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Officer Candidate School OCS, Application for OCS, military officer

Officer Candidate School 2011 See 2012 OCS update as of 18 OCT 2011

There are many Soldiers in our ranks that are more than qualified to lead our troops as Commissioned Officers.
This page provides information about the Army’s Federal
Officer Candidate School OCS for regular army
commissions and active component soldier eligibility, application requirements, waivers, selection procedures, and
general information for FY 2011.   

There are seven key changes or items of interest to the OCS program:

1.  Applicant’s statement “why i want to be an army officer” must be hand written and will be written during the
local board as stated in AR 350-51.   

2.  Branching by the selection board is suspended indefinitely.  Soldiers selected for OCS will go in a
and return status and compete for their branch while attending OCS.   

3.  Recruiters and drill sergeants/platoon sergeants who have been selected/scheduled to attend training are not
eligible to apply until they are in the final six months of their tour.

4. Selection for OCS by an army general officer (direct select) is suspended indefinitely.   This program was put in
place in 2005 and was designed to expire at the end of FY 2006.  With reduced in service OCS mission since 2006
coupled with a successful USAREC effort to enlist OCS enlistment option candidates, the direct select program is
no longer required.   

5.  Request to waivers for time in service (tis) 10 years, age, and moral/civil convictions are suspended
indefinitely.   

6. Acceptance of medical waiver requests is suspended Indefinitely.  

7.  Age limit for eligibility is changed from 38 to 35.   

Eligibility: OCS attendance criteria is intended to support the eligibility criteria for appointment of a commissioned
officer. Completion of OCS does not guarantee eligibility of a commission. Soldiers must meet all eligibility
requirements outlined in chapter 1, AR 350-51 and as listed below and submit all required documents outlined in
paragraph 6. Prior to appointment to second lieutenant regular army, commander OCS will verify soldier meets
appointment criteria IAW 601-100 and AR 40-501 on the date of appointment. Criteria is as follows

a.  Possess a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university.  

b.  Secret security clearance or higher.

c.  Must be a U.S. Citizen.  

d.  Have not reached 35th Birth date at time application is received by .  for those applying for aviation branch,
have not reached 30th Birth date at time application is received by HRC.

e.  Pass the standard hysical itness (APFT).  alternate apft not authorized.

f.  Meet army height and weight standards IAW AR 600-9.

g.  Recommended by commander or above.

h.  Less than ten years of active federal service.   

i.  Soldiers in Basic Combat Training BCT, Advanced Individual Training AIT, or any type of initial entry training
status are not eligible.

j.  Recruiters and drill sergeants/platoon sergeants in Initial Entry Training IET or have been selected/scheduled to
attend training are not eligible to apply unless they are in the final six months of their tour.   

k.  All soldiers must appear before a structured interview.

l.  Reserve component soldiers in any capacity are not eligible for this program.  Regular Component soldiers must
apply IAW their component’s policies and procedures.   

m.  must meet the physical standards for enlistment, appointment, and induction IAW AR 40-501, chapter two.  

note that the accession standards are more stringent than the retention standards found in AR 40-501 chapter
three.  Must possess a physical profile serial of at least 222221.  Soldiers cannot have a permanent profile which
would prohibit them from taking the standard APFT. Alternate pt test not acceptable.  Applicants must meet
procurement medical standards (except height and weight) prescribed in AR 40-501, ch. 2, and possess a physical
profile serial of at least 222221.

6.  Application requirements (forms can be obtained through the army publishing homepage or at a local personnel
service center):  do not submit documentation not reflected below.

a.  Recommendation from commanding officer.

b.  Current photograph in uniform.     

c.  Completed da form 61 (application for appointment).  Ensure all appropriate items are completed and signed.  
Chain of command endorsements (company & battalion commander) must be listed in part ii.  In item 41 lists any
civilian or military leadership positions or awards (such as captain of baseball/football/soccer team, etc) that are
not listed elsewhere in the application.

d.  Completed da form 5339-r (commander’s evaluation sheet). Height and weight of soldier must be listed here if
not indicated in the commanders endorsement on the da form 61.

e.  da form 705 (army physical fitness test scorecard) with a minimum of two (2) scored tests for record within 12
months of application submission.

f.  da form 5500-r (bodyfat) if necessary.

g.  A maximum of four (4) letters of recommendation, each not exceeding one page in length and not more than 1-
year old (optional).

h.  da forms 1059 reflecting completion of WLC, ALC, or SLC (if applicable).

