Posted on May 17, 2022
Can a soldier's Branch deny releasing him/her after getting picked at the OCS board?
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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??
Posted in these groups: 
Officer Candidate School (OCS) (Army)
Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS)
OCS
HRC
ROTC
Officer Candidate School (OCS) (Army) Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS) OCS HRC ROTC
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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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.
Once you are accepted to a commissioning program, commissioning trumps everything else.
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2LT (Join to see)
MAJ Ken Landgren branch is upset because my packet went up without completing my 60 Months in this MOS. Talked to the someone at HRC and they were already tracking this situation and said branch has no say in it. Only the General Officer incharge of the branch can pull the packet back as there is a provision for GO to do that in regulation. HRC said that that process doesn't happen overnight and they already told the branch if they choose to go that route its going to be a hard sell for the DA. As of right now the packet still stands. Now I wait until August to officially see my name in the list
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MAJ Ken Landgren
2LT (Join to see) - Shoot I put in my OCS packet in AIT. 1.5 years later I was in OCS.
HRC is providing overhead cover for you and I presume they are the orders maker. Those are great circumstances for you. Assuming I am correct, orders for OCS is HRC centric. It appears branch wants to read into the regulations and add their spin to it. If that is true then branch is wrong. Ask HRC what the regulation is pertaining to how much active duty time you need to apply for OCS. I can not imagine HRC is wrong in this matter. Like i said ask them what the regulation states. That should be your final answer, and I think you are going to OCS.
HRC is providing overhead cover for you and I presume they are the orders maker. Those are great circumstances for you. Assuming I am correct, orders for OCS is HRC centric. It appears branch wants to read into the regulations and add their spin to it. If that is true then branch is wrong. Ask HRC what the regulation is pertaining to how much active duty time you need to apply for OCS. I can not imagine HRC is wrong in this matter. Like i said ask them what the regulation states. That should be your final answer, and I think you are going to OCS.
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CW4 Keith Dolliver
SFC (Join to see) - In general SRR's don't apply to officer accessions because that individual is moving to a position of increased responsibility. It's not like they are leaving the service, they are just completing their service in a new capacity. In general, officer accessions trump everything.
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SFC (Join to see)
CW4 Keith Dolliver I understand, I am just pointing out that if the OCS message has something in there about fulfilling certain SRRs to be eligible, as they have some years, his MOS obligation was for five years
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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.
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.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
This is a great narrative laden with facts I could not provide. I went by gut feeling. Well done!
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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.
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