Officer Candidate School

Officer Candidate School (OCS) is a type of UNSC military academy that trains enlisted personnel or civilians to become officers. Gaining a record with Colonial Militia experience or high grades in secondary schooling gives individuals a higher chance of enlistment in an OCS. Enlistment age varied between schools, with sixteen being considered average at the Corbulo Academy, but considered very young at the Luna OCS Academy. At some point after 2489, the UNSC mandated that all applicants for officer schools must have some form of field experience, as they would be responsible for managing irreplaceable military equipment and personnel, and later the lives of civilian populations. Preston Cole was among the first admirals to institute it.

The curriculum of the Officer Candidate School is diverse between schools. An OCS curriculum is generally open-minded, allowing cadets to choice between the several different military branches in the UNSC Armed Forces. The time a cadet serves at a school generally lasts four years and includes classroom instruction and field exercises on military science, physical training, and leadership. Although generally meant for any military-capable civilian, some academies featured blatant nepotism. The Corbulo Academy was based around the concept of training the offspring of high-ranked military and government officials as commissioned officers. Some critics suspected that nepotism was the reason that Miranda Keyes excelled at her OCS at a young age, due to her father's respected status in the UNSC and former teaching position at her academy.

Luna OCS Academy, Reach Naval Academy and Corbulo Academy of Military Science were among the most renowned OCS institutions.

Of all OCS Academies, only Reach Naval Academy and Corbulo Academy were known to be destroyed during the Human-Covenant War, requiring the transfer of all their OCS Cadets into other OCS Academies to continue their education.

Notable graduates

 * Lieutenant Dominique
 * Captain Jacob Keyes
 * Captain James Cutter
 * Admiral Preston Cole
 * Lieutenant William Lovell

List of appearances

 * Halo: The Fall of Reach
 * Halo: Contact Harvest
 * Halo: The Cole Protocol
 * Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe
 * The Impossible Life and the Possible Death of Preston J. Cole
 * Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
 * Halo 4
 * Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series
 * Halo Mythos
 * Halo: Fractures
 * A Necessary Truth
 * Halo: Retribution
 * Halo: Silent Storm