i.  Provide copies of last two evaluation reports (NCOER/OER) if you are a NCO or Warrant Officer.

j.  Copy of college transcript, degree certificate and memo from local education counselor verifying the awarding of
a 4 year degree from an accredited college or university.

k.  A copy of a current enlisted record brief, or orb for warrant officers. The ERB must reflect the gt score and the
Unit Identification Code UIC code must be current.

l.  A completed da form 4255-r (initial active duty assignment instructions request.  Complete form as though a
lieutenant.

m.  A joint personnel adjudication system (JPAS) printout indicating a interim secret or higher clearance or signed
statement from the local security office indicating the soldier has submitted a request for security clearance.  a
soldier may apply for OCS if a security request has been initiated and receipt of the request has been
acknowledged by the defense security service (DSS) on their website via the electronic personnel security
questionnaire (epsq). a copy of the dss epsq receipt or results is acceptable.  soliders must have approved security
clearance to accept appointment to second lieutenant.

n.  proof of citizenship: for soldiers not born in the usa. applicants who are not united states citizens by birth will
submit an appropriate statement (see ar 135-100, figure 2-1). a statement from the unit commander or personnel
officer that he/she has reviewed naturalization papers of the applicant is acceptable. soldiers cannot apply for ocs if
not us citizens.  all soldiers born in puerto rico must possess the new birth certificate and have it confirmed by
commander or personnel officer prior to submission of application.

o.  A completed da form 4322-r (OCS contract).

p.  A copy of dd form 2808 indicating the applicant is qualified for service IAW chapter 2, AR 40-501 based on a
physical not over 1-year old from date of applicable OCS board.  If an enlisted soldier is requesting aviation as a
branch preference, the physical must contain the approval stamp of the army Aero-Medical center at Ft Rucker.   

q.  copy of da form 6256 (afast) for enlisted soldiers requesting aviation as a branch.  Enlisted soldiers 30 years of
age or older are not eligible for assignment to aviation.  this age restriction cannot be waived.

r.  dd form 785 (record of dis-enrollment).  only required if previously attended an officer producing school (OCS,
ROTC, USAMA). (Soldiers previously disenrolled from an officer producing program must request a waiver from the
DCS, G-1 to attend OCS.)

s.  da form 6285 (structured local board interview) results.  Must be completed by each board member (minimum
number of 3 officers).  All panel members must be commissioned officers in the grade of captain or above; the
board president must hold the grade of major or above, and the other two panel members must hold the grade of
captain or above.   Written comments by board members are highly desired.  Prior to being interviewed, each ocs
applicant must make a hand written statement on standard 8 ½ by 11-inches paper indicating “why i want to be an
army officer”.  After the local interview, the three interview worksheets and the hand written statement must be
enclosed in a sealed envelope and forwarded with the complete OCS application to Department of the Army.

t.  Copy of dd form 214 required for any prior military service.

u.  Additionally, the OCS personnel information sheet at https://www.hrc.army.
mil/site/active/opdistacc/ocs/ocs_appl.htm is available to assist soliders with applications.

7.  Selection procedures:   

a.  Soldiers may submit a completed application through their chain of command to HQDA, HRC for consideration.  
No packet should be mailed to HRC prior to 31 October 2010. The new HRC mail address for OCS packets is:   

U.S. Army Human Resources Command
attn: reserve appointments and accessions branch
ahrc-opd-a (ocs)
1600 spearhead division avenue, dept: 240
Fort Knox, Kentucky 40122-5204

b.  Branching by the HQDA selection board is suspended indefinitely.  HRC will schedule all selected applicants for
OCS in atrrs.  Soldiers will attend OCS in a TDY and return status.  Branching will occur during attendance at
OCS.  Graduates, upon return to home station, will PCS from home station IAW their 2LT assignment instructions

c.  Selection results and OCS class assignment will be announced by MILPER message on the HRC website,
approximately one month after the board has adjourned.  IAW stoploss/stop movement MILPER instructions,
soldiers are not to be deployed while OCS application is pending at HRC.  Once announced, selected soldiers are
not to be deployed.  Deployed soldiers who are selected will be scheduled for OCS after post deployment
stabilization provided the soldier remains eligible..

d.  The following OCS selection board schedule has been tentatively established for FY 2011:

(1.) 21-25 Feb 2011.  Packets must arrive at HRC NLT 21 Jan 2011
(2.)  25-29 Jul 2011.  Packets must arrive at HRC NLT 24 Jun 2011.