[pmulcahy11b]

Boy, that's hardcore -- having to go to Sandhurst on top of an officer training program...that's like going to West Point on top of going ROTC...

When you get a commission through ROTC, only the top 20% of graduates get Regular Army commissions -- the rest get Reserve commissions. The Army can basically keep you on Active Duty as long as they're happy with you (to a minimum of two years), though after six years of combined Regular Army and Reserve Duty, you're considered to have completed your commitment. If you get a Regular Army commission you're obligated for six years. West Point, Annapolis, and Air Force Academy commissions are all Regular Army or other military commissions. OCS commissions are similar to ROTC commissions.

If an officer is not picked up at any point in his career for retention as an officer, he theoretically has the option of enlisting in the military as at a rank from E-5 to E-7 (depending upon his previous rank level). I've only met one soldier who ever did that -- one of my friends in the Army, Sergeant Gerry Rubenzer, who enlisted as a scout after deciding that being an ICBM missile launch officer in the Air Force was not for him. (He told me he didn't like the politics of being an officer, and he left the Air Force as a 1st lieutenant.) That could be an interesting T2K background for a player.