Everything about Commissioned Officer totally explained
An
officer is a member of an
army,
navy,
air force,
marines,
Coast Guard or in some cases, another
uniformed service who holds a position of responsibility.
Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a
sovereign power and, as such, hold a
commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position. Commissioned officers are typically the only persons in a military environment able to exercise
command (according to the most technical definition of the word) over a military unit.
Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in positions of authority can be said to have control or charge rather than command
per se, although the use of the word "command" to describe any use of authority is widespread and often official.
Having officers is one requirement for
combatant status under the
laws of war, though these officers need not have obtained an official commission or warrant. In such case, those persons holding offices of responsibility within the organization are deemed to be the officers, and the presence of these officers connotes a level of organization sufficient to designate a group as being combatant.
Commissioned officers
In countries whose ranking systems are based upon the models of the
British Armed Forces, officers from the rank of
Second Lieutenant (Army),
Sub-Lieutenant (Navy) or
Pilot Officer (Air Force) to the rank of
General (Army),
Admiral (Navy) or
Air Chief Marshal (Air Force) are holders of a commission granted to them by the awarding authority. In
Britain and other
Commonwealth realms, where the
Queen is head of state, the awarding authority is the Monarch, or her representative in the form of a
Governor General. Similar systems exist in other countries; for instance, in the
US Navy the power to award commissions is vested in the
President.
Commissioned officers generally receive training as
leadership and
management generalists, in addition to training relating to their specific
military occupational specialty or function in the military. Most
developed nations have set the goal of having their officer
corps university-educated, although exceptions exist in some nations to accommodate officers who have risen from the non-commissioned ranks. Most advanced militaries, however, require university degrees as a prerequisite for commissioning, even from the enlisted ranks. The
Australian Defence Force, the
British Armed Forces, the Pakistan Army and Navy (though not airforce), the
Swiss Army, the
Israel Defense Forces and the
New Zealand Defence Force are different in not requiring a university degree for commissioning. They emphasise military, technical and leadership training and skills over academic qualifications although a majority of officers in these militaries are now graduates and in the Pakistani Army, all officers are now de facto graduates since the military training course for officers is recognized as the equivalent of a Bachelors.
Among the
Armed Forces of the United States, military services occasionally commission officers without a university degree, but it's in typically very small numbers. In the U.S. armed forces, a soldier may be selected for and graduate from the
Officer Candidate School (OCS), or may be directly commissioned. Army OCS in particular is maintained to facilitate rapid expansion of the U.S. Army officer corps in the event of war, and commissions approximately 700 second lieutenants each year during peacetime. Direct commission in the U.S. military services are typical with credentialed civilian professionals, such as nurses, doctors and lawyers.
In the
United Kingdom, officers are commissioned both from the ranks and directly into the officer corps as what are known as 'Direct Entry' or DE officers, and commissioned from the ranks as 'Late Entry' or LE officers. LE officers, whilst holding the same
Queen's Commission, generally work in different roles to the DE officers. In the infantry a limited number of
Warrant Officers - Class 1 are commissioned as LE officers, ensuring that British infantry LE officers are in the top 1% of their peers. DE Officers require Secondary Education to
A-Level standard and generally speaking 80% of officers have a degree. Commissioning for DE officers occurs after a 1 year course at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, or for
Royal Navy and
Royal Air Force candidates, an equivalent period at either
Britannia Royal Naval College or the
RAF College Cranwell respectively. The courses consist of not only tactical and combat training, but also leadership, management and international affairs training.
By contrast, non-commissioned members rise from the lowest ranks in most nations. Education standards -- a high school diploma or
GED -- for non-commissioned members are typically lower than for officers (with the exception of specialised-military and highly-technical trades). Enlisted members only receive leadership training as they're promoted to positions of responsibility, or as a prerequisite for such. In the past (and in some countries today but to a lesser extent) non-commissioned members were almost exclusively
conscripts, whereas officers were volunteers.
In Commonwealth nations, Commissioned Officers are given
commissioning scrolls (a.k.a. commissioning scripts) signed by the
Sovereign
or the
Governor General acting on his or her behalf. Upon receipt, this is an official legal document that binds the mentioned officer to the commitment stated on the scroll.
Subordinate officers
In some armed forces, a further category of officers under training known as
subordinate officers may also exist. Subordinate officers, though not yet commissioned, are accorded many of the privileges of commissioned officers.
Non-commissioned officers
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an
enlisted military member holding a position of some degree of authority who has (usually) obtained it by promotion from within the non-officer ranks. They usually receive some leadership training, but their function is to serve as supervisors within their area of trade speciality and, at lower NCO grades, they're not generally considered management generalists. Senior non-commissioned officers serve as advisers and leaders from the duty section level to the highest levels of the military establishment. The duties of an NCO can vary greatly in scope, so that an NCO in one country may hold almost no authority, while others such as the United States and the United Kingdom consider their NCOs to be "the backbone of the military."
In most maritime forces (navies and coast guards), the NCO ranks are called
Petty Officers and
Chief Petty Officers (Chiefs), with enlisted ranks prior to attaining NCO/petty officer status typically being called Seaman, or some derivation thereof. In most traditional infantry, marine and air forces, the NCO ranks are known as
Sergeants and Corporals, with non-NCO enlisted ranks referred to as Privates and Aircraftsmen in the case of the UK.
A common misconception is that Commissioned Officers are the leaders and NCOs are the led. In most cases a Senior non-commissioned Officer, having served for fifteen or more years, will have stronger leadership skills than a Junior commissioned Officer who has served relatively few.
Warrant Officers
In some branches of many militaries there exists a third grade of officer known as a
Warrant Officer. A Warrant Officer is typically a non-commissioned officer whose position has been affirmed by
warrant from the
bureaucracy directing the force (as in the armed forces of the Commonwealth nation), or may be a separate
cadre altogether (as in the United States armed forces). Sometimes a warrant officer will actually hold a commission (known as a "Commissioned Warrant Officer"). In the United States military, Warrant Officers are officers who, instead of being at the command position of a given unit, are usually instead focused on their technical expertise in a given field --
helicopter pilots and
IT specialists of the
US Army, for example. In the United States military they usually don't exercise the same political power that commissioned general officers do, and are paid somewhat less than commissioned officers. However, they're given the same military courtesies (such as salutes, and the practice of being addressed as "sir" or "ma'am"). There are no Warrant Officers in the U.S. Air Force (the ranks exist, but go permanently and completely unfilled), but each of the other
U.S. Armed Forces have warrants -- though each warrant commissioning program is unique to the service's needs.
Officer ranks and accommodation
Officers in nearly every country of the world are segregated from the enlisted soldiers in many facets of military life. Facilities accommodating needs such as the
mess hall, and, and general
recreation are separated between officers and enlisted personnel. This system is focused on discouraging
fraternization and encouraging professional and ethical relations between military personnel.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Commissioned Officer'.
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