Expert: Cynthia Bedell - 1/23/2008

Question
Dear Colonel,

Would you say this statement is correct..."The Officer Candidate School of the United States Army is a 14 week long (it will be compressed to 12 weeks in length in October 2007) program held at Fort Benning, Georgia. Candidates with no prior military service will first attend Basic Combat Training. If one has completed a bachelors degree while in college, and has completed Basic Training or BST, one is automatically sent to OCS for training."......And if this statement is true, then a person who has a college bachelor's degree and has completed basic training will automatically be sent to OCS. Is that right? would that be enough to qualify for OCS?

Answer
Dear Frank --

Unfortunately that statement is incomplete.  There is no "automatic" billet in OCS  for a new recruit unless an OCS stipulation is in your enlistment contract.  

A Bachelors degree and superior performance in basic training (not just completion) are also necessary to secure the OCS opportunity, even when OCS is stipulated in your enlistment contract.

I believe there was a special officer recruitment push, and the publication you are quoting was part of that push.  If you were accepted to that special program, then you would go to OCS after completion of basic skills training.  However, the special program and OCS were stipulations in the enlistment contract, and significant pre-screening was conducted on the candidates for that program before they are accepted.

Please get anything the recruiter promises you IN WRITING in your contract, or you will not be able to prove what you were promised.  The Army can be compelled to grant the promises its recruiters make.  However, it is far easier to do so, if those promises are in the final version of the contract that you signed.  Do not sign the final version without re-reading it completely, even if you are being urged -- quite vigorously -- to hurry up.

I hope you can find the right program for you, and you get an opportunity to serve.  Good Luck!