Source of Commission.  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.  For example, in FY 1998, 14 percent of ARNG officer accessions received their commissions through the ARNG Officer Candidate Schools (OCS) located in each state and territory (down from 20 percent in FY 1997); 28 percent of ANG officer accessions were commissioned through its Academy of Military Science (AMS) located in Tennessee (similar to FY 1997 with 29 percent; Table 6.5).

Table 6.5.  FY 1998 Source of Commission of Selected Reserve Officer Accessions (Percent)
Source of Commission	Army National Guard	Army Reserve	Naval Reserve	USMC Reserve	Air National Guard	Air Force Reserve	DoD Total
Service Academy	1.2	2.1	11.6	4.6	10.8	14.5	6.0
ROTC–Scholarship	5.3	4.5	16.9	0.0	5.7	15.1	8.2
ROTC–No Scholarship	19.3	9.0	3.3	15.7	16.0	18.6	11.4
OCS/OTS/PLC	1.9	1.8	20.8	79.7	11.0	16.1	11.3
ANG AMS/ARNG OCS	13.6	1.8	0.0	0.0	28.2	3.3	5.2
Direct Appointment	8.8	10.6	38.0	0.0	25.9	31.4	18.7
Other	49.1	0.3	6.2	0.0	2.4	1.0	9.2
Unknown	0.8	69.9	3.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	30.0
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Columns may not add to total due to rounding. Also see Appendix Table C-33 (Officers by Source of Commission and Component).

The variation in levels of reliance on the various sources of commission by the Reserve Component is evident in Table 6.5.  In the USNR and USAFR, the largest source of commissions was through direct appointments.  The overwhelming majority of USMCR officer accessions (80 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 9 percent of officer accessions are commissioned from other programs, primarily through the aviation cadet and aviation training programs.(2)

For Reserve Component commissioned officer accessions, "other" sources of commission are defined as: Merchant Marine Academy, Aviation Cadet, and Aviation Training Program.  (go back)

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