So, you want to be an Air Force Officer … and you want to know how to become one. Well, the answer is simple: It depends. Becoming an officer in the United States Air Force depends on where you are in terms of your academic life. There is one thing every Air Force officer has in common with every other officer – a bachelor’s degree.
There are three different ways an individual can become an officer. They’re called commissioning sources. There’s the Air Force Academy, Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), and Officer Training School (OTS). All three ways are completely different, offering their own advantages and disadvantages. However, they all produce second lieutenants for the United States Air Force, so their goals are one in the same.
The Air Force Academy is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. One of the best advantages of the Academy your education is completely paid for by the Air Force. That’s right – no student loans or debt upon graduation. The Air Force Academy also offers a strict military education. Students are in military uniforms every day of the week, are subject to room inspections and uniform inspections, and good old-fashioned physical training (PT). Getting into the Air Force Academy, however, is as competitive as getting into an Ivy League school … and then some. Admission into the United States Air Force Academy requires a nomination from either your congressman or from the vice president. Congressmen can nominate more than one person to the Air Force Academy, but they must designate their primary candidate. The nominations are then followed up by an appointment to the Air Force Academy. Strictly speaking there are approximately 8,000 nominations nationwide for the Air Force Academy and only 2,000 appointments to the Air Force Academy. To start the process, you should write your congressman and express your interest in attending a military academy. Once the process is started you can expect a myriad of hoops to jump through including a military physical, interviews, multiple applications and paperwork, a physical fitness test, and more. Learn more at http://www.usafa.af.mil/.
Reserve Officer Training Corps, more commonly known as ROTC is very unlike the Air Force Academy. There are ROTC detachments at hundreds of state and private universities all across the country. There is a good chance that wherever you are looking at pursuing your secondary education there is a ROTC detachment either associated with that school or one located at a neighboring school. Also, unlike the Air Force Academy, almost anyone can join and participate in ROTC. Think of ROTC as the “try before you buy” commissioning source. You can join ROTC for a year, or even two, before you have to make a commitment to the Air Force. One of the major differences between the Academy and ROTC is when you are in ROTC you are considered a student first, a cadet second. What does that mean? That means you live where you want, study what you want, and wear what you want – just like a regular college student. In addition to your regular college student activities and classes, ROTC usually consists of two to four extra credit hours per semester depending on what year of college you are in. These include an Air Force class either once or twice a week, a lab where you are taught marching and exercise leadership, and a physical fitness class which meets two or three times per week. ROTC offers several different types of scholarships to offset the expenses of college. These scholarships can range from a full ride to a few thousand dollars. When you graduate from college, as long as you completed all of the requirements in ROTC you will receive your commission in the Air Force. And hopefully you had a decent ROTC scholarship to offset those student loans. Learn more at http://www.afrotc.com/.
Officer Training School is a unique 12-week program and is only available to people who already have a bachelor’s degree. Let me reiterate: You must already have a bachelor’s degree before you can be accepted into this program. This commissioning source has an application program much like the Air Force Academy’s – minus the nomination from a Congressman and appointment. OTS, as it is commonly called, commissions the least amount of officers out of the three different commissioning sources and therefore can be very choosy in whom to allow into the program. This 12-week “boot camp” crams in all of the academic material taught over four years of ROTC, as well as teaching each officer trainee how to march, make a bunk, and wear a uniform. The training is held at Maxwell AFB in
Alabama- so expect to sweat a little. Learn more atwww.afoats.af.mil/OTS/.
No matter which commissioning source you coose, everyone enters the Air Force as a second lieutenant. So decide which path is best for you, and “Cross Into the Blue”.
