Lieutenant Colonel, Armor
Commanding
706-545-3507
matthew.b.chitty.mil@mail.mil

FACES OF OCS

The OCS program has changed throughout the years, most notably in length and the fact that it is now a branch immaterial course. However, the result is still the same: producing generations of leaders who have the critical task of leading American Soldiers. Following are just some of the stories of those who met the challenge.

1940S

Emil J. Stryker, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel (USA Retired)

I entered the Army on March 19, 1943 at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. I was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri where I underwent 17 weeks of basic training with the 75th Infantry Division artillery. Then I was sent to St. Louis University under the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). The program was designed to commission students upon graduation from a four-year course. I graduated from the Basic Engineering course which was not long enough to earn a commission. The Army ended the program because we were losing many men in combat in Europe. The ASTP students were used as “fillers” in units that were slated for overseas duty.

In 1944, I was reassigned to the 583rd Signal Depot Company–went to Europe with it. Landed in England for a while, then landed on Utah Beach on August 16, 1944; passed through St. Mére Église en route to LeMans, then one mile west to Hartencourt in the vicinity of Charteres, then to Reims on September 7, 1944; then to Steinfort, Luxembourg on October 9, 1944. My unit was responsible for repair of signal equipment and signal logistics for the Army and Air Force (I forget the names of the Army and Air Force theater organizations–General Patton’s Army was one.) I was in charge of warehousing supplies and carrying messages from Steinfort to Liége, Belgium. I had to pass through Bastogne, Belgium on the way. On returning to my unit, I was at Bastogne on December 16, 1944 when the Germans were beginning to surround the city. I left Bastogne just before the encirclement was complete.

The Army had a shortage of infantry lieutenants and began sending replacements with the rations. A call was sent out for volunteers to attend a special infantry OCS training at Fontainebleau, France. My unit was overstocked on master sergeants and other ranks. The commander looked for reasons to reduce personnel. I was lucky just to make E4. I saw no future in staying with my unit so I volunteered to attend the special OCS course.  I believe it was only eight weeks long.  A lot of miscellaneous training found in stateside OCS was eliminated. Students were divided into platoons. My tactical officer said that he would never graduate any of us if he thought we wouldn’t do a capable job of training his brother who was still fighting the Germans. I was in class number 25. I completed the course successfully.

The Army sent me the “long way around” before I received my commission as you can see. The thing you and I have in common is that we were both “mustangs” before we became officers (enlisted to officer). I served for 30 years.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally an email to another OCS Alumni Association member retired Maj. James Earls, the Colorado Chapter president. Dave Taylor wrote about another World War II overseas OCS in New Caledonia in the April 2017 edition of the Association’s newsletter.

1950S

Ralph Talbot IV, Lieutenant Colonel (USA Retired)

I graduated from OCS at Fort Benning, Georgia on September 19, 1958. I was an enlisted armor Soldier and was commissioned initially in infantry, but received a branch transfer later to armor. I was inspired to attend OCS to better myself and become a leader of Soldiers.

OCS was the start of my officer career in the Army. It prepared me for a 30-year career in the Army and definitely made me a better man. My career led me to such places as Germany, Vietnam, and Australia. I was also the Pistol Branch Chief at the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. I learned the true value of leadership and teamwork and how invaluable these are for mission accomplishment.

I was pleased to be selected to be my class guidon bearer and I maintained this honor for the complete OCS cycle.

Our class assisted in the dedication of Wigle Hall on June 19, 1958. We built and dedicated the 5th Student Battalion OCS “Gold Bar” club July 12, 1958. I was selected to model the tropical worsted commissioning uniform for our class on June 22, 1958 for my classmates’ selection and purchase.

It was the OCS values that sustained me during my military career and instilled in me the desire to do the best and be the best no matter what the challenge was.

1960S

Clifford L. Fields, Colonel (USA Retired)

My interest in someday going to Officer Candidate School to become a commissioned officer began in the early 1960s. Though I was already on a path to being a career enlisted soldier, I also wanted to, as a later popular Army recruiting slogan suggested, “Be All You Can Be.”  So in 1965, while assigned to the 25th Infantry Division and receiving a wide range of encouragement from senior officers within my chain of command, I submitted my application. After being notified that my application had been approved, I received a call from the Army Personnel Office in Washington to ask if I would consider switching to the newly opened Armor OCS at Fort Knox instead of the Infantry OCS. I still remember the personnel officer saying, “as a tanker you’ll ride to work.” Because of my foot soldier infantry background, I clearly caught the gist of his comment, agreed to switch, and in a couple weeks was on my way to Fort Knox.

