Officer ( armed forces ) An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority . " 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 an armed forces environment , able to act as the commanding officer ( according to the most technical definition of the word ) of a military unit . A " superior officer " is an officer with a higher rank than another officer , who is a " subordinate officer " relative to the superior . Non - commissioned officer s ( NCOs ) in positions of authority can be said to have control or charge rather than command " per se " ; the use of the word " command " to describe any use of authority is often unofficial . 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 . 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 . Many advanced militaries require university degrees as a prerequisite for commissioning , even from the enlisted ranks . Others , including the Australian Defence Force , the British Armed Forces , Nepal Army , the Pakistani Armed Forces , the Swiss Army , the Singapore Armed Forces , the Israel Defense Forces , the Swedish Armed Forces , and the New Zealand Defence Force , are different in not requiring a university degree for commissioning , although a significant number of officers in these countries are graduates . In the Israel Defense Forces , a university degree is a requirement for an officer to advance to the rank of lieutenant colonel . The IDF often sponsors the studies for its major s . United Kingdom . In the United Kingdom , officers are commissioned both directly into the officer corps or from junior ranks as what are known as ' Direct Entry ' or DE officers , or commissioned from senior ranks as ' Late Entry ' or LE officers . LE officers , whilst holding the same Queen ' s Commission , generally work in different roles from the DE officers . In the infantry a number of warrant officers - class 1 are commissioned as LE officers . Commissioning for DE officers occurs after a 45 week course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for regular officers or the Territorial Army Commissioning Course for Territorial Army officers , or for Royal Navy and Royal Air Force candidates , a 28 week period at Britannia Royal Naval College or a 30 week period at RAF College Cranwell respectively . Royal Marines officers receive their training in the Command Wing of the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines during a gruelling 15 month course . The courses consist of not only tactical and combat training , but also leadership , management and international affairs training . United States . Most officers in the Armed Forces of the United States are typically commissioned through one of three major commissioning programs : - Service Academy ( USMA , USNA , USAFA , USCGA , USMMA ) - Reserve Officer Training Corps ( Army ROTC , NROTC , AFROTC ) - Officer Candidate School ( Army OCS , Navy OCS , Marine OCS , Coast Guard OCS ) or Officer Training School ( Air Force OTS ) A smaller number of officers may be commissioned via other programs , such as the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class ( PLC ) during summers while attending college , or the Navy ' s since discontinued Aviation Officer Candidate School ( AOCS ) program , which also included the embedded Aviation Reserve Office Candidate ( AVROC ) and Naval Aviation Cadet ( NAVCAD ) programs . Others may attend precommissioning or post - commissioning officer indoctrination programs for officers in the medical / dental specialities , lawyers slated as JAG officers and military chaplains . Graduates from the service academies attend their institutions in an active duty status for no less than four years and are commissioned immediately upon graduation . They compose approximately 20 % of the U . S . armed forces officer corps . Other officers may be commissioned through the Reserve Officer Training Corps , which is the largest source of officers for the U . S . Army and the U . S . Air Force . ROTC is composed of small training programs at several hundred American colleges and universities . There is no Marine Corps ROTC program " per se " , but there exists a Marine Corps Option for selected midshipmen in the Naval ROTC program . The Coast Guard has no ROTC program . An officer may also be commissioned at a federal or , for a limited number of Army National Guard officers , at a state based Officer Candidate School . These schools train and commission college graduates and enlisted personnel toward being promoted to the commissioned officer ranks . In the U . S . armed forces , officers without a university degree may , under certain circumstances , be commissioned . These are typically the officers in the Limited Duty Officer ( LDO ) and Chief Warrant Officer ( CWO ) programs of the Navy , Marine Corps and Coast Guard . Officers in this category comprise less than 2 % of all officers . The Air Force , in contrast , now requires all commissioned officers , regardless of background , to possess a minimum of a bachelor ' s degree prior to commissioning . Direct commission is another route to becoming a commissioned officer . Credentialed civilian professional s such as scientists , pharmacists , physicians , nurses , clergy , and attorneys are directly commissioned upon entry into the military or another federal uniformed service . However , these direct commission officers do not normally have command authority outside of their specific branches ( e . g . , US Army Medical Corps ; US Navy and US Air Force Judge Advocate General ' s Corps ) . Such commissioning of civilians was widely used in World War II to bring industrial management expertise ( for materiel production ) and medical and surgical skills into the U . S . armed forces . LTG William S . Knudsen , with the highest - ranking such commission , is possibly the most famous example . Commonwealth . 