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                         February 1, 2002

Officer candidate school adds more than 400 slots
Army needs more junior officers

FORT BENNING, Ga. (Army News Service) -- The Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning is expanding from three to four companies, tentatively beginning June 2.

The expansion of OCS comes at a time when the Army needs more junior officers, according to Lt. Col. Daniel Kessler, battalion commander for 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment. He said the mission of OCS has been expanded from producing 1,040 lieutenants to 1,485 per year.

"To do that, we need another company," Kessler said.
"OCS has always been looked at to produce officers in times of need," Kessler said. "If you go back and you look at mobilization efforts during World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam, the bulk of the officers produced to support those efforts came out of OCS," Kessler said.

Even though the mission is for more lieutenants, requirements for admission to the school will remain the same, Kessler said.

Even though the school’s staff is perched to accomplish the expanded mission, the funds and personnel haven’t completely arrived yet.

"We’ve been told to do a mission faster than the Army system, so we’re pulling resources from other areas to fill this company. We haven’t waited, we’re just continuing to drive on with the mission," Maj. Keith Robinson, executive officer for the 11th Infantry Regiment.

The fourth company will be housed in what was the Headquarters and Headquarters Company barracks for 1st Battalion (Airborne), 507th Infantry, 11th Inf. Regt. Modular barracks will be built to house HHC.

"We’re moving units around to renovate the required billeting space for the OCS company," Robinson said.