USAF OCS Class 62-A
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History of OCS

 


The Air Training Command decided in January 1960 to move preflight training for pilots and navigators from the Lackland Military Training Center (LMTC) to Harlingen AFB, in south, Texas, and to James Connally AFB, near Waco, Texas. Following the graduation of cadet Class 61-02 (Navigator) on 2 May 1960, Headquarters ATC published orders discontinuing the Pre-Flight Training School, USAF, effective I July.

I A major deficiency in officer procurement in 1959 had provoked Air Force leaders into action. The four existing sources-USAFA, AFROTC, OCS, and direct commissioning-were not producing a needed mix of skills and knowledge, especially in engineering and scientific fields. With four-year maturation periods, the academy and ROTC were slow and cumbersome when programming for future manpower requirements. The Officer Candidate School had been addressing mainly administrative officer needs. Air Force leaders were generally loathed to rely heavily on direct commissioning. Their solution was to tap into a significant manpower pool-graduating college seniors who had not participated in ROTC-that previous procurement efforts had largely ignored. Recruiting and indoctrinating college graduates had the added advantage of improving manpower procurement efficiency. Barely a year would separate the setting of recruitment goals and the commissioning of those recruited.

Any significant acquisition of graduating college seniors necessitated a new program for indoctrinating those enlisted. To meet this need, Air Force officials resurrected the World War II concept of an officer training school. Only this time, a college degree was prerequisite, and commissioning would come with graduation rather than induction. The Air Training Command published general orders on 29 April 1959, activating the Officer Training School, USAF, at Lackland on I July 1959. The first class (1960-A) was programmed for 84 male and 22 female officer trainees; it began on 18 November with 83 men and 13 women enrolled; all but four of the men graduated and became second lieutenants on 9 February 1960. [See Appendix 2 for course production figures.]

Drawing on wartime OTS experience, Air Staff and Air Training Command officials assumed that college graduates would be intellectually and emotionally capable of indoctrination during a shorter, perhaps more intense course than OCS. Instead of the OCS schedule of four six-month classes per year, therefore, OTS established a flow of eight three-month classes. Training occurred during a five-day training week. A training squadron had up to a week between the graduation of one class and arrival of a new class, and the school had a two-week break for the Christmas New Year holiday.

The officer candidate and officer training curriculums in 1960 were generally similar, but the differences indicated how Air Force officials were seeking to fashion a new officer corps. They envisioned a service led exclusively by highly educated professional officers, holding undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Officer Candidate School preserved the Army Air Corps tradition of drawing on the noncommissioned and warrant officer ranks to supplement the academy and ROTC for needed officers. The Officer Training School represent the future direction of the United States Air Force. [See Appendix 3.]

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