No. I was an officer. I had no commitment. I went to OCS. I was also not active duty. Someone with a long ROTC scholarship or who went to a service academy will have a commitment. It’s not the same. You can be an officer without a service commitment. You can’t be enlisted without an enlistment. LSLGuy is correct that it happens often but there is no regulation or law that says officers must have a certain length to their commitment. There are also ways to get out of the commitment or to take in in reserve time although that’s not automatic and there are hoops to jump.
I thought it was “up or out.” That officers must get promoted every now and then or else be booted to make room for new talent to climb up the ladder, lest an officer hog a certain rank/position forever.
We had a long thread about that. I’ll see if I can hunt it up.
Meanwhile, the very short answer is “yeah, kinda”. If you don’t make a promotion you’ll have a limit on how many more years you can remain in the service. But it’s NOT at all like like “You just flunked your one chance at promotion; you’re FIRED!”
ETA: Here you go. 90 posts from last year.
Pardon me, not American, sorry for being flippant - but I got the impression that ROTC was a scholarship. So there are also ROTC enrollments with no financial benefits?
There certainly used to be, and in theory still are, but I’m not sure how common they are in practice.
But I’d just like to make explicit something that might already be inferred from some of the replies in this thread: things change.
The requirements to become an officer and the various nuances of individual commissioning programs changes over time. What might have held true 10, 20, or however many years ago might no longer hold true.
For example, I’m fairly confident that every commissioning program comes with an initial service obligation these days, because every commissioning program entails some kind of expenditure. Even if no financial benefit is given along the commissioning path, costs are incurred in selecting and training someone to be an officer.
Plus, there’s an opportunity cost to making someone an officer: as I hope will be clear by now, commissioning programs tend to be competitive, to the point that even if “any 4-year degree” might meet the check in the box to qualify (provided a range of other requirements are met), not all who apply and are qualified for a commissioning program will be selected.
In general, if someone is selected for and completes a commissioning program, they were selected over another qualified candidate, costs were incurred in training and selecting them, and it is presumed that they will complete, with a reasonable degree of probability, both the commissioning program and a number of years in the service because the military doesn’t want to have to start all over again with someone else (realizing that it can take months or years just to be selected as an officer, let alone to complete the commissioning program) and it would rather not have to do that at the drop of a hat.
So my sense is that not only do all officers coming out of ROTC incur a service obligation (even if they were non-scholarship “College Program” graduate as the Navy calls such people), in point of fact all officers coming out of OCS will also incur a service obligation.
Naval ROTC College Program
Midshipmen who pay their own educational expenses or have a non-Navy source of educational funding may participate in Naval ROTC through the Naval ROTC College Program. (See the Scholarship Opportunities Tab on the “Program-Info” Page). Upon graduation and commissioning, this individual will be required to serve at least three years on active duty.
I believe the minimum service obligation for Navy OCS graduates is at least as long, and would be very surprised if the other branches didn’t also have minimum service obligations as a condition of becoming an officer.
The chief difference between a service obligation and an enlistment, IMHO, is that what an enlistment is up, the default outcome, absent some action on the part of the enlisted servicemember, is that they get orders to separate from the military. By contrast, when a service obligation is up, the default outcome, absent some action on the part of the officer, is they are still in the military unless they have an approved resignation or until the military kicks them out (whether for misconduct, or just for not being promoted quick enough).
Any college student is welcome to enroll in ROTC courses for a few semesters with no obligation to serve (and no financial benefits for enrollment).
But also no commission just for completing the courses.
It’s impossible to complete the ROTC program without contracting with a military service. The entire program usually takes 4 years, but it’s possible to do it in 3 years or two years plus a summer camp. But a cadet wouldn’t be permitted to proceed to the advanced course (final two years) unless they have contracted with a military service. Only the basic course electives are available for non-contracted enrollment.
By “courses” I meant the classes during the school year. Even if you complete a full 8 semesters of classes, there is no commission at the end of it, unless you do all the other stuff outside of class, which requires being selected.