On January 12, 1966, I reported into the OCS Battalion where the staff was patiently waiting to cordially meet and greet me and my other incoming classmates. RIGHT! LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Over the first few weeks, I was quite impressed with how well prepared the newly activated Fort Knox OCS battalion seemed to be at controlling what appeared to be a continuous and rapidly evolving situation. Of course, the ever-present TAC officers, many of whom were fresh out of basic officer training, were the key players in the saga. Their seemingly ever present, 24- hour schedule was the centerpiece of all activities. The TACs also often provided a bit of unwelcomed amusement with antics seemingly designed to test the candidates’ fortitude and tolerance levels. To that I must add that often the TACs’ actions were equally much humor as harm, which was a good thing. As I recall, it seems that after the first six or eight weeks it was not uncommon to see the TAC officers smile as much as smirk.

I was particularly impressed with the emphasis placed on leadership, punctuality, and decision-making.

The training provided outside of the cantonment/ barracks by the Armor School was top notch. The range of training subjects we received–maintenance, gunnery, vehicle recovery, and land navigation–were effectively taught as these were the inevitable skills we needed to survive on the battlefields of Vietnam.

On June 22,1966, I graduated from OCS and happily pinned on the shiny new gold bars of a second lieutenant. I recall it was a very special moment filled with tremendous personal pride, the likes of which I continue to carry. The 23- week training program I had undergone was by far the most challenging, and yet the most rewarding military training I have ever experienced.

As was expected, by June 1967, one year after graduation from OCS, the majority of our class was either already in Vietnam or en route. I fortunately was assigned to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment along with a large number of my OCS classmates, returning to the U.S. in 1968. In mid-June 1972, I was back in Vietnam and stayed until the ceasefire agreement in January 1973.

In December 1975, I changed my career field specialty to the Foreign Area Officer program with sub-Sahara Africa as my region specialty.

Through all the changes through the years, I have always felt as though my OCS experience was a major factor in the various excellent opportunities I had over 28 years post OCS.

1970S

Orlando J. Illi, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel (USA Retired)

I applied for Officer Candidate School through the college option program. I was teaching school at the time and was not that enamored with a career in education. I completed Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey and was then cast into the mental, physical, and emotional crucible that is OCS. I was originally enrolled in Branch Immaterial Officer Candidate Class (BIOCC) 4-77. However, I broke my ankle during the fourth week and was medically held back until BIOCC 1-78.

OCS is not a course for the meek or those with self-doubt. It is a course fraught with mental and emotional challenges. I learned after the first two weeks that a candidate will never be right; that the goal posts are always being moved; and that candidates are evaluated not on what they achieve, but how they handle failure. That realization was the most important to me. Because of my college op status, I had to work harder than others who had more military experience that I did and I had to admit, more than I liked, that I was unsure of which course of action to take. Consequently, at times I felt overwhelmed. Nonetheless, I graduated and achieved something that a year before I would not have been able to achieve. I became a commissioned officer – the first in my family.

After my graduation from OCS, I was groomed by a series of colonels to become a Research Development Officer. I served as Assistant Project Manager for Logistics at the Center for Night Vision and Electro-Optics (CNVEO), Fort Belvoir, Virginia from 1985-87. During that time, I was responsible for developing the total logistical support concept for the AN/PVS-7 Monocular Night Vision Device and the AN/AVS-6 Aviator Night Vision Device. In 1987, I received the distinction of being selected as the CNVEO employee of the year.

In July 1991, I was selected to serve as Technical Director of one of 28 Knowledge Engineering Groups (KEG). Our KEG, in concert with the Army Research Laboratory’s Advanced Computational Information Sciences Directorate, initiated a joint $8 million software development effort to enhance current and future diagnostics capabilities for the M1 Abrams tank AGT-1500 turbine engine. In March 1993, we received the distinction of winning the American Defense Preparedness Association’s group award for excellence in artificial intelligence logistics applications.

I retired from active duty as a lieutenant colonel on April 1, 1997 from the Defense System Management College where I served as both Director of Automation Operations and Educational Services, as well as a professor of software acquisition.

