 Combat today is more complex, more swift in its movement than ever before in military history. And the training of today must provide skills, weapons know-how, overall capability that is far beyond anything demanded by the challenges of the past. Then to the global military commitments of the United States Army in the 1960s make necessary an establishment the size and power and versatility of which the world has never seen. Forces prepared through intensive physical and technical training to meet any challenge at any time with a measured response. Forces ready and able to go anywhere on earth at a moment's notice taking with them all they must have to make their action decisive. The effective functioning of such a vast and varied operation does not just happen. The coordination of all factors, movement, communications, supply and resupply and the disciplined action of a team's large and small which carry combat to the enemy. All this takes leaders and leadership does not just happen. Today one of the prime sources of the junior officers who provide this leadership is the Army's officers candidate school system, OCS. And the record these OCS trained officers have achieved is a proud one. Few people realize how far back that record goes. Many of us remember the OCS operation of World War II but actually it began in 1917. The first class graduated in August of that year and two of its members went on to wear the four stars of a full general Walter Bedell Smith and Johnny Ho. When the OCS concept went into action again in 1941 it was in response to a desperate need for leaders in a world conflict much faster in scope than World War I. And it met that need. OCS turned out half a million officers during World War II. Today this emblem still stands for a source of dedicated professionally skillful junior leaders and the magnificent they're doing around the world speaks for itself. Just how they're trained for that global job is the subject of today's big picture. Okay, move out. Leaders have spotlighted the vital role of the Army's officer candidate school program. Three Army service schools are now conducting officer candidate courses for various branches of the service. The infantry officer candidate school at Fort Benning trains candidates in the professional skills required of a second lieutenant in the infantry. In addition, the school commissions officers in branches which do not have an OCS program such as military police, intelligence, chemical, finance and adjutant general. In the two other officer candidate schools students are trained in the basic combat skills and in specialized subjects as well. The artillery and missile OCS at Fort Sill teaches candidates how to use every type of Army artillery from Howitzers to free rockets and ground to ground missiles. At the engineer OCS at Fort Belvoir candidates learn the specialized subjects pertaining to that branch. Building bridges, roads, combat construction, demolitions, laying and breaching minefields. From these three schools, young officers are also provided for further training in other military specialties. Quartermaster, ordnance, signal, transportation, armor. These schools are turning out an impressive flow of well-trained and highly motivated young officers who are serving with distinction in Army units throughout the world. To illustrate some of the great variety of courses which make up the six month curriculum and to show how leadership potential is developed we will follow a young candidate through one of the officer candidate schools. In this example, infantry OCS at Fort Benning the high training standards maintained at Fort Benning are typical of those at all officer candidate schools. I'm Bill Sand and I'm after the infantry OCS at Fort Benning, Georgia. I guess it wasn't until I said goodbye to some of the guys that going to officer candidate school became real to me and not just a wild hope I'd been sweating out for weeks. I got a real charge when I passed through the Fort Benning gate and got my first look at the infantry school building. That giant statue of the infantry man really hit you. Maybe in six months I was on my shoulders too and be wearing that infantry school patch. Follow me. Whoever thought of that slogan hit it just right. It was all I could do to keep up with the rush of things that first week. It all started with a hearty warm welcome by the tactical officer for the platoon. I was about to lose my hard-earned PFC strike and now I was getting my first good look at the guy who was going to keep an eagle eye on me through OCS. During those first four weeks he was always there making corrections, prodding, coaxing. Much later I was to realize how important this transition period was in preparing us for the pressure of the weeks ahead. We must have drawn our weight or double in equipment and manual. That's my roommate, candidate Williams. We wondered how we could ever sort out all this stuff and put everything in its proper place. We didn't have long to wonder. That is a senior officer candidate. He has the duty of orienting all new candidates. He is telling us in his own gentle, coaxing manner that there is a regulation for the placement of each item. This was our first lesson in how to organize ourselves an important step in learning leadership. You learn how to do in minutes what used to take you hours where time is precious. You get up running early in the morning to keep up with the long day ahead and you stay running as part of your daily physical training. You feel you're getting close to perpetual motion. Every step is carefully regimented even when you stop. In the chow line each candidate stands approximately 40 inches from the man in front