It's a Life Style Change: Officer Selection Officers and Their Involvement in Candidate Preparation

摘要

For Marines, accomplishing the mission is the most important task. The events of September 11, 2001, and the current war on terrorism have fundamentally changed the minds of our nation's young men and women and their outlook on military service. Recruiting undergraduates to attend Officer Candidate School (OCS) and then serve as company grade officers has remained a difficult challenge that Officer Selection Officers (OSO) must meet annually. Each year, OSOs are given a mission to fill OCS Platoon Leaders Course (PLC) slots. As a result of PLC attrition, this annual mission is steadily increasing. OCS attrition usually is a result of candidates dropping on request (DOR), because of poor physical fitness skills, from a loss of interest in the program, irresolvable medical issues, or poor leadership skills. For the Marine Corps to achieve their desired graduation rate and maintain a steady PLC mission, Officer Selection officers must be more involved in candidate preparation and make more of an effort to screen candidates prior to shipping them off to OCS.