OFFICER CANDIDATE SCHOOL (U.S. ARMY)

The United States Army's 'Officer Candidate School' (OCS), located at Fort Benning, Georgia provides training to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. Officer candidates are drawn from enlisted members (up to Master Sergeant), Warrant Officers, inter-service transfers^[1], or civilian college graduates who enlist for guaranteed attendance at OCS after they complete Basic Combat Training (BCT).

Contents

Overview

History

World War II era

Cold War

Modern OCS

Active Duty

Basic Officer Leadership Course

Reserve components

Notes& References

See also

External links

Overview

OCS is a rigorous 14-week course designed to train, assess, evaluate, and develop second lieutenants for the U.S. Army's sixteen basic branches. It is the only commissioning source that can be responsive to the Army's changing personnel requirements due to its short length, compared to other commissioning programs and their requirements. Completing OCS is one of five possible ways of becoming a U.S. Army commissioned officer. The other methods are:

★ Graduation from United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point

★ Completing Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC)

★ Direct Commissioning normally is used for accessions of Chaplains, medical professionals, and JAG lawyers. Currently, the U.S. Army Reserve is using this method in limited numbers for the basic branches as well.

★ Battlefield commission is no longer in use.
The U.S. Army Officer Candidate School is organizationally designated as ''3rd Battalion, 199th Infantry Brigade''.^[2] It was redesignated from the 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment in June 2007. It is a subordinate unit of the United States Army Infantry School (USAIS) also headquartered at Ft. Benning. As of January 2006 the battalion has five training companies in operation, designated Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo—each of which can conduct one class at a time, with a maximum of 160 candidates being trained in each class.
The commander of the 3rd Battalion, 199th Infantry Regiment (OCS) is Lt. Col. John B. Shattuck and the Command Sergeant Major is Hu Rhodes.

History

''Except where noted, the history is compiled from the official Army history records.''

Historically, OCS has provided the means by which the U.S. Army could generate large numbers of junior officers during periods of increasing personnel requirements, typically during wars. Prior to 1973, OCS was branch-specific, at one time there being eight separate schools; by 1964, the Army had consolidated OCS into two schools: Field Artillery OCS at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Infantry OCS at Fort Benning. The Vietnam war brought expansion of the OCS program, but it was short lived. In 1973, OCS was made branch immaterial and was consolidated into two courses taught at Ft. Benning, and another at Fort McClellan, Alabama for female Officer Candidates; the course length was reduced to 14-weeks. In 1976, the OCS at Ft. Benning integrated females, and became the only OCS left in the active Army, with the closure of the WAC School. The term "90-day wonders", both as a pejorative and term of affection, has been intermittently applied to junior officers commissioned through OCS since World War II.