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 , admiral or air chief marshal respectively are holders of a commission granted to them by the awarding authority . In Britain and other Commonwealth realm s , the awarding authority is the monarch ( or a Governor General representing the monarch ) as head of state . The head of state often is granted the power to award commissions , or has commissions awarded in his or her name . In Commonwealth nations , commissioned officers are given commissioning scroll s ( also known as commissioning scripts ) signed by the Sovereign or the Governor General acting on the monarch ' s behalf . Upon receipt , this is an official legal document that binds the mentioned officer to the commitment stated on the scroll . Non - commissioned members rise from the lowest ranks in most nations . Education standards 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 after 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 . Non - commissioned officers . A non - commissioned officer ( NCO ) is an enlisted member of the armed forces holding a position of some degree of authority who has ( usually ) obtained it by advancement from within the non - commissioned ranks . Non - commissioned officers 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 specialists . Senior non - commissioned officers serve as advisors and leaders from the duty section level to the highest levels of the armed forces 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 " due to carrying out the orders of those officers appointed over them . In most maritime forces ( navies and coast guards ) , the NCO ranks are called petty officer s and chief petty officer s , 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 sergeant s and corporal s , with non - NCO enlisted ranks referred to as privates and airmen . However , some countries use the term " commission " to describe the promotion of enlisted soldiers . Especially in countries with mandatory service in the armed forces , NCOs are referred to as professional soldiers , rather than as officers . Warrant officers . In some branches of many armed forces , there exists a third grade of officer known as a warrant officer . In the armed forces of the United States , warrant officers are initially appointed by the Secretary of the service and then commissioned by the President of the United States upon promotion to chief warrant officer . In many other countries ( as in the armed forces of the Commonwealth nations ) , warrant officers often fill the role of very senior non - commissioned officers . Their position is affirmed by warrant from the bureaucracy directing the force - for example , the position of regimental sergeant major in regiments of the British Army is held by a warrant officer appointed by the British Government . In the US military , a warrant officer is a technically focused , single specialty officer - helicopter pilots and IT specialists of the US Army , for example . They are given salutes and they are addressed as " Mr " , " Ms " , " Mrs " , " Sir " , or " Ma ' am " . There are no warrant officers in the U . S . Air Force . While the ranks exists in USAF , the last warrant officers retired in the 1980s . Each of the other U . S . Armed Forces have warrant officers — though each warrant accession program is unique to the individual service ' s needs . Because warrant officers normally have more years in service than regular commissioned officer counterparts , their pay is often slightly more than regular commissioned officers . In the United States armed forces , commissioned officers and commissioned warrant officers are the only officers allowed to command units . 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 messing ( i . e . , mess hall or mess deck versus officers mess or wardroom ) , billeting / berthing , domiciles , and general recreation facilities ( officer clubs versus NCO Clubs and CPO Clubs versus enlisted clubs ) are separated between officers and enlisted personnel . This class system , historically correlated to socioeconomic status , is focused on discouraging fraternization and encouraging professional and ethical relations between officers and enlisted military personnel . Officers do not routinely perform physical labor ; they typically supervise enlisted personnel , either directly or via non - commissioned officers . Commissioned officers will and do perform physical labor when operationally required to do so , e . g . in combat . However , it would be very unusual for an officer to perform physical labor in garrison , at home station or in homeport .