I want to become an officer. Should I go Green to Gold or drop a packet for OCS?

Green to Gold is basically an ROTC program and you don't need it. OCS is an Option, but it's a full time resident course, but it's only 90 days. Be aware that for Active Duty OCS Officers, they let you make a wish list for Branch, but it's needs of the Army. The Basics Courses are better, depending on your Branch. I Branched Infantry when I commissioned and what was then IOBC was extremely busy, plus we lived in the woods on FTX about 1/3 of the Time. If you are wanting to know if you will have more time off as an Officer than as Enlisted, the answer is no.

In your military career there will be many periods of time where you will have little to no contact with your family. Every school, field problem, JRTC rotation, and deployment is going to take you away from your family whether or not you're enlisted or an officer. But it also provides outstanding medical coverage that you won't find easily or cheaply as a civilian, so that's the tradeoff.

You don't get to choose your branch when you commission. It doesn't really have any effect on your time once you're past your PL time. Whatever branch you are - XO, Company Commander, and Staff time look very similar in all different types of units.

You'll get the most off time as a junior enlisted Soldier. It might look like your Senior leaders aren't working hard, but they're fixing everyone else's problems before you wake up in the morning and after you've fallen asleep on the weekends. After all, who do you think it is that is getting the call about a drunk Soldier at 3 am on a Saturday morning because of a DUI or a domestic violence? The same people who get yelled at because they have to track if you're current on your MEDPROS, PRR, SGLI, DD93, Dental, ACFT, APFT, Ht/Wt, Weapons Qual, NCOERs, Awards, MEC, and all the other things the Army tracks.

OCS will be shorter. 12 weeks and you’re done. After that you have your follow on Basic Officer course, but if it’s not Infantry it shouldn’t be too bad. Just make sure to let your OCS cadre know about your family situation. One of my candidates (prior E-7) had a similar situation and we allowed him to go home every weekend. It will vary but we did make attempts to help when candidates had exceptional issues. Now, OCS is a TDY school if you’re in-service so you family will not be able to move down here unless you want to pay out of pocket, but even then you would have to go back to your previous unit and PCS from there. But if you’re looking at it from, what’s the quickest route, then OCS will be your best bet.