World War II era

Officer Candidate School was first proposed in June 1938, as the Army began expanding in anticipation of hostilities when a plan for an officer-training program was submitted to the Chief of Infantry by Brigadier General Asa L. Singleton, Commandant of the Infantry School. No action was taken until July 1940, however, when Brig. Gen. Courtney Hodges, Assistant Commandant of the Infantry School, presented a revised plan to (then) Brig. Gen. Omar Bradley, Commandant of the Infantry School. In July 1941, the OCS stood up as the Infantry, Field Artillery, and Coastal Artillery Officer Candidate Schools, each respectively located at Fort Benning, Fort Sill, and Fort Monroe, Virginia.^[3][4] On September 27 1941, the first Infantry OCS class graduated 171 second lieutenants; 204 men started the 17-week course in July.^[5] Testament to the ability of OCS to produce new second lieutenants quickly can be found in War Department decision that ROTC could not fulfill the national demand for officers; so in May 1943, the advanced course in ROTC was suspended and basic course graduates were immediately sent to OCS so they could be commissioned sooner.^[6]
During the war, the Army's policy of racial segregation continued among enlisted members; Army training policy, however, provided that blacks and whites would train together in officer candidate schools (beginning in 1942).^[7][8] Officer Candidate School was the Army's first formal experiment with integration. Blacks and whites lived together, with all of the candidates training together.⁸
General Bradley is credited with establishing the format, discipline, and code of honor still used in OCS today. Bradley emphasized rigorous training, strict discipline and efficient organization. These tenets remain the base values of today's Officer Candidate School. Between July 1941 and May 1947, over 100,000 candidates were enrolled in 448 Infantry OCS classes, of these approximately 67 percent completed the course to earn commissions. After World War II, Infantry OCS was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, as part of the Ground General School. Due to the post-war downsizing of the Army and the declining need for new Officers, all but Infantry OCS was closed. Finally, on November 1 1947, it was deactivated. The final class graduated only 52 second lieutenants.⁵
There was also a school located in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) at Camp Columbia, Brisbane, Australia.^[9] From photographs taken by the U.S. Army it is apparent that this course was integrated, and records recreated by attendees, the course was branch immaterial — perhaps the first branch immaterial course in the Army.^[10] Unfortunately, there is little information about the SWPA OCS, and its years of operation and other statistical information are not readily available.
The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created by act of Congress on 14 May 1942, permitting them to serve, but not as Soldiers. At that time, women did not have military status and were not integrated into the Army. Their ranks, pay, and benefits were different than the Army, along with all administration. But, being a military organization that was modeled after, and parallel, to the Army, it required a way to train Officers; therefore it created its own WAAC OCS, which stood up on 20 July 1942 at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. The course was six-weeks long, its first class consisting of 440 candidates.⁷ Upon graduation, the women were commissioned as third officers (equivalent to a second lieutenant). It is worth noting, that among the first candidates were 40 black women. Initially, black women were segregated, but in keeping with Army policies, integrating officer training, and with pressure from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), by November 1942, they were being trained in integrated units.⁷

Cold War

With the outbreak of the Korean War, and the Army's rapid expansion in response, the shortage of on-hand officers, and projected commissions, caused the Department of the Army to re-open Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning on February 18 1951. The course was lengthened from 17 to 22 weeks, as a result of lessons learned from WWII; thus permitting more instruction in Infantry tactics. The Infantry Officer Candidate School became the ''1st Officer Candidate Battalion, 2nd Student Regiment.'' The strength of OCS rapidly increased. As one of eight branch programs, Infantry OCS included as many as 29 companies with a class graduating every week. During the Korean War, OCS commissioned approximately 7,000 Infantry officers.
Because the Army was still not gender integrated, the Women's Army Corps, an active component of the regular Army, and the direct descendant of the WAAC, stood up an Officer Candidate School at Fort Lee, Virginia, for female candidates seeking to enter the WAC Officer Corps.^[11] The "wash-out" rate was nearly identical to the men's programs, at roughly 37%, during its first four years; an alarming statistic to observers of both programs.^[12] The WAC OCS was opened in April 1949. However, by 1954 it had been closed and merged with another commissioning program for female Direct Commissionees, due to the low numbers attending the course because of tightening standards for selection — in response to investigations of the washout rates.
On August 4, 1953, the Department of the Army reduced OCS from eight to three programs: Infantry, Artillery, and Engineer, finally closing Engineer OCS in July 1954,^[13] leaving on Infantry and Field Artillery open. With the onset of the Vietnam conflict, the OCS program was expanded again from 2 branches. In September 1965, Engineer OCS reopened at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, closing for good in 1971 after commissioning over 10,000 Engineer Officers.¹³
During the height of the Vietnam War, Infantry OCS produced 7,000 officers annually from five student battalions, all located at Ft. Benning. Also, during the war, a female OCS was once again established; it was stood up at Fort McClellan, Alabama, as part of the WAC Center and School. In April 1973, a branch immaterial OCS was established at Fort Benning, ending the Infantry and Field Artillery based courses. In 1976, with the end of the gender separate Army, the two programs merged into a program very similar to the modern OCS consisting of a 14 week training cycle. It is worth noting that West Point admitted its first female cadets in 1976 also, but due to the length of instruction there (4 years), the Officer Candidate School had the distinction of commissioning a female second lieutenant first.

