A direct commission officer (DCO) is a United States
uniformed officer who has received an appointed
commission without the typical prerequisites for achieving a commission, such as attending a four-year
service academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...
, a four-year or two-year college
ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
program, or one of the
officer candidate school
An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and Enlisted rank, enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a Commission (document), commission as Commissioned officer, officers in the armed forces of a country. ...
or
officer training school
Officer Training School (OTS) is a United States Air Force and United States Space Force commissioning program located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Overview
Officer Training School is a part of the Jeanne M. Holm Center fo ...
programs, the latter OCS/OTS programs typically slightly over three months in length.
Civilians who have special skills that are critical to sustaining military operations, supporting troops, health and scientific study may receive a direct commission upon entering service. These officers usually occupy leadership positions in the following areas: law, science, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nurse corps, intelligence, supply-logistics-transportation, engineering, public affairs, chaplain corps, oceanography, merchant marine affairs, and others.
The
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
,
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
and
U.S. Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...
have more extensive active and reserve component DCO programs than the other three
U.S. armed services
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
.
The
U.S. Marine Corps does not offer a DCO program anymore; Navy officers provide medical and chaplain services, and
chief warrant officers (CWO) and
limited duty officer
A limited duty officer (LDO) is an officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who was selected for commissioning based on skill and expertise. They are the primary manpower source for technically specific billets not best s ...
s (LDO) serve as occupational field experts.
The
U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the
exclusively use a DCO program to commission their officers.
Depending on his or her specialization and duty status, a DCO attends either Officer Indoctrination School (OIS), Officer Development School (ODS), Direct Commission Course (DCC), or Direct Commission Officer School (DCO School), which vary from two weeks in duration for certain reserve DCOs to five weeks in duration for active-duty DCOs.
U.S. Army Active and Reserve Direct Commission Officers
Active
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
direct commissions are available in the
medical
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
, legal, chaplain corps, and cyber . Each branch will rank the officer candidate upon completion of Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC). The
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...
uses the DCO program to bring specialized skills and backgrounds, and to fill critical shortages in the Army Reserve commissioned officer corps. A majority of the people obtaining direct commissions in the Army Reserve are prior-enlisted personnel. However, there have been instances when qualified civilians were directly commissioned as well. The general requirements for a direct commission in the Army Reserve are: 60 semester hours of college credit; the ability to get and maintain a "secret" clearance; be physically qualified (obtain and pass a medical evaluation); an open slot or "billet" in an Army Reserve unit; three recommendation letters from commissioned field-grade officers; and a recommendation from a direct commissioning board. Once selected, the applicant signs the oath and is sworn in by another commissioned officer. At that point the newly commissioned officer will then need to attend the Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC) in their assigned area of concentration (AOC) before becoming fully qualified.
Direct commission officers in the Army Reserve can serve in the same specialities and hold billets as ROTC, OCS, and USMA graduates. Direct commission officers may be promoted to flag officer rank and hold command within their specialty of work.
U.S. Navy Direct Commission Officers
The
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
has an extensive DCO program. , the Navy consolidated its two-week reserve training program (Direct Commission Officer Indoctrination Course, DCOIC) with its five-week Active Duty training program (Officer Development School, ODS), also at Newport, Rhode Island.
Officer Candidate School
An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and Enlisted rank, enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a Commission (document), commission as Commissioned officer, officers in the armed forces of a country. ...
(OCS), the 12-week program that college graduates wishing to join the U.S. Navy as active duty line officers must complete, is also located at Newport.
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...
(BRAC) of 2005 decreed that the Navy Reserve officer DCO School be relocated from Naval Aviation Schools Command at
Naval Air Station Pensacola
Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United State ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
to Naval Education and Training Center
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
effective January 2007. As a result of BRAC and other budgetary-driven actions, the U.S. Navy consolidated many of its schools at NETC,
Naval Station Newport
The Naval Station Newport (NAVSTA Newport) is a United States Navy base located in the city of Newport and the town of Middletown, Rhode Island. Naval Station Newport is home to the Naval War College and the Naval Justice School. It once was th ...
