffs over your rotation site. I have heard some clinical rotation sites are toxic, sRNAs are always the ones to blame at, and the faculties are not very supportive .

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Seprina l said:

Hi MickeyD,

how are the staffs over your rotation site. I have heard some clinical rotation sites are toxic, sRNAs are always the ones to blame at, and the faculties are not very supportive .

There are going to just be staff that are hard to deal with no matter where you go. That is true in every program in the US. It's not something I would worry about tbh. Our retention numbers for my class are very good 👍🏻 

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Specializes in Cardiac cath lab, critical care.

Hi, 

Can anyone comment on their experience with their recruiter? I am working with an AMEDD recruiter and am unsure about what to expect and accept. I'm a naturally curious person and like to know as much detail as possible before making impactful decisions. Often times, I feel like a nuisance and am getting incomplete information. Is this a typical experience for everyone or a one off? Any info would be helpful!

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eky said:

Hi, 

Can anyone comment on their experience with their recruiter? I am working with an AMEDD recruiter and am unsure about what to expect and accept. I'm a naturally curious person and like to know as much detail as possible before making impactful decisions. Often times, I feel like a nuisance and am getting incomplete information. Is this a typical experience for everyone or a one off? Any info would be helpful!

The recruiter I am working with is pretty helpful. But I still check in weekly or sometimes twice. I agree and it sometimes feels like you are bothering them, but you have to get past it. I ask to talk on the phone and have a list of questions. 

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eky said:

Hi, 

Can anyone comment on their experience with their recruiter? I am working with an AMEDD recruiter and am unsure about what to expect and accept. I'm a naturally curious person and like to know as much detail as possible before making impactful decisions. Often times, I feel like a nuisance and am getting incomplete information. Is this a typical experience for everyone or a one off? Any info would be helpful!

It's pretty hit or miss. Most of them don't really know much about the program itself and are learning with you. Some may know a lot about the army portion some may not. If there are general questions you can post then here. For meps related stuff that will have to go through them. 

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MikeyD said:

It's pretty hit or miss. Most of them don't really know much about the program itself and are learning with you. Some may know a lot about the army portion some may not. If there are general questions you can post then here. For meps related stuff that will have to go through them. 

Hi MikeyD,

my recruiter doesn't know much neither ……would you mind provide some information regarding the basic training? Like the schedule , what needs to be done? Lots of physics? Filed ?

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Seprina l said:

Hi MikeyD,

my recruiter doesn't know much neither ……would you mind provide some information regarding the basic training? Like the schedule , what needs to be done? Lots of physics? Filed ?

Once accepted by the army and Baylor typically you go to San Antonio early in the year I believe it's February. You get settled there for a short period of time then go to fort sill Oklahoma for about a month. That course is to teach you the very basics of being an army officer. Then you go back to SA and live in your house/apartment while attending BOLC (basic officer leadership course). I went to bolc over a decade ago so I can't speak intelligibly when they cover anymore but it's not inherently difficult. Bolc classrooms are very close to USAGPAN classrooms. Probably a 1/2 mile away maybe. Maybe someone in the thread has been to DCC/bolc recently and can give some perspective on those courses. 

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Specializes in ICU.

Just finished DCC beginning of March and currently halfway through BOLC

My timeline was

August 2023 Accepted by USAGPAN

End of November 2023 got orders by email

22 January 2024 I had to report to Fort Sam Houston, TX - I also moved into base housing that day. During this time I took my oath of office, got my pay started, CAC card - a bunch of administrative stuff before we went to DCC

4 February 2024 - carpooled with some other classmates to drive 6 hours north to Fort Sill OK for the Direct Commission Course (DCC)

DCC was from 4 February - 4 March. You will live in the DCC barracks with one or two roommates of the same gender. The rooms weren't too bad and you get your own bathroom/shower in your room. It's an introduction course mainly for those of us coming straight off the street and know nothing about the Army. There are some prior enlisted folks who also attend and are great people to talk to about Army culture/life. Expect a lot of early days like getting up at 0445/0500. We did PRT most mornings but it's not super intense, a lot of stretching and warm up drills. However I was in a platoon which had a SSG who would like to have us run/do conditioning for like 20-30 min about 2 days a week. You get a lot of classes about the Army, lots of death by PowerPoint. They also in process people there so it was really helpful to go to Fort Sam first because our USAGPAN group was all set up with our CAC, Pay and healthcare before we came. During the instruction week; Mon-Fri you will stay in the barracks area if you aren't in the classroom, if you leave the building to run in the quad area like at night you must have a battle buddy. Full uniform or PT uniform, so you sleep in your PTs. 
 

