OFFICER TRAINING SCHOOL
In the late 1950s, the four officer sourcesAir Force Academy, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), Officer Candidate School (OCS), and direct commissioning-were not producing the needed mix of skills and knowledge, especially in technical, engineering, and scientific fields. With four-year maturation periods, the Air Force Academy and ROTC were slow in responding to programmed manpower requirements. The Air Force was also reluctant to rely too heavily on direct commissioning. The solution was to tap into a significant manpower pool that had largely been ignored-graduating college seniors who had not participated in ROTC. To train those graduates, the Air Force resurrected a concept tried during World War II-an officer training school (OTS). On I July 1959 the Air Force activated OTS at Lackland AFB. The first class entered OTS on 18 November 1959 and graduated on 9 February 1960. Believing that college graduates needed a shorter, but more intense course than OCS, the Air Force established a three-month course for OTS, versus six months in OCS. At the same time, the Air Force created the Airman Education and Commissioning Program (AECP), allowing qualified airmen to complete degree requirements and earn a commission through OTS.
The OTS system had several advantages over OCS. It provided a more expeditious and responsive procurement system and training costs per - graduate was less. Also, OTS met the Air Forces desire to make a. college degree the minimum educational standard: for its - officers, Officer Training School expanded: rapidly, turning out, 320 graduates in FY 60, 2,265, in FY 62, and 5,371 in FY 63. The school quickly outgrew its quarters on Lackland and in 1961 moved to Medina Base, near Lackland. With the tremendous growth of OTS and the establishment of AECP, OCS was phased out on 1 July 1963.
Officer Training School soon turned into the major supplier of Air Force officers. Not only did OTS absorb OCS's production quotas after 1963, but the Vietnam War soon accelerated officer procurement. At its peak, OTS produced 7,894 officers in FY 67. The unpopularity, of the war on college campuses resulted in significant drops in ROTC enrollment, and OTS had to take up the slack. After the war, AFROTC scholarships proved very attractive and the military became more accepted on campuses. Eventually, the ratio between ROTC and OTS reversed itself, with ROTC doubling and even tripling OTS production. Through 1,992 OTS had produced over 92,000 Air Force officers.