,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
.
The Navy is currently considering merging DCO School,
Limited Duty Officer
A limited duty officer (LDO) is an officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who was selected for commissioning based on skill and expertise. They are the primary manpower source for technically specific billets not best s ...
School, and
Mustang
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...
University into one contiguous officer training program—all located in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
. all
Navy Reserve LDO and CWO Officers attend the same two-week course of instruction in Newport. DCO officers attend a rigorous five-week course.
The
U.S. Navy Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...
Direct Commissioning Program allows university-educated professionals, between ages 19 to 35 (or older, in some cases), the opportunity to be appointed as an officer in the Navy Reserve. Most DCOs hold advanced degrees (MAs, MBAs, MSs,
JDs,
MDs,
DOs
DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems.
DOS may also refer to:
Computing
* Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel
* Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicatio ...
,
PharmDs and
Ph.Ds.) and/or significant civilian work experience. In recent years, the number of direct commissions offered by the Navy Reserve has increased due to the need for skilled officers to serve as Individual Augmentees (IAs) in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Direct Commissioning Program serves the expanded needs of the Navy in certain officer skill areas listed below in alphabetical order by category:
Unrestricted Line Officer
An unrestricted line officer (shortened to URL officer) is a List of United States Naval officer designators, designator given to a commissioned officer of the line in the United States Navy, who is eligible for command at sea of the navy's warfi ...
* Special Warfare Officer
Restricted Line Officer (including Special Duty Officer)
* Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO)
** NOTE: Unlike AEDOs in the Regular Navy, who must first be qualified
Naval Aviator
Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases.
Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...
s or
Naval Flight Officer
A naval flight officer (NFO) is a commissioned officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who specializes in airborne weapons and sensor systems. NFOs are not pilots (naval aviators), but they may perform many "co-pilot" or ...
s with at least five years operational flying experience in naval aircraft, direct commission AEDOs in the Navy Reserve are not required to have any military flight experience
* Aerospace Maintenance Duty Officer (AMDO)
*
Engineering Duty Officer
*
Foreign area officer (Country or Regional Specialists, Non-Intelligence)
* Human Resources Officer
* Information Professional (typically, personnel have Computer Science degrees and extensive industry experience)
* Information Warfare Officer (formerly Cryptology Officer)
*
Cyber Warfare Engineer
* Intelligence Officer
* Merchant Marine Officer
* Meteorology/Oceanography Officer (METOC)
* Public Affairs Officer
Staff Corps Officer
*
Chaplain Corps Officer
* Medical Programs (
Medical
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
,
Dental,
Nurse
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...
, Pharmacist and
Medical Service Corps)
*
Supply Corps Officer (Logistics, Transportation, Supply Management, Customs, Contracting)
*
JAG Corps
The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called judg ...
Officer
*
Civil Engineer Corps
The Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) is a staff corps of the United States Navy. CEC officers are professional engineers and architects, acquisitions specialists, and Seabee Combat Warfare Officers who qualify within Seabee units. They are responsib ...
Officer
Limited Duty Officer
A limited duty officer (LDO) is an officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who was selected for commissioning based on skill and expertise. They are the primary manpower source for technically specific billets not best s ...
(Various specialties)
Warrant Officer
Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mos ...
(Various specialties)
Some skill areas may not have openings each year. Each year, skill area recruiting quotas are promulgated for recruiters to fill. Upon completion of their training regimen, DCOs serve on nearly every type of ship in the fleet and at shore establishments around the globe. Navy DCOs are forward deployed and are currently serving on the ground in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. They are an integral part of the Navy's role in the
War on Terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
.
U.S. Coast Guard Direct Commission Officers
The
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
uses the DCO program to bring specialized skills and backgrounds into the Coast Guard commissioned officer corps. The DCO course is conducted by the
Officer Candidate School
An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and Enlisted rank, enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a Commission (document), commission as Commissioned officer, officers in the armed forces of a country. ...