of it. However, you're given plenty of time to eat three full meals daily without any harassment or hazing from upperclassmen. You're expected to conduct yourself as a gentleman here as well as everywhere else. And if the candidate needs instruction in the social graces it is given in a positive and constructive manner. The first four weeks of the course were tough but with the fifth week they really began to pour it on. It all took on meaning, however, when we heard a talk by the battalion commander. He told us a lot of things about OCS, the honor code and so on but the main thing was, he explained, that the purpose of the school is to produce infantry officers who have the will and the capacity to lead men in combat. That the seemingly endless details are to teach prospective officers to remember the little things that may make a vital difference on the battlefield. That the endless pressure is to harden men to stand up to the much more critical pressure of combat. When men's lives are at stake and success in battle depends on an officer's steadiness of mind under fire. It all adds up to one word that becomes a part of your brain and your gut. It's leadership. Leadership, leadership, emphasized unceasingly. The battalion commander gave us the inspiration alright but what would make it pay off was perspiration. The tools of an infantry officer's trade are weapons and tactics and we went to work to learn them. Qualifying with the rifle, firing on a train fire range and pop up targets and then assault fire. The M60 machine gun served weapons like the 81 millimeter mortar the 90 millimeter recoilless rifle, the 106 recoilless rifle. We learned the trick of firing tracer rounds for spotting stationery and moving targets before letting go the money punch. We got lots of map reading, learning terrain association. In this problem you find your place on the map from the contour lines in the blow up on the terrain board. Many hours of communications instruction. Everything from how to prepare a military message to proper radio telephone procedure. Lessons in air mobility, exciting stuff. Instruction in ground mobility. Ranging from the tactical use of infantry vehicles like these armored personnel carriers to their maintenance and care. It isn't all weapons and tactics however. We get bigger little doses of almost everything else. Preventive maintenance. Military history. Company supply procedures. Army organization. Cold war operations. You name it. Plus quizzes and exams all the way through. The primary emphasis however is on leadership training. The platoon tack officer is the one who really keeps the leadership heat on. And he's never tougher, more watchful or more critical than when you take over a command position. You get at least six tours of duty as either company commander, executive officer, first sergeant, platoon leader, platoon sergeant, or squad leader. You don't get too swelled up over these command insignia you're wearing. Big brother is watching. You've got to keep that platoon looking smart and marching smart. Lieutenant Abla is always ready to help you do just that. Every subject, every lesson has leadership meaning. I think that drill was just to learn how to march. But as an officer candidate, you're taught and you teach proper procedure in teaching drill. You learn how to give orders and how to get the job done. The way you do it adds up to your leadership rating. He's as nervous as a wet hen. There goes the tack officer writing an OR, an observation report on him. You get to know what those ORs mean when you report to the tack officer for a counseling session. These are held at least once a week. You'll find after a while that the tack officer is tough but fair. He'll do everything he can to help you in academic or leadership subjects. But it's you who've got to cut the mustard. You learn that you must know how to accept discipline before you can require it from others. The demerit system is used to help maintain the high standards of OCS. Too many demerits result in loss of privileges. You are evaluated three times during the course. Besides the tack officer, there's the company commander and your fellow candidates too. It all adds up to whether you continue to move along in OCS or not. The 11th week is critical. That's when the first leadership evaluation is made by your company officers. Candidates who do not meet leadership standards are identified. They may be turned back to another class or dropped from the course. Williams was one of the doubtful ones. You'll get another chance in a different class. Now they begin to pour on the tactics real heavy. Lessons in terrain analysis. Then into the field to put the classroom stuff to work. You learn how to use the rifle squad and the weapon squad. Both defensively and on the offense. Setting up a base of fire. Using fire and maneuver to knock out an enemy's stronghold. I learned that your performance in these tactical situations is the most important factor in evaluating your leadership ability. We moved up to study platoon tactics. With me running this problem. Enemy position ahead. You'll move up to make an estimate of the situation. To consider enemy strength, weapons, fortifications and many other factors. You have to think fast and right. Thank God for training. Call your squad leaders to meet you at a designated location. When you've assembled your squad leaders, you issue your attack order. Here's where you apply the principles of tactics you've learned. The attack order must be clear, concise and complete. Following the outline of a five paragraph field order. How you perform here is most important. The attack officer will rate you on your ability to make sound