Possibly my experience is unique, because I attended a certain senior military college where all the students were not only permitted, but required to complete a full 8 semesters of ROTC (ETA: being allowed to complete 8 semesters even without being selected for a commission is apparently one of the distinguishing characteristics of a senior military college). Perhaps at other colleges they do indeed prohibit students from completing the last year or two unless they’ve been selected for a commissioning path. Just more evidence that things are not universal, and what might hold true under one set of circumstances won’t hold true under another.
My experience is from over 30 years ago, so well out of date, but I looked into joining the Navy when I was finishing college. I was finishing an English Major at the time from a small liberal arts college. I went to the local recruiter, but they referred me to an officer’s recruiting office instead where they gave me some information about the program. The official I spoke to asked where I went to college, and hoped I was attending the law school there, as they needed JAG officers. He was noticeably less than enthusiastic when he found I was not an Engineering or science student, but they invited me to take some tests at a later date.
His tone changed after I completed the tests and did really well on them, but even then it was clear that I would need to apply to OCS, bascially (or, “knife and fork school” as my father referred to it as). They also made it sound that I would not be eligible for service in certain areas, such as submarines, leaving Quartermaster or Surface Warface (“skimmer fleet”) as possible areas of service.
I was invited to pursue it further, but I decided a military career wasn’t for me and I passed on the opportunity.
Promotion up to O-5 is largely automatic. After that, it’s largely about what professional military education you were able to get selected for, plus what jobs you were able to get. That includes, almost always, command positions.
The military has selection processes for all of those opportunities that are, by the book, merit based. But merit for an officer includes things like getting along with people, playing politics to benefit your unit, and effective leadership.
Navigating an organization as sprawling as the DoD requires certain talents that can be, and often are, derided as “knowing how to kiss ass.” Even by those who play the game. But nobody gets promoted just because they’re likeable, or they became buddies with the right person. They get promoted because they’re effective leaders.
With thousands of people in O-6+ ranks there will be some duds, but by and large, all of the senior officers I interacted with were rock stars at every point in their careers. They started out being technically proficient, became good leaders, and then became good at politics. It’s all part of that particular career path.
I had multiple soldiers under me that were in ROTC. Some were contracted very early in college some much later. All are different paths. There are also programs where you have no active commitment but go to the Guard or Reserves as an officer. There was one program through Valley Forge Military Academy (and maybe others) where you get a conditional commission. Valley Forge only offers Associate Degrees. If you graduate they will make you a non-branch lieutenant (by branch I mean infantry, armor etc not Army, Air Force). They get assigned to National Guard units. They have a certain number of years to get their bachelor degree and then they go to active duty.
If you are enlisted the length of enlistment is clearly defined in a contract. There may be specific incentives written into the contract such as cash bonuses, choice of schools or choice of duty assignments. Officers don’t have that. As an officer you have to resign to leave the military. Your term of service doesn’t just end when your commitment ends.
Promotion up to O-3 is automatic. Okay, and lately also O-4 in the Air Force (that’s not a dig, they just reached a point a few years ago where retention was bad enough they promoted all qualified candidates—don’t know if it’s still going on).
But beyond that (either O-3 or O-4, maybe) it’s not automatic. The extent to which promotion to senior officer ranks may be tied to education in the various War Colleges, that tends to vary by service. I had heard, for example, that in the Air Force and Army, the two are closely linked. In the Navy, it borders on being inversely correlated (as in, the people who end up getting sent to a war college are those the Navy feels it can spare to fill its service quotas, not always the hot runners).
Ehh… some officers do. I got a bonus, plus an additional service commitment on top of my NROTC service obligation of four years, to agree to be a nuke officer. Beyond that initial service obligation (roughly five years in all), I had a seven year continuation pay contract for seven of my last eight years in the Navy. They paid me an extra 30K a year for me to agree to stick around for those seven years and be a department head. The difference is, that when that contract was up, I wouldn’t have been just separated: they’d have kept me around, but just paid me less if I hadn’t in short order done either one of the following: (a) submitted my resignation 9 to 12 months out or (b) been medically retired.
Had I been enlisted, on the other hand, I’d have been out by default, absent a new enlistment.
