An Evaluation of Alternatives to Existing U.S. Army Commissioning Programs

The United States Army is beginning the process of restructuring to accommodate the requirements of a post-Cold War force. One of the major issues confronting the institution will be the manner in which it selects and trains its commissioned officer force. This paper reviews the history of U.S. Army commissioning programs and proposes modifications and alternatives to existing programs for commissioning line officers. Since the early 1900s, the U.S. Army has relied on three programs to produce commissioned officers USMA, ROTC, and OCS. Although internal changes have been implemented to update the programs over time, there have been no significant changes in the sources of commissioned line officers since the beginning of the century. Based upon a review of the three sources and the needs of the U.S. Army in the next century, three alternatives to existing programs are proposed. First, the Department of Defense should consider establishing a single Service Academy which supports all three military departments. The increased emphasis on jointness and resource constraints suggests a re-evaluation of this concept for the future. The second alternative addresses changes to current ROTC programs.