Each Reserve Component applies its own selection procedures for officer candidates.  Many officers who transfer from an Active Component already possess at least a college degree.  Officer candidates who do not have a degree undergo rigorous selection procedures and must successfully complete an officer candidate or training school. In FY 1999, 16 percent of ARNG officer accessions received their commissions through the ARNG Officer Candidate Schools (OCS) located in each state and territory (up from 14 percent in FY 1998); 36 percent of ANG officer accessions were commissioned through its Academy of Military Science (AMS) located in Tennessee (up from 28 percent in FY 1998; Table 6.5).

  Table 6.5 shows the sources of commission that each of the Reserve Components most frequently use.  In the USNR and USAFR, the largest source of commissions was through direct appointments.  The overwhelming majority of USMCR officer accessions (78 percent) obtained their commissions through OCS or the Marine Corps Platoon Leader Class (PLC).  PLC is a split-training program in which candidates normally attend officer training in the summers after their junior and senior years of college.  The Army's components rely heavily on the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), primarily without scholarships.  Approximately 8 percent of officer accessions are commissioned from other programs, primarily through the aviation cadet and aviation training programs. [1]