The Army has expanded its 2016 board schedule for qualified Regular Army, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers seeking commissions through the federal Officer Candidate School program.
A third panel, slated for July 6-8, has been added to this year's OCS board schedule as a means to attract additional qualified leaders to the to the annual accessions campaign. The goal is to assess about 150 in-service active-duty soldiers to the federal OCS selection process in 2016.
The deadline for application packets is May 20, while the deadline for policy waiver requests is April 15.
Exceptions to policy and waivers for age, time in service, medical and legal, civil and moral issues are required before the submission of an application packet.
Such waivers must be approved by the officer accessions branch of Human Resources Command.
Barring further changes, the Army will hold three federal OCS panels in fiscal 2016. The first board met in January, while the second board will meet May 9-13 and the third board July 6-8.
The federal Officer Candidate School program applies to all active component, National Guard and Army Reserve in-service soldiers seeking enrollment in the OCS classes conducted at Fort Benning, Ga.
The federal program is unrelated to state and accelerated National Guard OCS training. Policies for National Guard soldiers applying for the federal OCS
program are addressed in the ARNG-HRH Policy Memo #12-025, dated March 9, 2012.
Army Reserve soldiers who require assistance should contact their Army Reserve career division.
Information about the procedures that must be followed in preparing an OCS application for this year are described in MilPer Messages 15-270 (Sept. 8, 2015) and 16-030 (Jan. 28, 2016).
Changes in the process for 2016 include deletion of the requirement for a tattoo memo and photos to be included in the application process. Also included in the guidance is information about the conduct of a structured interview, the requirement for a photo of the applicant in the Army Combat Uniform, and the optional inclusion of letters of recommendation from commanders at the company-level and higher.
