Army Officer Candidate School (Ocs) - Office Of: Fill & Download for Free

A lot of them. Not just generals but colonels as well—any commanding officer and field grade officers, too. In World War II, the firing of a general was seen as a sign that the system was working as planned.Generalship in combat is extraordinarily difficult, and many seasoned officers fail at it. During World War II, senior American commanders typically were given a few months to succeed, or they’d be replaced. Sixteen out of the 155 officers who commanded Army divisions in combat were relieved for cause, along with at least five corps commanders. Many Brigade and regimental commanders were replaced.Early in the war, officers came from three sources.Regular Army—Often West Point trained, usually pretty good, but many were stuck in low ranking peacetime positions and quickly thrust into high-ranking command positions. Many did very well, some were in over their head and had to be relieved.Army Reserve—Some of these were retired regular army still in service, but most were college ROTC trained. It was a very mixed bag of qualified and unqualified officers. A culture of mediocrity existed.National Guard—State troops that were federalized for wartime. There were a lot of National Guard officers whose peacetime promotions were political and not based upon their capabilities. There were too many lazy officers.Stateside training exposed most of the underperforming officers who were quickly replaced, especially those in senior positions. Others had shortcomings that were not found until they went into action. Some served well in training but fell apart in combat.General Marshall’s standards were high. He finally came to believe that his best young officers and potential commanders came out of the fourth pool of WWII American soldiers.Army of the United States—These were the draftees and enlistees. Millions of soldiers were drafted from every walk of life. A million new officers were needed to command them. Aptitude testing in basic training suggested that many college educated draftees might be officer material and they were selected for Officer Candidate School. Outstanding NCOs were sometimes sent to OCS.Perhaps because they were selected from every walk of life, this pool of OCS officers outperformed their National Guard and Reserve counterparts and many regular Army ones as well. Some of them advanced very rapidly based on their performance.

Question: “What is the first thing that blew your mind when you joined the military?”OK, I know I am going to get flak for this.In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam crisis, I enlisted in the United States Army.There were men in my family who had been officers in what was the USAAF (United States Army Air Forces). These were gentlemen. They were educated and dignified. They were the sort of men whose appearance, words, and behavior earned them respect. They had what the military called a Command Presence. That is the sort of person I, naively I admit, expected to find among army officers.I was assigned to OCS (Officer Candidate School) at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The Army had expanded quickly, and without much selectivity, as the Vietnam War took its toll.The TAC Officers, Lieutenants, and Senior OCS Officers I encountered were nothing like what I had expected. A lot of them were rednecks and hillbillies. They were uneducated and not very bright. Those who had gone to school were the dumb jock type. Many could barely put an understandable sentence together. Their language and behavior was vulgar, often obscene. They did not think…were incapable of doing that. They too often confused the idea of being a bully with leadership.The phrase used was “Officer and a Gentleman”. They might have worn uniforms with one or two bars on them. But there is no way that the term “gentleman” could have been appropriately used!OK, I had signed up for a three year tour of duty. But my ideas of making a career among these men quickly disappeared.

It really doen’t Matter, the fact that you were disciplined enough to finish four years of study would be expected plus the fact that just to attend SFAS one must have a GT 110+. To attend OCS (Officer Candidate School) a GT 110+ is required. My GT is 126 and I now have a MS degree in Management Technology paid for by the Army. To be promoted to the top enlisted ranks one must have at least an undergrad degree. When I was an 18Z (Team Sergeant) of ODA-1256 I had two attorneys, two RN’s as 18D’s and all the NCO’s except one had a four year degree. What type really doesn’t matter that much. A lot of 18D’s (Team Medic) go on to med school after getting out.