Starting Officer Basic

Officer Basic Course is not "basic" in the terms most people understand it. In fact, it seems few people even realize how an officer differs from warrant officers and enlisted soldiers (or that there even is a difference).

There are three main groups of people in the US military services today. The enlisted ranks have everything from privates to sergeants and sergeant majors (the latter two being non-commissioned officers or NCOs), and this makes up the bulk of the military in the sense that these are the people that get the job done.

Warrant Officers are specialized experts in very technically-heavy tasks; the best example would be being a helicopter pilot in the Army.

And Commissioned Officers round out the list. These are the managers, and start at second lieutenants (my current rank) and go through captain, major, the colonels, and then the general ranks. These are the leaders at the tops of units (commanders) and the planners of operations (for example: even though the military is predominantly enlisted (6:1 enlisted:officer), at the Pentagon it is reversed, being much more officer-concentrated). The commission comes from Congress, which controls the numbers of officers on active duty, and the three commissioning sources (ROTC, USMA (West Point), and Officer Candidate School (OCS; this is how enlisted soldiers become officers). All officers have a bachelor's degree, and as their ranks increases they increasingly gain professional military and civilian degrees.

As stated, since I'm at Officer Basic, the training we go through is much different than those at "basic," which is the name for enlisted initial training, the stereotypical breaking the body and mind down and rebuilding it as a soldier, seaman, airman, or marine.

Our classes do consist of physical aspects, technical aspects, hand-on aspects. But we also are trained in tactics, planning, and leadership. Because once at a unit, each second lieutenant (2LT) will be in charge of a tank platoon of fifteen or so men and four tanks. And his second in command will be a Sergeant First Class, an NCO with at least 10-15 years experience in the Army.

Just like my friends at Infantry Officer Basic learn all the different machine guns, ultimately it is not the officer's job to maintain or to fire the weapon; if he does, something in combat has gone horribly wrong for him. They must know the basics, but more importantly they must know how to lead the men who will actually pull the trigger in defense of our nation; it is simply the officers who decide when.