An officer is a member of an army, navy, air force, marines, 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.
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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 and Air Force) or Sub-Lieutenant (Navy) to the rank of General (Army and Air Force) or Admiral (Navy) 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 militrary 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 is 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 are 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 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 are 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 Great Britain 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 in the UK is that Commissioned Officers are the leaders and NCOs are the led. In most cases a Senior Non Commissioned Officer will have stronger leadership skills then a Junior Commission Officer.
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 do not exercise the same political power that commissioned general officers do, and are paid somewhat less than commissioned officers. However, they are 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, bunks and domiciles, and general recreational are separated between officers and enlisted personnel. This system is focused on ensuring completely professional and ethical relations between military personnel.
See also
- Comparative military ranks
- Exchange officer
- List of military officers who have led divisions of a civil service
- Limited Duty Officer
- Mustang Officer
- Direct Commission Officer
- Staff Officer
- Unrestricted Line Officer