I said largely automatic, as the rate of promotion by someone’s zone year is so high, and officer promotions are congressionally tied to time in service / time in grade. Last time I checked the O-4 rate for the air force was something like 98%. I’m sure it varies across the branches and grades, so maybe some larger weasel words are warranted. But by and large, a newly minted O-1 who wants to make O-5 has a pretty good idea of exactly what year each of those promotions will happen.
I didn’t know that about the Navy though, I just know Naval War College was pretty well sought after. Maybe that’s why.
My understanding was the big promotions are between O-3 and O-4, then O-5 and O-6. I knew a few people who left the at the O-3 level, one of whom told me the gap between Captain and Major was the longest and hardest to bridge. Many leave for greener pastures at that time, apparently, such as Mike Pompeo, who finished first in his class at West Point. I have a coworker who left the Marine Corps as a Lieutenant Colonel. He makes it sound as if he was essentially encouraged to retire after not making Colonel.
I know I’m late to the party. . .
FWIW, the 32E-series of Air Force Specialty Codes (Civil Engineer Officers) required it’s Lieutenants to have an accredited engineering degree back in the late 90s-early aughts. It could be Mechanica, Electrical, Civil, Architecture . . . hell there was even a Landscape Architect in my year group. But to be a 32E, you had to be an Engineer of some sort of flavor. I suspect that requirement still exists.
Once you’re a 32E, though, your experience may vary wildly.
Tripler
32E3E to start, then 32E3H.
O-3 to O-4 is the longest for sure, but “hardest” might just mean “difficult to stomach such a long wait.” especially after spending 4 short years making it to O-3, languishing for the next 7 just for a single grade promotion must feel like an eternity. It’s possible to get promoted 1 or 2 years early, but that 7th year is considered the officer’s “zone year” and that’s when promotion is basically routine and expected. It’s rare for anyone to get promoted at year 8, and not getting picked up in year 7 is the writing on the wall.
It’s then 5 or 6 years to O-5, which is a bit less perfunctory than making it to O-4 (but still really good odds) , but O-6 is when you really need to have stood out. And there’s plenty of competent O-5s who just didn’t stand out, so after their promotion zone has passed they’re just viewed as not making room for other officers coming up through the ranks. Your coworker’s experience sounds very typical.
I feel like you are engaged in a bit of survivorship bias. Yes, promotion to O-4 is super easy, perhaps even “perfunctory” for those O-3s who are in-zone and fully qualified for promotion. Super easy, that is, if you discount all the hardships that lead a great many officers to either (a) self-select and get out prior to being in zone for O-4, or (b) fail to achieve fully-qualified status, which means they won’t even be considered for O-4 if they do stay in.
For my particular community within the Navy, for example, that first department head tour (as a senior O-3) was critical to making O-4. Sure, if you do alright in that tour, you’re pretty much guaranteed to make O-4, but a lot of people… don’t “do alright” in that tour. And doing well enough is hardly an effortless task. It sure isn’t “automatic” or “perfunctory.” People can and do fall out, and when they do it tends to be catastrophic enough to their career that they don’t even make the “fully qualified” threshold to be considered for O-4, much less selected.
The following anecdote is from pre-2001. Being at war changed what should be in your packet to be promoted.
I was going to Armor Officer Basic in 1998. The lead instructor was a very arrogant captain. He obviously thought very highly of himself. The Officer Evaluation Report (OER) he used as an example in class was his own. He had been a general’s aide. He checked off all the early boxes to his career. Then his company level command time was at the school not a line armor company. He figured his career was derailed and destined to end at O5 at best. He resigned halfway through our class and got a job with a defense contractor. The guy who replaced him was a captain that had been relieved of company command for cause. I would have hoped that being selected as a company grade officer to teach new officers would be a prestigious position that would help a career. Just the opposite. The NCOs that actually taught us were great.
As you said the Army also has assignments you have to do well in along the way to make the next level. That’s especially true of the leadership positions. There is a lot of staff time in a career. When you get to actually command troops at the company and battalion level you have to shine. And that’s the time that any flaws in your character and weaknesses in doctrine and leadership shows up. One bad OER can sink your career. Getting bad assignments for leadership positions put you behind your peers.