Can a soldier's Branch deny releasing him/her after getting picked at the OCS board?

2LT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 17 May 2022 02:31:44 -0400

Question to all. If a candidates packet for OCS gets picked during a board panel and they reach out to the soldiers branch for his/her release does the branch have the authority/right to say NO they are not releasing the soldier due to Service Remaining Requirement(SRR) or not enough time in his/her MOS or for any other reason?? Is that even an option for the branch to say NO or does HRC/OCS have the final say of picking the soldier??

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 17 at 2022 4:48 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 17 May 2022 04:48:57 -0400

HRC designates in the OCS message who is eligible to apply. If the message says you need to finish your SRR for a specific duty, say drill or recruiting, then those people are not eligible to apply. If it doesn't say anything then HRC has already worked out that the personnel will be released.

Once you are accepted to a commissioning program, commissioning trumps everything else.

Response by Lt Col Timothy Cassidy-Curtis made May 17 at 2022 11:07 AM

Lt Col Timothy Cassidy-Curtis — Tue, 17 May 2022 11:07:12 -0400

This would be a detail that would have been worked out prior to being accepted into OCS.

Response by CPT Chuck Flint made May 18 at 2022 12:12 PM

CPT Chuck Flint — Wed, 18 May 2022 12:12:45 -0400

My response is by no means the official policy of the applicable HRC/Branch but in my opinion an enlisted soldier that has been accepted to go to OCS should not be denied for any reason. This is a long term career change that personnel managers need to consider as such and not deny based on some short term mission requirements. In many cases, missing an OCS class might eliminate the soldier from attending a later class if age or time in service requirements are exceeded. I was Army OCS Class 1-90.

Response by CW4 Keith Dolliver made May 25 at 2022 3:24 AM

CW4 Keith Dolliver — Wed, 25 May 2022 03:24:21 -0400

In short, No. Your assignment manager/branch is in no way related to your accession. Your PCS/TDY/OCS assignment instructions will be cut Officer Accessions which is an entirely different section of HRC. There is an Assignment Manager at HRC that strictly deals with Officer Accessions and arranges your OCS dates and will cut your RFO. After you select a branch in OCS then your BOLC will be arranged by your new branch which will also have an assignment manager that strictly deals with new trainees.

Long story short, your BDE, Branch and everyone in between can complain all they want but there's little they can actually do now. I suggest you find who the officer accessions assignment manager is at HRC and contact them directly. They will be the one to cut your RFO and they will be the ones to run interference for you and put your branch in its place.

As MAJ Ken Landgren said, you're moving on to do bigger and better things and, generally, officer accession trump everything. I was selected for WOCS when I was in Korea after I had already signed an AIP for a 3 year tour and was already receiving the assignment incentive pay. When I submitted my curtailment paperwork to go to WOCS, 8th Army denied the curtailment and said I needed to finish my tour since I was on an approved AIP and receiving pay. I contacted the Warrant Officer Accessions section and they adjusted my DEROS from HRC, cut my RFO, and sent it directly to my servicing MPD to cut my orders... cutting 8th Army out of the process completely.

I've seen people redeploy from combat zones early to make their WOCS/OCS dates... I doubt you'll have any issue with your accession. All that being said though, you're on the radar now and if you rubbed enough people wrong they may be looking for someway to "get" you. Make sure you keep your nose clean until you PCS and don't give them any excuse to flag you or hold up your accession.