decisions. If they are the right ones, your platoon will overcome the enemy position. The decisions were right. Leadership training paid off. It paid off in advancement too. I became a senior in the 18th week. Along with the rest of my classmates who made the grade. As a senior candidate, I was entitled to wear the blue helmet liner. I was now a full-fledged blue. I could walk instead of run in the company area. And man, did it feel good to get a salute from a lower classman. You could almost feel those officers' bars growing on your shoulders. Your responsibilities grew too. You've got to set an example for lower classmen. And you'd better be sharper than ever. Leadership ratings and panels go right through the final weeks of OCS. So does the pressure. Like this obstacle course set up by ranger instructors. They call it the physical confidence course. And you're entitled to the feeling. Since you have to go through the course twice. We knew we were on the home stretch when we began a series of problems in infantry company tactics. A mechanized rifle company attack in armored personnel carriers. Backed up by tanks and supporting arms in a combined operation. Teamwork. Blasting away to neutralize enemy fire. Riflemen deployed from the APCs to successfully overrun the enemy. For me the exercise was the high spot of OCS. Suddenly you're standing your last inspection. It's the 23rd week. You're almost there. It's graduation day. The main event takes place in the beautiful George C. Marshall Auditorium in the school building. Speeches by distinguished guests. The top 10% of the class receive their graduation certificates first. They are known as distinguished graduates. This honor entitles them to special consideration for regular army commissions and also in the choice of assignments. The man who is number one in his class, the honor graduate, receives his award. He sure had to work for it. A special award goes to the candidate who proved himself tops in leadership. You know that man is going places. Then your own big moment. Getting that precious certificate that says officially you are a second lieutenant in the army of the United States. Bearing in. You try to play it cool, but you know it's the biggest you've ever had. It marks the successful end of the toughest but most rewarding six months of your life. But this was only the beginning for Lieutenant Bill Sands. The beginning of an experience which will provide him with unlimited challenges and opportunities as an officer in the United States Army. He has shown that he has what it takes to graduate from an Army officer candidate school. He has good reason for looking forward to the future with anticipation and confidence as a leader of men. What he has become. When he arrives in a combat zone, he is ready. For six rugged months through OCS, his determination has been tried, his stamina tested, his natural potential forged into professional competence. He is prepared whatever his military specialization to go where the job needs doing and get it done. As an artillery officer, he is ready to handle the complexities of providing fire support to ground units in action. Armor OCS will have prepared him to take his part in wielding the tough and mobile firepower which is now his specialty. The fast moving and hard hitting ground cavalry of the 20th century. As an engineer OCS graduate, he may be involved in construction projects which are truly massive in scope and essential to the success of combat forces in the field. He may share in the building of a working harbor from ranks of high capacity piers to the complex of administration buildings, barracks, buses and the rest without which the great harbor could not function. A harbor whose capacity and monthly tonnage traffic equals that of many commercial harbors of the world. Here too the quartermaster officer may help in the mountainous task of seeing to the supply needs of units throughout the combat zone. Tons of equipment and materiel must be stored in stockpiled economically and safely, moved to their destinations promptly. This is what the quartermaster officer has been trained to do. Supplying and maintaining the army's firepower is a function of the ordnance branch and its officers are trained to supervise the repair of weapons. The replenishment of ammunition supplies. The sustaining of the massive firepower of today's combat army. The movement of all this vital equipment and materiel and indeed of the men themselves will be the concern of the officer of the transportation corps. All of these specialized skills, these specific areas of training and ability combine to make possible the overall combat effectiveness of the army in the field. And in every aspect of all this, leadership is what makes success possible. Officers whose training befits them to guide men, to use the newest weapons and equipment and tactics, to carry out the mission of the soldier, to close with and destroy the enemy. The effectiveness of any fighting force depends in the end upon its leadership. And leadership, though its potential is greater in some men than others, depends in large degree upon training. That leadership is something that can be learned and taught. The success of the officer's candidate training program has proved beyond doubt and proved it where it counts on the field of battle. The junior officer of today's army, when he completes the six months of rigorous physical and mental and technical training that is OCS, has earned his position as an officer by his sweat and his demonstrated skill and professional competence. And he has earned as well the thanks and respect of the nation in whose defense he is ready to use that skill and competence.