I never heard of a Limited Duty Officer before, could you provide more information on it please?
It looks like the Limited Duty Officer in the Navy is a subset of “Direct Commissioned Officers”, which at least in the Army was kind of a uncommon thing (we didn’t have any equivalent of an LDO per se), Direct Commissioning has basically always been an option since the earliest days of the military, and largely goes around most other military regulations. It is normally justified on a per person basis for special reasons.
If anyone remembers Trump’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, he actually was directly commissioned into the Navy after leaving the White House, despite being above the typical maximum age for joining the service and not having completed OCS or etc. There was a board that reviewed potential direct commissions and he was in a selection group of them, it is a pretty small % of the total military that does this AFAIK.
Navy (or Marine) LDOs are commissioned officers in a set of technical specialties, that are commissioned up from the ranks of mid-career senior enlisted or warrant officers. These are officers that will not take the path of “line” officers of alternating between doing their trained work and doing tours in unrelated staff or admin posts (which you need to reach positions of commanding a fighting vessel or unit, and risising to Admiral/General.).
They are distinct from the direct-commission officers that are involved in accession from specific civilian professions like health care or law. LDOs are for where you want someone with the nominal authority (and higher pay) of a commissioned officer AND the technical expertise and military background of a former senior NCO or WO.
LDOs do resemble direct commissions in that they don’t take the regular OCS course, but rather one customized to them since they are already career military and are not being groomed for command.
It’s all about the pyramid. The promotion pyramid is steep. In order to progress through the ranks a commissioned pilot will pretty much be out of the flying business by the time they make captain. A little longer if their company command time comes in a line unit. A warrant officer can spend 20-30 years just as a pilot as long as they pass a flight physical without worrying about taking staff positions. Warrant officer pilots train to fly. Commissioned Aviation officers are trained to command or support the commander as staff. I don’t know how the Air Force and Navy handles it other than treating them completely different than every other commissioned officer in the branch.
On one of my joint deployments I served with several LDOs that came up through the MA enlisted ranks (Navy cops). From what they told me LDOs were common in the MA/security officer field. There is a promotion ceiling of O-5 for the Marines and O-6 in the Navy but from talking to them it was pretty rare to get that high. They each had a significant number of years as enlisted so they would be retiring before they hit the ceiling.
In my years in the Navy, LDOs were referred to as “Loud, Dumb and Obnoxious”. In regards to the one LDO I worked for, it was appropriate. I also worked for one WO, who, as the only warrant in the entire battalion, was one lonely fellah. He couldn’t hang with the enlisted, and wasn’t really welcomed in the wardroom from what I understood. Too bad, as he was competent and stood up for his men.
Actually, the rank of “Senior Airman” didn’t exist until 1975.
Right. When I was a AF dependent in the 60s, the ranks were (lowest to highest)
E-1 Airman basic
E-2 Airman 3rd class
E-3 Airman 2nd class
E-4 Airman 1st class
So Cronauer, with two stripes, was A2C (Airman 2nd class). Later on, when I joined the Air National Guard, I had to learn the new Airman ranks above.
For a while there, an E-4 was initially a Sr Airman, but after a year and passing a leadership course, they’d become (Buck) Sergeant. There was no pay raise or much more respect, but the insignia changed with the addition of a star in the middle of the stripes. It was also required before getting another promotion. They got rid of the Sergeant rank some time after I got out and now everyone gets the star in the insignia. It no longer signifies NCOhood.