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.[footnote 2]

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.[footnote 3] Located at numerous undergraduate colleges and universities throughout the country, ROTC has both scholarship and non-scholarship options.[footnote 4]

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 2000 officer accessions (37 percent) came through ROTC programs—and most were recipients of a college scholarship (26 percent of all officer accessions and 69 percent of ROTC accessions). Direct appointments and academy graduates accounted for 19 percent and 17 percent of incoming officers, respectively. OCS/OTS produced about 22 percent of FY 2000 Active Component officer accessions.

Table 4.3. FY 2000 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		17.0		16.9		11.2		17.1		16.5
ROTC–Scholarship		38.5		17.3		14.8		22.5		25.8
ROTC–No Scholarship		16.7		2.5		0.0		16.8		11.4
OCS/OTS		9.4		25.1		61.5		22.8		22.2
Direct Appointment		18.3		22.0		0.7		20.5		18.5
Other *		0.1		16.2		11.8		0.3		5.5
Unknown		0.0		0.0		0.0		0.0		0.0
Total		100.0		100.0		100.0		100.0		100.0
ACTIVE COMPONENT OFFICER CORPS
Academy		16.7		19.5		12.0		19.9		18.1
ROTC–Scholarship		36.3		18.8		16.0		22.6		25.5
ROTC–No Scholarship		22.4		2.3		0.0		18.7		14.3
OCS/OTS		8.8		21.3		64.1		20.7		20.4
Direct Appointment		15.8		21.3		0.9		18.0		16.7
Other *		0.1		16.8		7.0		0.1		4.9
Unknown		0.0		0.0		0.0		0.0		0.0
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 Services differ in their reliance on the various commissioning sources. For example, 62 percent of the Marine Corps’ newly commissioned officers came through OCS-type pipelines, while comparable figures for the other Services were between 9 percent and 25 percent. Fewer than one percent of Marine Corps officer accessions were recipients of direct commissions compared to 22 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.

[footnote 2] See Eitelberg, M.J., Laurence, J.H., and Brown, D.C., "Becoming Brass: Issues in the Testing, Recruiting, and Selection of American Military Officers," in B.R. Gifford and L.C. Wing (Eds.), Test Policy in Defense: Lessons from the Military for Education, Training, and Employment (Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991). [back to paragraph]

[footnote 3] There is no separate academy for the Marine Corps, but a percentage of each Naval Academy graduating class pledges to become Marine Corps officers.[back to paragraph]

[footnote 4] Non-scholarship ROTC is not without benefits. There is a subsistence alowance upon progress to advanced training.[back to paragraph]

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