Am I eligible to become an officer through OTS/OCS if I'm 37 with no previous military experience?

Joey Fredrick — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 13:35:20 -0400

I’m 37 years old civilian with no military experience and interested in OTS. Am I too old? My research tells me the process can take years.

Response by MAJ Byron Oyler made Aug 31 at 2024 3:05 PM

MAJ Byron Oyler — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 15:05:04 -0400

Without a major conflict and increased need for officers, yes you are too old. They do make exceptions for specialty career fields however generally for those fields you do not need OTS.

Response by COL Randall C. made Aug 31 at 2024 4:46 PM

COL Randall C. — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 16:46:41 -0400

The definitive answer to all questions about eligibility to join the military is "talk to a recruiter" as they will have the knowledge about all the exceptions and alternatives.

Depending on the Service, the component and (for the Air Force) the type of officer, it will differ. All this is assuming that you already have the educational requirements to attend OCS (varies by Service/Component). Note: This is specific to OTS/OCS as "how old is too old to be commissioned as an officer" has a lot of different answers depending on source of commission, Service, etc.

Note: By law, the oldest a non-prior service individual can be when they enter the military is 42 (it was just raised last year), however, for most Services 37 is too old to join (regardless of enlisted or officer). For example, the Army (all components) requires you to be under 35, but the Air Force goes to the maximum age (under 42).

Specific to OTS/OCS for the Active Component (i.e., Active Duty):
● Army - Yep, too old. For the Regular Army you must be under 32 at the time of your commissioning.
● Air Force - You're too old if you want to become a Rated Officer* such as a pilot, Combat Systems Officer, or a Air Battle Manager. For Non-Rated officers*, you have to be under 40 at the time of your commissioning.
● Navy - Yep, too old. You must be under 37 at the time of your commissioning.
● Marines - If you're older than 28 they don't even want to talk to you.
● Space Force - You go through Air Force OTS.

For the National Guard (Air and Army) there are Federal and State rules regarding OCS/OTS. GENERALLY the requirements align with the Service rules, however, state OCS/OTS schools may have different eligibility. You'll have to check with a recruiter (or just do some internet searching) as it can vary from state to state. For example, the Colorado National Guard requires you to be under 35 when you join and commission prior to 42, but the Hawai'i Army National Guard only requires that you commission before your 42nd birthday.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 31 at 2024 5:34 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 17:34:14 -0400

Unless it is a specialty like Doctor etc, my guess would be no. The cut off used to be 35 when I was in. But the rules could have changed.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 31 at 2024 8:21 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 20:21:02 -0400

There might be a Hail Mary Path with the Army Reserve path. I wasn't pinned as 2nd LT until the age of 42, 7 months, and 8 days as a QUARTERMASTER!!!!! This will never be an Active Duty option.

I was however "selected" at for commission before age 42. Had my commissioning medical been cleared at the time of selection I wouldn't have burned up 7 months.

I was 38 when I enlisted and 39 when I shipped to basic. So the OP has a year on me.

Right now it looks like 39 is the enlistment age cut off, while it could go up to 42 per law. The Army changes that based on recruiting needs.
https://recruiting.army.mil/recruiter/eligibility_requirements/

So you could enlist in the USAR and direct commission later as long is you sneak it in before age 42. However, you don't know that until you take the risk, enlist, go through BCT/AIT, get to your unit, spend about a year building rapptor with your leadership and then finally linking up with the Accessions Program for Officers and Warrants.

Don't be picky, and don't take risks. I got lucky I had an extra year, and wasted my first opportunity chasing a military intelligence officer path. There were 12 vacancies in the state, and I wasn't selected. Then I managed to get one more chance and lucky to get an age waver to get through the process.

Now, I got my waiver because of my age I already had 4 years in, and at the time of the waiver I had already checked every single box in the process. The next step was to simply get pinned 2LT and go to BOLC. So the USAR could either grant the waiver, or not, and my enlistment would be up and I'd go my sperate way with my DD214.

So what I'm saying is if you chase a direct commission in a regular branch (non medical, legal, chaplain) chase the vacancies. When I tried a second time, Quartermaster had over 200 LT/CPT vacancies in my state alone. The USAR was never ever going to even remotely fill those slots.

Now, the Warrant Officer Path is probably much safer. One can become an Active Duty Warrant Officer up till age 46, and with 5 years prior enlisted and NCO experience that is very realistic for a high speed low drag soldier.

If you try my USAR path I experienced two things can happen.
1) They can shut off the direct commission program after you enlist
2) They can also turn on the direct commission program after you enlist.

It's a crap shoot, and honestly, I didn't appreciate how lucky I was until I learned how the system works. I got SOOOOOOOO lucky.

If I knew all the risks and moving pieces I do now when I enlisted I would have totally committed to the Warrant Officer path. I went down the Officer path naively, and lucked out.

Eligibility Requirements

The official website for the Army Recruiting Command (USAREC)

Response by SPC Christopher Perrien made Sep 2 at 2024 9:39 AM

SPC Christopher Perrien — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 09:39:00 -0400

In the 1990's the cut-off for ROTC, was 27. I was former active and still in USNG and in college when I put my request in 1991 . I was 23-24. About 4 years later 1994, the Army finally replied to my request saying I could go ROTC, And they called me, I told the dude , "Well, I turned 27 6 months ago." LOL . And of course , he knew that was "no-go" . So the Army lost , their chance to to make a great tanker, into a Tank Rider , LOL. In the end , I was was happy about the irony. Because all that GWOT-BS I would have become involved in after DS, would not have sat right with me. I lost 3 comrades in that stupid "Desert Storm" and they died for nothing. If they had called me sooner than 4 years later , and I had become an officer , and saw all the bull I think I would have resigned. Stay out of the US Military , Joey Frederick.
It is a joke. But if you want to ride a possible benefit train to a gov pension, that is your business and I have no problem with that. Most of the US military is now a "Job Corps" anyway. Good Luck. As I said ,I only known 27 as the officer cut-off. maybe it has changed. Excuse the rant /Ramble.

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made Sep 3 at 2024 10:00 AM

SSgt Christophe Murphy — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 10:00:19 -0400

What did the recruiter say when you spoke to them? Recruiters will have all of the latest news, rules and policies to answer your questions about age, waivers and the like.

Response by SFC Kelly Fuerhoff made Sep 3 at 2024 12:44 PM

SFC Kelly Fuerhoff — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 12:44:37 -0400

Did you go talk to a recruiter before coming here? They have the most current info.

Response by PFC Rizzo Kenickie made Sep 4 at 2024 12:26 AM

PFC Rizzo Kenickie — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:26:47 -0400

Was in BCT with a late 30s barely 40s female going straight to OCS. She was headed to the Army band afterwards. Two other OCS candidates one early 20s and another close to mid 30s... but after talking to them seems like where they're headed plays a big part. Oldest female- band
Younger female- had a business/accounting degree but had no idea where she would land
Old'ish male- was a doctor in Ghana. They accepted his education but not his license to practice