Modern OCS

Today, Officer Candidate school is offered in two ways. Active duty OCS is a 14-week long school, taught "in residence" at Ft. Benning, Georgia. It is designed to prepare candidates for Commissioning. National Guard OCS is similar in its program of instruction, but due to training limitations is taught on weekends for a year, culminating in a two-week long Phase III, usually in the summer — for a total length of 13 months. Additionally, each year there are limited opportunities for National Guardsmen to attend accelerated OCS, an 8-week course that follows several preparatory "drill weekends"

Active Duty

The course of study at OCS is currently 14 weeks in length. It is programmed to teach basic leadership and Soldier tasks, using the Infantry battle drills found in Field Manual 3-21.8 as a framework for instruction and evaluation. A total of 71 tasks are taught and tested while at OCS. A candidate should expect to be under constant observation and evaluation by their cadre. Mental and emotional stress is induced through a variety of controlled methods, to test problem solving and moral resolve. Additionally, the course is meant to be physically demanding, with numerous tactical road marches, timed runs, and Army Combatives training. Beginning with the first class of FY 2008, the calendar length of OCS will be shortened to 12-weeks, potentially allowing for more classes to be conducted each Fiscal Year; thereby raising the maximum capacity of the school to train Second Lieutenants to meet future commissioning needs as the Army grows. The current capacity of each class that is conducted is limited to 160 Officer Candidates. It should be noted that despite the shortened calendar length, the Program of Instruction (POI) will not change, as the training week will be lengthened to 6 full days versus the current 5 day training week.
Officer Candidate School is conducted in two phases: basic phase and senior phase. Students are referred to as either Basic Officer Candidates (BOCs) or Senior Officer Candidates (SOCs) as their classes progress. Initially, upon arrival, the candidates have very few privileges, and enter into a controlled environment similar to BCT, though they are expected to act like leaders and take charge and responsibility immediately. As they progress through the course, they may earn and request privileges. Their bearing, deportment, and behavior individually, and collectively, will affect the return of their privileges.
All candidates are commissioned as Second Lieutenants upon graduation.

Basic Officer Leadership Course

Beginning in 2001, the Army began to experiment with a new course, called 'Basic Officer Leadership Course' (BOLC). In short, through several test phases, and program of instruction reviews, the course was established in 2006 as a branch immaterial leadership course, and renamed BOLC II. BOLC I is an Officer's commissioning source, for example, ROTC, USMA or OCS; while, BOLC III is their branch specific Officer Basic Course. BOLC II is 6-weeks in length, and designed to ensure that all new Officers regardless of commissioning source (to include JAG and most Medical Service Corps Direct Commissionees) are at the same level with basic leadership skills, individual Soldier skills (such as physical fitness and weapons qualification), Infantry tactics, and the orders process.

Reserve components

Service personnel in the reserve components (United States Army Reserve or Army National Guard) typically attend OCS at the rate of one weekend a month. This training does not take place at Fort Benning, but instead takes place at a regional training facility, often serving units from multiple states.
Army Reserve candidates may elect to attend the full 14-week active duty Officer Candidate School, often referred to as "Federal OCS" to differentiate it from a state-run National Guard OCS.

Notes& References

1. In this case, Inter-Service Transfer refers to enlisted members of the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, or U.S. Marine Corps transferring to the U.S. Army to attend OCS.
2. 199th Infantry Brigade
3. Field Artillery OCS History
4. Coastal Artillery OCS History
5. OCS History
6. Hoya Battalion History
7. ''Women's Army Corps'' Chapter I "The Women's Army Corps, 1942-1945"
8. ''Integration of the Armed Forces: 1940-1965'' CHAPTER 2 "World War II: The Army"
9. South West Pacific Area OCS
10. Officer Candidate School, Camp Columbia near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, during WWII]
11. More Military Women Firsts and Accomplishments
12. "Chapter V: Officer Procurement and Career Development" ''Women's Army Corps''
13. Engineer OCS

See also

★ Military academy

★ Officer Candidate School

★ Training and Doctrine Command

External links

★ The Official Army OCS Website Official Army website of the Officer Candidate School

★ 11th Infantry Regiment: OCS History

★ History of the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (Separate)

★ ArmyOCS.com Website operated by the OCS Foundation, dedicated to supporting the Officer Candidate School