In November 1999, I entered Federal civil service as a GS-15 and was appointed as the Deputy Product Manager for the newly chartered Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) program office at Fort Detrick, Maryland. MC4 enables worldwide patient-tracking and reporting along the health care continuum through a lifelong electronic health record documentation. MC4 also includes an automated link between the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

In 2006, 2008, and 2011, the MC4 program was awarded the DoD Chief Information Officer award for excellence in information technology. In 2008, the MC4 program was awarded the U.S. Army Superior Unit Award, the first Army product management and the fifth Army acquisition organization to achieve this recognition. In 2014, MC4 was the first recipient of the excellence in health information technology award. In 2008, I was designated a National Security Professional as well as selected as a finalist for receipt of the prestigious Samuel J. Heyman Service to America National Security and International Affairs Medal. In 2009, I was awarded the Order of Military Medical Merit for my ten years of service as MC4 Deputy Product Manager. In 2012, I had the distinction of being one the primary developers of the Emergency Personal Isolation and Containment system which was awarded a U.S. patent

OCS gave me the confidence to handle difficult situations. It allowed me to fail and learn. It gave me the confidence that you can achieve anything if you believe in your people, the mission, and yourself. But, more importantly, OCS forced me to grow into a leader and a manager and to understand and appreciate the subtle, but nonetheless important, distinction between the two.

1980S

Jon E. Lopey, Sr., Colonel (USA Retired)

I joined the California Army National Guard (CAARNG) in March 1980 after two fellow California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers urged me to join specifically to obtain a commission by attending the California Military Academy. I joined the 570th Military Police Company and requested to attend federal OCS in lieu of the state program. I was the Distinguished Honor Graduate of Officer Candidate Reserve Component Course 2-80, which graduated from Fort Benning on November 25, 1980.

I began training at Fort Benning in September 1980. I felt attending federal OCS would provide me a better opportunity to learn the job as a platoon leader and give me more hands-on experience as a Soldier. I previously served as a Marine NCO and served a tour of duty in the Philippines. I was always impressed with the officers I knew in the Marines. I was also encouraged by officers I met in the CAARNG. Patriotic fervor and concern was raging in all of our hearts and minds at the time because the Iranian hostage crisis was underway and the threat of a Middle East conflict was looming.

I was physically fit and ready for OCS, but I was not fully prepared for what I found at Fort Benning. When I arrived at OCS, I was assigned to the third platoon. During the first day of festivities, I heard 1^st Lt. Jesse Daniel, the TAC officer of the 2nd platoon, bellowing orders and admonishments not unlike the Marine drill instructors I once knew. I was glad I was not in that platoon. During the first night at OCS, I was assessed a Class II and Class III violation much to my surprise. One violation was because I closed my combination lock on my locker, but did not turn the dial and a TAC officer pulled on it and it opened. The second infraction was for getting up early and getting caught taking an early shower to get ahead of my peers before they awakened. I thought my time at OCS would be short-lived, but I persevered and eventually served successfully in a variety of leadership positions at the platoon and company levels. I was a first sergeant twice, including the “Honor Chain” prior to graduation.

I was surprised so many OCS candidates failed our first Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). We lost over 20 candidates based on the APFT results. My platoon lost so many people that we were reassigned and I was placed in 1^st Lt. Daniel’s platoon. Although he was the loudest and most demanding of all TAC officers, he was a true professional. As an airborne-infantry officer, he set a high standard for us and I owe much to what I accomplished then and throughout my career to 1^st Lt. Daniels and other outstanding instructors and OCS mentors. After the first APFT, I was placed in the fast running group. The first day we ran in formation, the fast group took off like a flash, led by an airborne-ranger TAC officer. I remember thinking to myself that the pace is like a sprint and we would have to slow soon, but we never slowed down!

I have other fond memories of OCS. One of them was the chow hall’s “Tray Line Ridge,” where it was almost impossible to escape without demerits because you had to regurgitate knowledge and other information while being verbally admonished by predatory TAC officer’s intent on assessing demerits. I remember Lt. Gen. Grange, the commanding general of the Infantry School and an OCS graduate, the famous infantryman who served as the very best example for us aspiring officers. I remember the incredible knowledge, skills, and technical and tactical knowledge I acquired while at OCS. When I returned to the CAARNG, I was assigned as a platoon leader and not one enlisted man, even Vietnam veterans, could beat me disassembling and assembling the M60 machinegun. When I graduated from OCS, I was well prepared to be a platoon leader and, later when I attended my basic course, I felt OCS graduates were generally better prepared than most officers from other commissioning programs. Fort Benning is still my favorite Army installation. I returned there years later for Airborne School and the Infantry Officer Advanced Course and during a couple of deployments to hostile fire or combat zones. I always marveled, however, how hot, humid, miserable, and bone-chilling cold it could be at Fort Benning – sometimes during the same tour!

