SPRINGFIELD, IL (07/28/2013)(readMedia)-- Six Illinois National Guard Soldiers graduated the South Dakota Army National Guard's Accelerated Officer Candidate School July 26 at Mount Rushmore, S.D.
"The Accelerated Officer Candidate School is a high paced, intense officer training course, which takes enlisted Soldiers and shapes them into the commissioned leaders of tomorrow's National Guard," said Col. Tom Weiss of Sherman, the commander of the 129th Regiment, Regional Training Institute (RTI) in Springfield, Ill. "Each of these Soldiers have proved themselves ready to be part of the next generation of leaders in the Illinois Army National Guard."
Officer Candidates Dustin Anderson of Preemption, Robert Boney of Columbia, Amanda Bruni of Troy, Jonathan Logemann of Chicago, Jonathan Miller of Chicago and Garrett Nevious of Marion were selected to attend the accelerated class in South Dakota through the Illinois National Guard's Pre-Officer Candidate School program at the 129th Regiment, Regional Training Institute (RTI) in Springfield, Ill.
The graduates were among 52 officer candidates from nearly 20 states and the U.S. territory of Guam hoping to earn a commission in the Army National Guard Officer Corps.
The six graduates will be among the 34 Illinois Army National Guard officer candidates from this year's accelerated and traditional OCS classes to become second lieutenants at the 129th RTI's officer commissioning ceremony to be held Aug. 25 at the Springfield High School in Springfield, Ill.
The accelerated OCS program is an eight-week fulltime training program where as the traditional OCS program is a one-weekend-a-month for 18 months program plus two, two-week long training sessions.
The Illinois National Guard's OCS program has commissioned nearly 140 officers since 2010.
