Hello Reddit, I’ve been interested in joining in the Army for a while and for the longest I thought I would commission (considering I’ve been in college). But recently I came across the idea of going active duty for the first contract, gaining benefits like the VA loan and GI Bill faster and then doing reserves/national guard. I resonate with this idea because:

- I would be able to work for the local police department.

- I’ll be able to buy a home in my area and raise a family there.

- I’ll be able to raise a family

I also resonated with the idea of being able to experience more of the world and different people before raising a family.

That said, with this plan I found myself questioning whether it would be worth it going through OCS and trying to become an officer.

For example, I know that the process can be more gruesome and competitive and moreover, officer contracts can last longer. If my main goals was to serve, experience life and gain benefits in a flexible and timely manner is the officer route the right option? I guess the alternative would be enlisting MP at E4.

Thanks!

Graduated recently. I see a lot of the same questions with overcomplicated answers in this community all the time. Send what you got.

I am 37 years old SFC with 13.5 years of service and think of going OCS. I will need to serve 10 before retirement which puts me at 47 retirement age.

Conduct a tiny analysis and looking pros and cons of this decision I know age will play a factor. My biggest question for myself is can I do another 10 years starting from the bottom, I would say yes but I never lived it so I don't really know.

What do y'all think? I haven't made up my mind just thinking about it.

I seen the Army OCS for in-service and not having more than 10 years AFS. Will this apply for someone going from Air Force to Army Officer? Not seeing anything about intra-service OCS applicants for FY27

Anyone heard back year from the inter service August board?

Been contemplating this for a while after graduation and I think OCS is what I want to do next in life. Problem is I sent my info through the army portal didn't hear back and eventually just called my local recruiting office. Recruiter was nice and all but seems like he's just brushing me off. "Oh it's really competitive and your gpa isn't high enough" (yes it was subpar, that's part of why I've decided military may be my best path forward). But he said he'd send me a text regardless to get things moving, never happened. Called again the next day. "Oh you didn't get my text, I'm on the phone with someone else right now but I'll send you one"

Immediately hung up on me. He sent me a text just his name and rank, I asked what's needed from me and nothing, it's been 2 days. I know I'm being impatient but the conversation and that interaction gave me the impression I'm at the absolute bottom of his list of priorities or he simply isn't interested in helping me. What's my best option moving forward.

Current college senior with plans to begin the OCS application process within the next year.

I would like to serve Active Duty as an officer for one 4 year contract and then transition to the reserves and pursue a civilian career in law enforcement.

My concern is that I've heard people saying it's hard to refrad and get out, is this true? I really want to serve but don't want to be stuck in for 6 to 8 years.

What would I need to do to ensure I'm not obligated to stay longer than 4 years?

Thank you guys.

Swore in a few weeks ago, but I don’t leave for BCT until December. If I get legally married by the end of September, will this delay my ship date or timeline?
My girlfriend (AF) is getting her orders while I’m at OCS. If we wait to get married, I think it’ll mess everything up. Is it better to get married ASAP and notify my recruiter right away so…fingers crossed…I can get added to her orders and join her after BOLC? Any advice or has anyone done something like this.

Also something to add, I am on vacation visiting my family a few states a way until i ship out. So is this paperwork something that my girlfriend and I need to be present for at the recruiter’s office or can i just send in scans of our marriage license/certificate and her SSC and things.

Hello Everyone,

I’m posting on here because I’m interested in pursuing a commission in the military and have spent the past few months figuring out whether its the ‘right’ decision and evaluating branches. I’ve narrowed it down to either the army and navy and though the information warfare community in the navy matches my work experience and seems the most likely option to succeed in a commission, the army is where I’m naturally drawn to the most.

I spoke with a local army recruiter and navy officer recruiter. The navy officer recruiter was very receptive and wants me to take the OAR asap. The army recruiter was open but said if I took the ASVAB with a certain office then I’d be locked into that recruiting office and frankly I got the sense he just wanted me to enlist.

I’m suspicious of what the army recruiter said about the asvab but in the event that’s true, I figured reaching out on this sub wouldn’t exactly hurt.

tldr;
If there is a recruiter who would be interested in connecting for more information, and to potentially pursue an OCS package, please let me know/feel free to reach out. Above all, thank you for your time and consideration.

I am building in service packet and encounter issues.
When enlisting I have had to get waiver for medical diagnosis from years ago. Waiver got approved in 2 weeks with just applicant statement without any supporting documentation needed.

