I didn't realize so many were waiting for my rant on this subject. Well here goes. First off please let me say I have nothing against the SMCs'. I'm certain they , like all commissioning sources turn out excellent, good and bad officers. That being said.....
Here is the law: (only applies to Army ROTC at a SMC)
(e)Assignment to Active Duty.—
(1)
The Secretary of the Army shall ensure that a graduate of a senior military college who desires to serve as a commissioned officer on active duty upon graduation from the college, who is medically and physically qualified for active duty, and who is recommended for such duty by the professor of military science at the college, shall be assigned to active duty.
(2)
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Secretary of the Army from requiring a member of the program who graduates from a senior military college to serve on active duty.
The above is an "out", an "exception to the rule" afforded to an SMC graduate that is not afforded to other non SMC Army ROTC cadets. Because of this provision 86 " below the line" ( substandard) SMC cadets will go AD thus displacing 86 non SMC cadets who wanted to go AD and likely had higher OML scores. ALL ROTC cadets have 4 years to prove themselves worthy of AD ( if that's the path they choose). In the end if your OML is not high enough you should be placed in the non AD group like all others . As I and many other have said in the past, "The standard is the standard, no exceptions"! There are several "non-negotiable" circumstances that happen in the military everyday Don't have a high enough SAT/ACT.... no admission into AROTC , GPA goes below a certain level for a certain period of time... disenrollment, fail APFT ....no contract, cannot maintain passing AFPT score while contracted..... disenrollment. To the best of my knowledge in none of these instances can the PMS override the standard and allow the cadet to move on, yet if one goes to an SMC the standard ( OML) is of no concern.
At the end of the day I want the most qualified officer the Army has in its ranks leading our troops, not the one that is promoted simply because of where they went to college.