Posted on Dec 18, 2016
Do you have to have a bachelor's degree to become an officer? Or, can you get away with an associate's degree?
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Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 14
The ARMY has a program where select two year college military schools like NMMI you can get a commission in one of the reserve components. The catch is that you have to have to get a four year degree before Captain or you get dropped from or be forced finish your service commitment as an E-5.
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Not sure if that's still the case but in the Army Reserve it was 32 and 1/2 years old maximum to be a commissioned officer and get commission prior to 35 years old in the Army National Guard. I became an officer at 33 years 9 months. I believe active duty is 28 or 29 years old maximum. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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It used to be that you could attend OCS with as little as 90 credit hours toward a bachelors degree, but would not be able to promote to O-3 without the full degree, but that has since been dropped as needs of the service have changed and the "4-year" bachelors is once again the standard even for admittance into OCS. For ROTC, you will also need the bachelors, and will technically get commissioned on the day prior to graduation. The sole remaining exception is the Early Commissioning Program (ECP), which is only available at select military junior colleges (Wentworth Military Academy, Valley Forge Military College, Marion Military Institute, New Mexico Military Institute, and Georgia Military College), and it commissions you with an Associates degree and a 3-year clock to finish the bachelors at an institution that has a full ROTC (you also must be assigned either Reserve or Guard instead of Active until the bachelors is complete).
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