I served in three branches in the CAARNG and Army Reserve – military police, infantry, and civil affairs. I served as a platoon leader, adjutant, company commander, battalion operations officer, assistant brigade operations officer, and acting battalion commander. Later I served as a public safety officer, special functions chief, and executive officer (XO) of the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade. While in hostile fire areas or combat, I served as the staff civil affairs officer for Operational Detachment-Bravo 2060 in Haiti, as a United Nations law enforcement liaison officer in Bosnia (twice), and as the senior military advisor to the Afghan Minister of Interior, Combined Force Command – Afghanistan. While in Iraq, I served as the XO of the 364th Civil Affairs Brigade.

I served for 30 years in the commissioned ranks and retired from the Army Reserve in March 2011 as a colonel. I retired from the CHP as an assistant chief in 2010. Since January 2011, I have served as the elected sheriff-coroner of Siskiyou County, California. My OCS experiences made me a better leader, a better citizen, and a better person and helped shape my career as a 30-year Army officer and 40-year veteran of the law enforcement profession.

1990S

Michael Maharaj, Lieutenant Colonel (USA)

As an OCS graduate (Class 1-95), I have experienced many leadership situations that no one organization could have prepared me for over the last 28 years of Federal service. There is no magic curriculum, training, or commissioning source that can make a leader. There is, however, an organization that lets potential leaders…lead. That organization provides you time-tested tools and allows the candidate to master the ability to reframe problems based on the evidence at hand. That organization, known to us as OCS, encouraged me to experience a different type of thinking—one that allowed for meaningful insights into unfamiliar, dynamic, and complex situations.

OCS differs from other commissioning sources in that many of your fellow candidates are prior NCOs with an expansive resume of skills. Key to success is finding a way of capitalizing on that experience and encouraging intellectual cross-fertilization. As a battery commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) 1, I utilized the strengths, skills, and know-how of my Soldiers to accomplish the assigned task. How? By allowing the NCOs or lieutenants to formulate their own solutions and providing the guidance and resources required to accomplish that task.

A leader must compromise, negotiate, and allow their subordinates to have input into the decision-making process. Discounting a team member’s input is tantamount to telling the contributor that his or her value to the organization is negligible. Imagine trying to pass the Leadership Reaction Course without the input of your fellow team members—probably not going to happen. As a leader of one of the first artillery batteries to cross into Iraq during OIF 1, I can attest the environment was truly dynamic. No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. What does survive and what truly matters is how quickly the leader is able to adapt.

In the late 1990s, the OCS program expanded to help fill shortages at the field grade level. The expansion brought new life to a program that regularly competed with the other commissioning sources for talent and funding. Many of the cadre that I trained with were veterans of Operation Desert Storm. It was from their insight into combat, their having-been-there knowledge, and their personal interactions with Soldiers in combat that I learned what it took to be a leader. One of my cadre members was a Green Beret by trade who taught us the tactics block of instruction. He told us to remember a simple, yet powerful, statement. He said, “Doctrine and training are just tools that provide guidance and the framework for you to build your plan. If you are at a crossroads as to which plan to execute, use the scientific method guaranteed to work most of the time…follow your gut.” OIF was a full-spectrum operation conducted against an asymmetric threat. The deep penetration executed by the division, coupled with the unconventional enemy forces, created a nonlinear, noncontiguous battlefield. The diverse threat and terrain required thinking, flexible, and adaptive leaders. OCS provided the framework that gave me the foundation to build my leadership skills.

As graduates of OCS, we are part of an organization that is truly unique—an organization that trains individuals conscious of their obligation to serve. Looking back, I am sure I made the right decision for my commissioning source—it is where I belonged.

