Would this help serving Soldiers

[CAdamsPAC]

I wonder if a Soldier not selected for the ISPAP could take advantage of this program to attend   a civilian PA program and then return to serve as a PA?

The U.S. Army has announced a pilot program to allow Soldiers to take a one-time temporary transition to the IRR for anywhere between 1 to 3 years to allow Soldiers to pursue personal or professional growth outside the Army. For more details and to see if you qualify check out MILPER 18-185 on our website at http://go.usa.gov/xQMz2. (CAC or DS Logon required

[AdamPAC]

I don't have any experience with the IRR, but heard yesterday, first-hand, that IPAP enrollment is going up, and so is recruitment of civilian trained PAs. So, if it were me, I would keep applying to IPAP, and keep trying to improve my chances. I was told that the Army, and I'm assuming this is the active side only, brought in around 8-10 total civilian PAs this year, which was considered a large number (That does not seem large to me considered against one's chances of getting into IPAP and serving that way). As a disclaimer though, I am a Reservist, and although it was a really challenging application process on my side, I don't know about the process from AD where I'm sure you're coming from, CAdamsPAC. Given that getting schooling in while on AD is rough (I do know that big challenge first-hand), I would imagine that the IRR might be appropriate for those with none of their pre-requisites done so that they can go to school full-time, and get those knocked out in short order. My 2 cents.