, located at the
United States Coast Guard Academy
The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast Gu ...
in
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...
. Depending on program and background, the course is three, four, or five weeks long.
There are seven Direct Commission Officer programs:
*
Aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
** NOTE: Individuals in this category are typically rated/designated military aviators who have previously served on active duty as officers in other branches of the U.S. armed forces. They have transferred to and are being recommissioned as officers in the U.S. Coast Guard in order to serve as
Coast Guard Aviators.
*
Engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
(Various disciplines)
*
Environmental Management
Environmental resource management is the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might suggest, the management of the environment itself. Environmental resources management aims ...
*
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
*
Legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
*Prior-Trained
Military Officer
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...
*
Maritime Academy
This is a list of maritime colleges, grouped by geographical region and country.
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Oceania
See also
*Marine propulsion
Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a water ...
Graduate From the
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...
or a
State Merchant Marine Academy
Some DCO programs may not have openings each year. While DCOs are expected to fill specific specialty areas, they are not specifically precluded from crossing into other operational or support billets in follow-on assignments.
U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Direct Commission Officers
The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Direct Commissioning Program allows university-educated professionals, between ages 19 to 45 (or older, in some cases), the opportunity to be appointed as an officer in the
Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), also referred to as the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, is the federal uniformed service of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) and one of the ei ...
. All candidates must complete a two-week Officer Basic Course (OBC) before entering active duty. Most PHSCC DCOs hold advanced degrees (DDSs, DMDs, MSs, MDs, DOs, PharmDs and Ph.Ds.) and significant civilian work experience, and the minimum in many programs is a master's degree from a duly accredited program. One of the fields requiring only a baccalaureate degree is engineering. The Direct Commissioning Program serves the expanded needs of the PHS in certain officer skill areas listed below:
*
Physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
*
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...
*
Nurse
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...
*
Pharmacist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
*
Dietitian
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...
*
Engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
*
Environmental health
Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment affecting human health. In order to effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements that must be met in ...
officer
*
Health services
Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...
officer
*
Scientist
A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...
/
researcher
Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
*
Therapist
Therapist is a person who offers any kinds of therapy. Therapists are trained professionals in the field of any types of services like psychologists, social workers, counsellors, life coachers and others. They are helpful in counselling individuals ...
(includes occupational therapy, physical therapy, registered respiratory therapist, speech-language pathology, and audiology)
*
Veterinarian
A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
*
Medical Technologist
A medical laboratory scientist (MLS) or clinical laboratory scientist (CLS) or medical technologist (MT) performs diagnostic testing of blood and body fluids in clinical laboratories. The scope of a medical laboratory scientist's work begins wit ...
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Direct Commission Officers
The NOAA Corps Direct Commissioning Program allows university-educated professionals, between ages 19 to 35 (or older, in some cases), the opportunity to be appointed as an officer in the
. All must complete a 19-week basic officer training class (BOTC),
at the United States Coast Guard Officer Candidate School at the
United States Coast Guard Academy
The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast Gu ...
before entering active duty. Many NOAA Corps DCOs hold advanced degrees (MS, MAs and Ph.Ds.) and significant civilian work experience, though the minimum requirement is a baccalaureate degree. The Direct Commissioning Program serves the expanded needs of the NOAA Corps in certain officer skill areas listed below:
*
Engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
*
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
* Any science related to NOAA's mission
References
{{Reflist
External links
*U.S. Army: http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/become-an-officer/how-to-become-an-officer-in-the-army/direct-commission.html
*U.S. Navy: https://archive.today/20070429180441/http://www.navy-reserve.org/Default.aspx?tabid=264
*U.S. Coast Guard: http://www.gocoastguard.com/find-your-fit/officer-opportunities/programs/direct-commission-programs
*U.S. Public Health Service: https://web.archive.org/web/20090506174822/http://www.usphs.gov/
Military ranks of the United States
United States military specialisms