Quote Originally Posted by Old Eagle View Post
In the post Korea era, the Army has tried to use direct commissions (as opposed to OCS) as little as possible.The normal COA during the VN era was to send candidates to OCS, then to basic branch courses...
I didn't mention that, probably should have. Did not intend to imply that the direct commissioning of senior NCOs was common, it wasn't, only a small percentage of officers were so obtained. Just wanted to point out there were precedents. As Old Eagle says, OCS was the preferred route during both Korea and Viet Nam. Standards for access and graduation were relaxed a bit and OCS was conducted at Belvoir, Sill and Eustis (I think...) as well as at Benning; supply and demand...
During the post-VN reduction in force era, many previously enlisted officers were RIFfed back to their previous grades or shown the door. Of those that remained, all were told to finish school and do other penance to bring them in line with the rest of the officer corps as a whole. Those who refused or failed were shown the door.
IIRC, there was a two stage process; first stage dispensed with those who wouldn't or couldn't get a degree through the Bootstrap program; the second stage got even a few of those and tossed 'em after paying for two to four years of college. Some -- a few -- managed to stick long enough to get to COL, I only know one who did.