{"id":57133,"date":"2020-11-11T09:07:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T15:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=57133"},"modified":"2020-11-11T09:07:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T15:07:48","slug":"new-ocs-program-under-way-at-fort-hays-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=57133","title":{"rendered":"New OCS program under way at Fort Hays State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military-connected students now have the opportunity to complete Officer Candidate School (OCS) training as a result of a new partnership between Fort Hays State University and the Kansas Army National Guard (KSARNG). In addition, all students will be able to learn more about the military experience by taking Military Science classes through the Department of Leadership Studies before they commit to the OCS program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain CPT Lonnie McIntyre, a platoon\ntrainer\/instructor for the 1st Battalion, 235th Regiment (OCS\/WOCS) in Salina,\nwas assigned to the FHSU instructor\u2019s position by the Kansas National Guard\nearlier this year and made the trip to Hays for FHSU\u2019s first class this\nsemester. Fundamentals of Soldiering was an eight-week face-to-face course, and\nthree more classes will be available in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OCS is one of the U.S. Army\u2019s primary\ntraining programs for prospective Army officers. The\nprogram is generally open to qualified enlisted service members,\nnoncommissioned officers and civilians who hold \u2013 or have nearly completed\n\u2013 a four-year college degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Seth Kastle, assistant professor of Leadership Studies and the university\u2019s\ndirector of military program innovation, also wants to give all students\nthe opportunity to explore a possible military career without a long-term\ncommitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are tremendous\nopportunities for career advancement with the Kansas Army National Guard and\nbeing a commissioned officer,\u201d Kastle said. Candidates who successfully complete the\nrigorous OCS program receive formal commissions in the Kansas Army National\nGuard (KSARNG) as Second Lieutenants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candidates wishing to\ncomplete the FHSU OCS program must be current members of the KSARNG, who have\ncompleted 90 college credit hours, basic combat training, and OCS Phase I in\nSalina. During their senior year of college, candidates will complete two\ncourses, one in each of the fall and spring semesters which will comprise Phase\nII of the commissioning process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two courses for Phase\nII are Platoon and Staff\nLeadership I and II, which will be offered for the first time in spring 2021.\nFundamentals of Soldiering will be moved online for the spring semester, and\nMilitary Leadership Development will also be available next spring. All classes\nother than Platoon and Staff Leadership I and II are available to all FHSU\nstudents without incurring a commitment to the KSARNG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other courses being developed are:\nIntroduction to The U.S. Army, Military Instruction, Army Physical Fitness and\nNutrition and Basic Army Field Training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon graduating from FHSU,\nOfficer Candidates will attend Phase III of OCS at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in\nWashington State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis program is just one\nof several examples of FHSU pursuing new and innovative ways to engage the\nmilitary and better serve current and former members of our nation\u2019s armed\nforces,\u201d Kastle said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A native of North Carolina, who has been\nin the military for more than 25 years, McIntyre became interested in the\nmilitary at a young age after attending his older sister\u2019s graduation from the\nbasic trailing when he was 8 years old. He began his career in 1993 with the\nNorth Carolina National Guard and said his experience there made him realize\nthe military could be a rewarding career. He went\non to serve in the active duty Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, the Air Force\nReserve and the U.S. Army Reserve before receiving his commission through the\nArmy National Guard Officer Candidate School. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McIntyre, who has received\nnumerous federal military awards and decorations, earned a Bachelor of Arts in\nLiberal Arts from Ashford (Calif.) University and a Master of Arts in Executive\nLeadership from Liberty (Va.) University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFHSU is extremely fortunate\nto have an officer and leader the caliber of CPT McIntyre to lead this\npartnership and the OCS Program,\u201d Kastle said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McIntyre moved to Salina two years ago\nand was pleased to be assigned to the FHSU instructor\u2019s position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are all looking forward to growing\nthe program, and everyone at Fort Hays State has been great to work with and\nhas been very supportive,\u201d he said. \u201cThis will definitely help students wishing\nto complete the OCS and also will help any student make some informed decisions\nand learn about all the opportunities that a military career can offer.\u201d\n\nMore information about the OCS program can be\nfound at fhsu.edu\/ocs.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS Military-connected students now have the opportunity to complete Officer Candidate School (OCS) training as a result of a new partnership between Fort… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11722],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/OCS20Program20Mcintyre20Image20NEWS.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57135,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57133\/revisions\/57135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}