Starting day 2 each platoon also pulls CQ - where the platoon rotates with their roommate battle buddy to watch the front desk every hour from 2200-0500. They give  you chores to do so it goes fast but at least twice you will have to pull the 0200-0300 shift and it's not bad but you will have to get up at 0500 to form up for 0545 PT outside 

For food you usually get mermites - basically breakfast from the cafeteria (DFAC - Dining Facility) brought to the barracks 

Lunch/Dinner we get bussed to the DFAC. When I was there their main DFAC for DCC students was not open so we had to go to the DFAC that had a lot of the AIT students and Marines so we would like up and you'd see like 500+people waiting outside to eat-15 minutes to eat- and we waited to go last so the whole ordeal of getting on the bus, waiting for chow, having chow, getting back on bus and back to barracks was almost like two hours- longest I waited for chow was like 50 minutes outside and waiting for the bust to bring us back was 45 minutes 


Weekends you can leave the barracks area but you must stay on Fort Sill and walk everywhere. Proper uniform when walking around with battle buddy. My group and I mostly went to the PX on the weekends. When you get to Fort Sill you have to park your car in a locked area and you cannot go into it for the duration of the course 

First two weeks are classroom stuff, third week is field week so range, gas chamber and land nav

last week is last classes and ACFT - the ACFT is just diagnostic and not for record but it's a good gauge of where you are at fitness test wise because you will take the ACFT for record second week of BOLC. We also take a final but it's open book/laptop - so no stress

On our last day we graduated and drove back to Fort Sam to report for BOLC the following day

I'll make another post for BOLC soon, next week is last week for classroom then we go to the field for three weeks at Camp Bullis.

1
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32SoulPatrolRN said:

Just finished DCC beginning of March and currently halfway through BOLC

My timeline was

August 2023 Accepted by USAGPAN

End of November 2023 got orders by email

22 January 2024 I had to report to Fort Sam Houston, TX - I also moved into base housing that day. During this time I took my oath of office, got my pay started, CAC card - a bunch of administrative stuff before we went to DCC

4 February 2024 - carpooled with some other classmates to drive 6 hours north to Fort Sill OK for the Direct Commission Course (DCC)

DCC was from 4 February - 4 March. You will live in the DCC barracks with one or two roommates of the same gender. The rooms weren't too bad and you get your own bathroom/shower in your room. It's an introduction course mainly for those of us coming straight off the street and know nothing about the Army. There are some prior enlisted folks who also attend and are great people to talk to about Army culture/life. Expect a lot of early days like getting up at 0445/0500. We did PRT most mornings but it's not super intense, a lot of stretching and warm up drills. However I was in a platoon which had a SSG who would like to have us run/do conditioning for like 20-30 min about 2 days a week. You get a lot of classes about the Army, lots of death by PowerPoint. They also in process people there so it was really helpful to go to Fort Sam first because our USAGPAN group was all set up with our CAC, Pay and healthcare before we came. During the instruction week; Mon-Fri you will stay in the barracks area if you aren't in the classroom, if you leave the building to run in the quad area like at night you must have a battle buddy. Full uniform or PT uniform, so you sleep in your PTs. 
 

Starting day 2 each platoon also pulls CQ - where the platoon rotates with their roommate battle buddy to watch the front desk every hour from 2200-0500. They give  you chores to do so it goes fast but at least twice you will have to pull the 0200-0300 shift and it's not bad but you will have to get up at 0500 to form up for 0545 PT outside 

For food you usually get mermites - basically breakfast from the cafeteria (DFAC - Dining Facility) brought to the barracks 

Lunch/Dinner we get bussed to the DFAC. When I was there their main DFAC for DCC students was not open so we had to go to the DFAC that had a lot of the AIT students and Marines so we would like up and you'd see like 500+people waiting outside to eat-15 minutes to eat- and we waited to go last so the whole ordeal of getting on the bus, waiting for chow, having chow, getting back on bus and back to barracks was almost like two hours- longest I waited for chow was like 50 minutes outside and waiting for the bust to bring us back was 45 minutes 


Weekends you can leave the barracks area but you must stay on Fort Sill and walk everywhere. Proper uniform when walking around with battle buddy. My group and I mostly went to the PX on the weekends. When you get to Fort Sill you have to park your car in a locked area and you cannot go into it for the duration of the course 

First two weeks are classroom stuff, third week is field week so range, gas chamber and land nav

last week is last classes and ACFT - the ACFT is just diagnostic and not for record but it's a good gauge of where you are at fitness test wise because you will take the ACFT for record second week of BOLC. We also take a final but it's open book/laptop - so no stress

On our last day we graduated and drove back to Fort Sam to report for BOLC the following day

I'll make another post for BOLC soon, next week is last week for classroom then we go to the field for three weeks at Camp Bullis.

Thank you so much for such detailed infor!

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Was anyone given a section from a textbook to read before their interview? If so, did they quiz you on the reading? 

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Autumn Ellis said:

Was anyone given a section from a textbook to read before their interview? If so, did they quiz you on the reading? 

Sometimes they do that 

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