Army OCS

In this week’s blog, I will be giving you in detail one of the ways to become an officer in the United States Army. Officer Candidate School (OCS) is one of the common options where soldiers upon completing the basic training course moves on to this course, assuming they already have a bachelor’s degree from a certified university/college. But to recap, basically it is a 14-week program which graduates commissioned officers in the United States Army.

OCS candidates come through a variety of screens. Only college graduates, enlisted, and lawyers/doctors/chaplains get the opportunity to attend this training. On top of that, the selection is very selective due to the limit they have. They can only have a certain number of slots open for each different cycle. You can get unlucky and not be able to get a spot even if you are qualified to do so. It varies on the Army’s needs and whether if the Department of Defense (DoD) actually needs more.

The benefits of going to OCS is because it is a faster way to commission as compared to Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), which I will explain in future posts. After the 14-weeks of training, you are commissioned rather then ROTC taking up four years. But as I was saying, after basic training, officer candidates go through OCS, then from OCS, they go to their branch training, in which they train for their job. After that, they get stationed at a unit and do their duty as an officer in the United States Army.

Only the most qualified will have the ability to go active duty (full-time), and the rest will be put to Reserves or National Guard (part-time). So doing the best they can at OCS can decide their future and where they will stand in their military career.