WASHINGTON (April 15, 2016) - The Army approved requests from 22 women from the Army's three traditional officer accession programs - Officer Candidate School (OCS), Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and the United States Military Academy (USMA) - to enter as 2nd Lieutenants into the Infantry and Armor branches. Thirteen will enter into the Armor branch and nine will enter into the Infantry branch in the coming weeks as commissioning and commencement ceremonies occur across the country.
Commissioning serves as the first step in the process to become a qualified Army officer. After commissioning, women selected to serve in Infantry and Armor will conduct branch-specific initial training for several months at Fort Benning, Georgia. Once the branch-specific training is successfully completed, the officers will report to their first units of assignment qualified to assume duties as platoon leaders in Armor or Infantry units.
All 22 women must complete the remaining training requirements and standards before fully qualifying as Infantry and Armor officers.
The Army is also seeking applications from Army Competitive Category female officers from Year Groups 2014 and 2015 interested in a branch transfer into Infantry or Armor from their current duties. Those selected to serve are expected to be announced near the end of June.
For more information, contact Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk, Army G1 Public Affairs at 703-692-1281 or Jerome.l.pionk.mil@mail.mil.
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