Officer Development School

This is the Document Release Information
Article Number:	7CAV-R-XXX
Scope:	Officer Development School (ODS)
Version:	Version 1.0
Effective Date:	XX DEC 18
Last Modified Date:	DDMMMYYYY
Approving Authority:	Regimental Commanding Officer
Point of Contact:	Regimental Chief of Staff

Section 1: Overview

Purpose:
The purpose of this document is to lay out the standards for the selection, training and evaluation of potential officer candidates.

Authority:
The Regimental Chief of Staff is the Officer in Charge of the Officer Development School and is the final authority on grading of officer candidates and commissioning new Second Lieutenants.

Section 2: ODS Selection

Selection begins with an ODS announcement. This is done when the eligibility lists for any of the MOS' are low on numbers. The flow for selection is as follows:

• ODS Announcement - A class announcement is posted.
• PM Sent to BN and Company Staff assigning the number of open slots per company.
• Company Staff confer with Platoon Staffs and fill slots.
• Confirmation PM sent by ODS to candidates.

Section 3: ODS Training

Training is conducted over a 3 day period, usually consecutive weekends. Training covers the following:

• Day 1 - Duties & Responsibilities:
  • Role of the Platoon Leader
  • Relationship with the Platoon Sergeant
  • Regimental SOPs
  • Duties and Responsibilities of the Platoon Leader
  • Billet Promotion SOPs and Guidelines
  • Training and Training Plans

• Day 2 - Plans and Orders:
  • METT-TC
  • Troop Leading Procedures
  • Operations Orders

• Day 3 - Managing Subordinates:
  • Building Morale and Motivating Troopers
  • The Disciplinary Process
  • Scenario Discussion

Section 4: ODS Evaluation

There are three parts to the ODS evaluation, corresponding to each day of training:

• Test 1: Candidates are required to submit an essay on the principles of leadership and what it means to be a leader in the Regiment.
• Test 2: Candidates must complete a plan for the movement and maneuver of a platoon in a mission scenario provided.
• Test 3: Candidates must complete a plan for the improvement of an existing platoon or the development of a new platoon.

Scoring:

• Scoring is standardized and is heavily weighted towards original ideas and their ability to communicate their ideas/plans. Each test is scored out of 100 and then averaged.

Section 5: ODS Ranking

Successful candidates are placed on an eligibility list, ranked in order of their scores on the evaluations.