Military Review English Edition March-April 2014 | Page 39

JUNIOR OFFICER DEVELOPMENT
The likelihood of that officer remaining past an
initial term of service is higher than that of an officer with no previous experience. This is validated
by recent scholarship on officer retention rates
over the past decade across all commissioning
sources. Research shows that Officer Candidate
School officers with prior enlisted service remain
in the Army at the highest rate. In contrast, U.S.
Military Academy and Reserve Officer’s Training Course four-year scholarship officers, both
with relatively low cadet populations of prior
enlisted soldiers, maintain the lowest retention
rates.11

…a junior officer with previous
military experience is more committed to the organization, as
well as the reverse, since the
occupational screening process
has already occurred.

The occupational screening process occurs over
time and covers formative career milestones. For
example, a junior officer with previous military
experience has already attended and graduated
from basic and advanced individual training, been
awarded a military occupational specialty, served
in a unit with both peer soldiers and supervisory
noncommissioned and commissioned officers, and
applied for acceptance into a pre-commissioning
source. This period of service is more than a
number of years or months: it is evidence or the
assumption of positive adaptation to the specific
military culture, acquisition of a range of basic
individual technical skills, and possible mastery
of a few. It shows a sense of commitment to the
Army, since the soldier chooses to remain in
service and become an officer, which is a strong
suggestion that the soldier finds the military profession agreeable.
MILITARY REVIEW

March-April 2014

Martin van Creveld, the noted Israeli military historian, found our system of screening potential junior
officers problematic when he wrote, “The outstanding feature of the road toward earning a commission
in the United States is that most future officers are
designated as such even before they are taken in to
the forces.”12 The occupational screening for officers
created in this manner occurs by necessity during
and after implementation, placing additional stress
on the organization as well as on the individual.
In short, neither the Army nor the individual has
chosen the other prior to placement in a direct
leadership position.
Competence. Second, a junior officer with prior
military experience has more technical competence
and requires less train-up on individual and collective
skills. In speaking abo