Active Component Officers
Source of Commission

 

The criteria for the selection of potential officers for commissioning include age, U.S. citizenship, physical fitness, moral character, education, and cognitive ability.  Given that officers form the military’s leadership and professional echelon and that financial investment in officer education programs is high, the selection standards are quite stringent. ^[1]

  With few exceptions, a 4-year college degree is a prerequisite for commissioning.  To this end, two of the primary commissioning programs, the Service academies and the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), are administered in conjunction with an individual’s academic preparation.  The United States Military Academy (USMA), the United States Naval Academy (USNA), and the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) each offer room, board, medical and dental care, salary, and tuition throughout a 4-year undergraduate program of instruction leading to a baccalaureate degree. [2] Located at numerous undergraduate colleges and universities throughout the country, ROTC has both scholarship and non-scholarship options. ^[3]

  The two remaining primary commissioning programs, Officers Candidate/Training School (OCS/OTS) and Direct Commissioning, are designed almost exclusively for individuals who already possess at least a baccalaureate degree.  OCS/OTS exists as a rather quick commissioning  source   for   college  graduates  who   did   not   receive   military    training   or indoctrination as part of their undergraduate education.  This source also provides a means for promising enlisted personnel to earn a commission.  Direct commissions, with a minimum of military training, are offered to professionals in fields such as law, medicine, and the ministry.  Because of their advanced degrees and/or work experience, officers directly appointed are often commissioned at ranks higher than the customary second lieutenant or ensign.  There are other specialized commissioning sources that, together with the primary programs, ensure that the Services have access to a number of different pools of personnel with diverse skills.

Table 4.3 highlights the flexibility in officer procurement afforded by the alternative commissioning programs.  The largest proportion of FY 1999 officer accessions (36 percent) came through ROTC programs—and most were recipients of a college scholarship (26 percent of all officer accessions and 74 percent of ROTC accessions).  Direct appointments and academy graduates each accounted for 18 percent of incoming officers.  OCS/OTS produced about 22 percent of FY 1999 Active Component officer accessions.

Table 4.3. FY 1999 Source of Commission of Active Component Officer Accessions and Officer Corps, by Service (Percent)
Source of Commission	Army	Navy	Marine Corps	Air Force	DoD
ACTIVE COMPONENT OFFICER ACCESSIONS
Academy	18.7	16.9	10.5	18.7	17.5
ROTC–Scholarship	35.6	17.4	11.6	29.1	26.4
ROTC–No Scholarship	16.8	1.4	0.0	11.3	9.3
OCS/OTS	11.2	23.5	63.4	20.7	22.2
Direct Appointment	16.9	24.0	0.2	20.1	18.4
Other *	0.0	15.8	14.3	0.2	5.7
Unknown	0.8	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.5
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
ACTIVE COMPONENT OFFICER CORPS
Academy	16.5	19.6	11.9	20.0	18.1
ROTC–Scholarship	19.6	19.2	16.2	22.4	20.2
ROTC–No Scholarship	38.9	2.4	0.0	19.8	20.0
OCS/OTS	8.5	20.7	57.4	19.5	19.2
Direct Appointment	15.6	22.1	1.1	18.3	17.0
Other *	0.1	14.8	13.4	0.1	4.9
Unknown	0.9	1.2	0.0	0.0	0.6
Total	100.0	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Columns may not add to total due to rounding. * Includes officers trained in one Service and accessed into another (primarily Marine Corps). Also see Appendix Tables B-40 (Active Component Officer Accessions by Source of Commission, Service, and Gender) and B-41 (Active Component Officer Corps by Source of Commission,  Service, and Gender).

  The percentage of new officers hailing from OCS/OTS increased by 5-percentage points compared to FY 1998.  Other sources of commissioning, such as ROTC and direct appointments, accounted for fewer officer accessions in FY 1999.  This trend was most pronounced in the Army and Air Force, where the proportion of OCS/OTC commissions nearly doubled.

There were Service differences in reliance on the various commissioning sources.  For example, 63 percent of the Marine Corps’ newly commissioned officers came through OCS-type pipelines, a 4-percentage point increase from FY 1998.  Less than one percent of Marine Corps officer accessions were recipients of direct commissions compared to 24 percent in the Navy.  In fact, the Marine Corps does not have a Service academy or ROTC program.  Midshipmen at the Naval Academy and in the Navy’s ROTC program can opt to enter the Marine Corps upon program completion.  The Marine Corps relies on the Navy for officers in medical and dental specialties and chaplains, thereby lowering its need for direct commissioning.  The Service differences are probably influenced by retention rates, budget considerations, and historical fluctuations in officer recruiting needs.

---