Lt. Col. Michael I. Maharaj is currently serving as the Branch Chief for Multinational Cyber Operations, Joint Staff J6. His responsibilities are to plan, lead, and direct both defensive and offensive cyberspace effects with our multinational mission partners and U.S. services. Lt. Col. Maharaj is a 2016 Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Award for Cyber and Information Technology Excellence individual winner and a 2017 Federal Computer Weekly individual award winner for his work on developing and incorporating tactics, techniques, and procedures for blue and red teams on a mission partner environment network. Starting in June 2018, Lt. Col. Maharaj will assume duties as the Director, United States Army Regional Cyber Center – Southwest Asia, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

2000S

James Earls, Major (USA Retired)

On June 21, 2002, I was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Army upon my graduation from OCS. This is an accomplishment that I am extremely proud of and very happy to say that I did. It has been over fifteen years since I graduated and left Fort Benning and already my stay there seems like a distant memory.

I knew when I first joined the Army I wanted to make it a career and I wanted to do half my career as an enlisted Soldier and half the time as an officer. I just did not know the path it would lead me. In early 2001, I was an infantry staff sergeant in B Company, 1^st Battalion, 30^th Infantry (3^rd Infantry Division) on Kelly Hill at Fort Benning preparing for a deployment to Kosovo. We were training for the deployment when several NCOs were selected to become drill sergeants or recruiters. There was a rumor that Sand Hill was short 72 drill sergeants at the time. Most of my friends were picked up as drill sergeants; there were only three of us who were selected for recruiting duty. I did not want to be a recruiter; I wanted to deploy with my platoon to Kosovo, but since it was a Department of the Army school and we were not at war, there was nothing my chain of command could do. This is when I felt it was time for me to apply to OCS.

I had a little knowledge of what to expect prior to going to OCS, mostly through conversations with a few officers who gave me basic tidbits, but nothing in depth. I thought myself fairly squared away both mentally and physically for OCS. The big surprise was how I personally reacted to all the phases.

I knew about as much as I felt I could know about OCS when I reported to 1^st Platoon, B Company on Sunday morning, March 10, 2002 (class began Thursday, March 14). Our company breakdown was about 90% prior NCOs with years of knowledge and experience under our belts and 5% college option candidates. We had two college ops in my platoon, one of them my roommate, Ed Kaspar, who was our class photographer. Ed was a great communicator and an excellent roommate. In 1st Platoon, we started with 31 candidates and graduated 29. We lost two aviation chief warrant officers after the first week because they felt like they were already officers.

The days’ events at OCS had the ability to take you emotionally to heights and valleys within minutes if you were not prepared. The cadre started out strong during Basic Phase. The first week was the hardest of the course which weeded out those who were not prepared. The cadre did not try to disguise the method to their madness. By Intermediate Phase, they had lightened up a little and by Senior Phase, unless you screwed up, you were treated as a commissioned officer.

The physical and mental challenges of OCS basically sum up what the entire place is. I am convinced there is really no way to prepare yourself 100% for what you experience at OCS. Depending on the class, the time of year, and what random restrictions for candidates have been recently set in place or lifted, the stay at OCS will be very different than what I experienced. Each company had a reputation when I was there too. Alpha Company was the hardest, followed by Bravo, and then Charlie. I never believed that though. I never came in expecting my OCS experience to be like anyone else’s.

The rest of OCS: chow hall, inspections, inspections, inspections, and other various ways for the staff at OCS to help raise your stress threshold while teaching you a little bit about life in the Army and being an Army officer. I could write pages and pages about the details of every little thing that happened over my 14 weeks at OCS, but that is not necessary. Four important take aways that I learned at OCS are:

1. Get as much sleep as you can. I was used to sleep deprivation before OCS, but not to the extent I experienced at OCS.
2. Find a time to de-stress. Most of my class did this during Sundays when we went to church and had some downtime.
3. Make friends with whom you can be normal with. Talk about what is going on around you and talk about home. No one is an island (for me it was my platoon).
4. TEAMWORK IS A MUST. You can’t do it by yourself at OCS.

I guess I will end with what I enjoyed most about OCS—the camaraderie. At OCS, everyone was on the same playing field and, more importantly, on the same team. It did not matter what your previous occupational specialty was, or where you came from, just that you are working right alongside everyone else. The teamwork between everyone in our class could not be beat.

I retired from the Army on June 30, 2012 at Fort Hood, Texas. My wife, Amy, and I moved to Colorado Springs and I became a deputy sheriff with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (Class# 13-2). I worked at the Criminal Justice Center until October 1, 2015, when my brother-in-law asked me to work for him as an independent contractor doing research on real estate and travel.