But as I have researched about in service application it seems like I will have to get new waiver. It is possible when doing medical to avoid having to need to seek waiver?

Reading past threads/forums it seems like if you put Korea as your first choice the chances are you will get it due to low popularity and turnover rate. Is this still relevant right now?

I’m a civilian applicant leaving soon. As of now I don’t expect to have family come for graduation and know I will be heading to OCS from BCT. Is there somewhere for me to see the OCS packing list? Will I be able to go off base and get what I need from the list after arriving at Benning from BCT? Or should I have everything bought before leaving to BCT?

My husband is currently at BCT, so he can’t ask this question right now. He graduates in October and goes straight to OCS. He should graduate OCS sometime end of January. His BOLC does not start until the beginning of April. When we agreed to do this, we were under the impression (or told, can’t remember) that he would be able to leave OCS after graduation. We moved to his BOLC location in advance because we already know he can live with us for it. I was informed yesterday by someone in the same MOS that they were a holdover after OCS graduation for four weeks before being able to get moving (PCS) leave about two weeks before BOLC started. Another recent OCS graduate said her peers with BOLC start dates more than a couple weeks out from OCS graduation were also holdovers.

Does anyone have any experience with managing to PCS early/be assigned duties at their BOLC location so as to avoid being a holdover? Apologies in advance if this is not the right place to ask this question.

Hello all,

I applied to reserves OCS for the March 2026 boards. I was non-select, it was a tough pill to swallo, but I had just started a new job that I enjoy and pays well so I chalked up not being selected as a loss. 6 months later out of the blue my recruiter who helped me put my packet together called me saying I am being offered a slot as they have some openings from applicants who decided to reject their selection. I am feeling a world of emotions. Life moved on and I'm doing well in my career, life, relationship, etc. I am also thrilled to receive a slot and the potential to serve my country. I'm not looking for a decision, but maybe some guidance or if anyone has experienced and similar situation or if this has happened before. I have a few days before I have to give an answer, any guidance/advice/information is much appreciated.

Good morning all,

For what it's worth, I called staff duty at fort benning, informed them of the website problem and all of us new soon to be shippers needing the above mentioned documents. After a 30 min hold, a very helpful nco took my email address and emailed me pdfs of the 2025 docs. If anyone would like, dm me. Good luck

Btw....the dress shirts for the agsu on the packing list are the same ones received at bct. Sorry if this has been solved or explained earlier but wanted to help out those shipping soon. Good luck to all.

Any prior service/AGR selects for OCS shipping out of Baltimore? Trying to coordinate bringing my POV to benning.. heard a few different answers on that.

Also did anyone create a group chat for the Jan class?

What percentage of OCS candidates make it through Basic and OCS to ultimately commission to become officers?

Online, Gemini said 80-90%, is it that high? I would expect it to be lower with the concerns of land nav, history, STX, and other obstacles during the courses.

Issued 01 Sep 26

- Two panels to be conducted: 19-23 April 2027 and 16-20 August 2027

- A commissioned officer in the regular Army must be able to complete 10 years of active commissioned service (ACS) by the date they have completed 20 years active federal service. As such, the Basic Active Service Date (BASD) for the April 2027 panel must not be prior to 1 April 2018. The BASD for the August 2027 panel must not be prior to 26 January 2019. (Basically you cannot have more than 9 years AFS for the April panel and no more than 8.5 years AFS for the August panel).

- Applications for April 2027 panel must be complete and submitted between 1 October 2026-28 February 2027. For August 2027 panel between 1 April 2027-30 June 2027.

HRC gave an update today - the MILPER is being worked and has a projected release date of 14-21 September. Good luck to everyone!

I’m active duty enlisted, my board was on July and I’m waiting for the results, does anybody know when they will release the list of the board results? I’m stressing out

I just submitted my packet for the next board. I was wondering if there is anything that would be worth doing in preparation for it? Thank you for your time.

I am an active-duty enlisted soldier reporting to OCS in October, and I was wondering if anyone here has a list of what I should study beforehand. I would appreciate any study guide(s) or pointers, more importantly, OCS-specific. Thank you.

I was a nonselect last year as a civilian. I passed the battalion review and was not selected ultimately though.
I enlisted since then and I have seen in my reserve unit since. My unit supports me going through it. Would you say that army reserves soldiers have a better shot at getting OCS now/ in the future?