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I've wondered how civilians became Imperial Officers. I know that there's an Imperial Academy, but does the Empire have OTS or programs similar to ROTC?

They've mentioned the sons of nobility and other assorted rich folks getting appointed to officer positions. Aside from that, I imagine most officers start in the ranks and work their way up, as usual... most of them probably wouldn't be clones, though, so there may be an annual selection process to pick the most promising NCO's for OCS.

What? You're saying there's no way just enter OCS? That's retarded.

Stark wrote:What? You're saying there's no way just enter OCS? That's retarded.

Isn't that what Han Solo did during his brief tenure as an Imperial?

Noble Ire wrote:Isn't that what Han Solo did during his brief tenure as an Imperial?

Yeah, in the Han Solo trilogy, it's mentioned that he went to the academy and became a bridge officer. I can't quiet remember entirely, but I think he became a navigations officer. I'll see if I can pull out the series during the week and track down where it mentions his tenure in the Imperial service.

I would assume that it would work similarly to our (U.S.) system.
Advanced education College/University beyond regular schooling.
Excellent scores in whatever standardized testing they have for determining what you MOS would be.
Time in service with outstanding ratings and a request/recomandation to OCS.

Noble Ire wrote:

Stark wrote:What? You're saying there's no way just enter OCS? That's retarded.

Isn't that what Han Solo did during his brief tenure as an Imperial?

Han Solo went to the Imperial Academy.

OTS (Air Force) and OCS (Army, Navy, Marine Corps) are for civilians or Enlisted personel with a college education to become Officers.

Stark wrote:What? You're saying there's no way just enter OCS? That's retarded.

There is, apparently, in a Planets of the Galaxy (WEG), a brief mention of an Imperial Officer's School for such a thing

Not that they need it anyway. You might remember that the Sector Naval Academy's course itself (as opposed to the more prestigious Imperial Naval Academy) is only a single year. They might as well go there.

As for ROTC, I don't think they have a ROTC program. Personally, I don't really understand the value of ROTC beyond being a cost-cutting measure.

Besides, ROTC won't work in the Imperial Military System. A ROTC would grant its graduates a "medium military education" and a "higher degree". With only a single year, the Imperial Academies can only grant a "medium military education". It simply won't do to have ROTC create clearly more highly qualified graduates than the Academies themselves!

Any ROTC would likely follow the Soviet pattern, in which (at least from what I inferred from V. Suvorov/Rezun's Liberators) the training would be short, theoretical and rather inadequate.