I am a proud lifetime member of the following organizations: Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Associates of the Vietnam Veterans of America (AVAA), and the U.S. Army Officers Candidate School Alumni Association (USAOCSAA), where I currently serve as the Colorado Chapter president. I am also a National Museum of the U.S. Army founding sponsor.

2010S

Joseph Schultz, 2^nd Lieutenant (ILARNG)

It had always been my intention to serve in the Army. My family, many of whom were prior service, encouraged me to go to school first and enter as an officer. Over time, I realized this would be the most effective way I could serve. I worked the tugs in the St. Louis harbor while in college. After graduation, I was hired by Ingram Barge Company to work the line-haul vessels a month at a time. These trips on the Mississippi River afforded me the opportunity to mentally and physically prepare for basic combat training and Officer Candidate School. Days and nights were spent toiling on the barges; after coming off watch, I would run the onboard treadmill.

I truly sought to serve to make the nation more secure and contribute to bettering the world. In January 2016, I arrived at Fort Benning for basic combat training (BCT) as an O9S, officer candidate. Though I was somewhat older than many of the others there -28 at the time- I was fortunate in that a quarter of our company were comprised of officer candidates. The working relationships molded in BCT were later cemented in OCS.

We entered the OCS footprint where it was assumed that you planned. An intelligent explanation of forethought was continually expected. We were watched and graded. The physical and mental conditioning on the boat was put to the test. Finding purpose in one’s own actions was key.

Our company commander, Capt. Allen Jenkins, had a methodology for honing our mental process, which directly correlated to the action we were -or were not- doing. He would walk up to you, sometimes from nowhere, make direct eye contact, and inquire, “Candidate, what is your sole purpose in life right now?” He would then wait for an honest, acceptable answer. To this day, this same question resonates as an internal factory zero of sorts, resetting my own intentions in any action or project I am currently engaged.

I did not excel at land navigation. A group of us, approximately twenty, sat on bleachers in the dark. We waited for the time to start and for our maps of points to be issued. It was the last day to successfully complete land nav before recycling to the next class behind us. Each of us had traversed the woods in the days leading up to this. Capt. Jenkins spoke to us without sympathy. He matter-of-factly instructed us to not allow the failures of the preceding days to define us. Learn from them? Absolutely. However, if we did not center on and successfully execute on that day, it would be our defining moment, rather than a challenge we overcame along the way. Many of us, myself included, did achieve that day. The lesson remains: do not allow the past failings of yesterday to define who you are or what you do today. Learn, adjust fire, and improve from them.

Our cadre was beyond qualified. They brought a wealth of knowledge and past experiences to this assignment. They truly cared about the process and the quality of future officers they produced. We trained on and rehearsed warrior tasks and battle drills. In a culminating grading event, OCS alumni were invited to attend and oversee us. To walk amongst, speak with, and perform before our predecessors who had served many years before we were born, some prior to the forward assist on the M16 rifle, was humbling and an honor.

As a candidate, I initially thought of the recycling attrition as a harsh, unforgiving policy. Through the course of OCS, I recognized the reasoning behind it twofold. In the regular Army, away from Training and Doctrine Command, you get first chances and are not always guaranteed second ones. This can be a far cry from a former life of civilian schooling and employment. Second, the process, with the looming imminence of recycling, leads to more resilient candidates. Candidates graduated as officers unafraid to take calculated chances, so long as they were executing a thought-out plan. These candidates understood a now-or-never mentality. The narrowing, limiting, and shifting of personnel in this way strengthened us as a class. We held each other up and accountable. The finish line at the alma mater was only the beginning of our careers and the genesis to truly understanding the lessons we had learned.

We spread to the four winds after graduation. With staggered basic officer leadership course dates, the active duty went to their respective duty stations; the National Guard and Reserve returned to our individual states. Outside the walls of OCS, as U.S. Army officers, we are still being continually evaluated, expected to have done our homework of research and planning, to know what our purpose is, and to execute. All of these were borne in “Benning’s pride and joy.” Truly, it was the OCS cadre’s constant and ruthless commitment to excellence that instilled this military bearing, receptiveness to teaching, and command potential upon us.

Standards – NO Compromise!

2^nd Lt. Joseph Schultz is the S8 for HHC, 33 Brigade Combat Team (ILARNG) and works as a Senior Leadman for Ingram Barge Co aboard the M/V Marty Baskerville.