Why is it a "Bird" Colonel?

Factual Questions
21

IIRC it used to be that as LDO you could only advance to Lieutenant Commander; if you wanted further, you had to become reclassified as a regular line/staff officer. They can go up to Captain (equiv. Army full Colonel) as LDO now.

**

Negative, it’s an officer paygrade. But while the CWO’s warrants have become presidential commissions, the WO1’s is still from the Secretary of the Army, and for a long time that meant a severe limitation in their authority. The laws/regs were changed in the late 80s IIRC so the W1 could have his/her command prerogatives, as coming from the Prez through the Secretary.

22

Since this topic has already branched out, I’ll go ahead and ask another related question (not quite a hijack).

What, exactly do you mean about “mustangs”? Don’t enlisted personel become officers by attending OCS (officer candidate school)? Can you really work your way up to E-9 and then get promoted to…what? WO grade? O1?
Wouldn’t that sort of be a step down since you’d go from being the top in field to the same rank as a bunch of kids fresh out of college? Sure, you’d be an officer, but I thought junior officers got (and generally deserved) very little respect, whereas senior NCO’s were widely respected even by their “superiors” (if the “superiors” had any brains, at least).

23

Once an NCO makes E-9, most stay at E-9. Tracking toward WO rank is usually done earlier than that in one’s career, generally between E-5 and E-7. Ditto for becoming a commissioned officer. Most OCS students are in grades E-3 thru E-6 when they enter. Most enilisted appointees to USMA and the other service academies are E-2 to E-4 when enrolled. All are still “mustangs”. It just means an officer who was formerly an enlisted man for more than just the time to finish initial entry training and go straight to OCS. Sometimes “mustang” is used more narrowly to refer to those given brevet commissions, that is, promoted directly to a commissioned rank from an enlisted rank, but there haven’t been many of these since 1945.

24

Alan Smithee, some enlisted men become officers by attending Officer Candidate School (after getting a college degree). Their qualifications are the same as someone coming in from civilian life (like I did), except they’re already familiar with military[super]1[/super] life and standards. They tend to be young, and the kind of officer they become (line, intelligence, cryptology, etc.) depends only on their background and preferences, again like those who come from the civilian world. What they did in the service as an enlisted man has no direct bearing on their choices as an officer.

Warrant officers and Limited Duty Officers gain their commissions much later in their careers. After many years of training and experience in a particular field, let’s say, sonar technician for example, they’ll get a commission, but will usually continue to do the job they did while enlisted. An LDO ensign might become a division officer like any other ensign, but his division would always and only be the Sonar division or something related to that.

That’s why they’re called limited duty officers.

They don’t go to regular OCS; they go to a much shorter school nicknamed “knife and fork” school where they learn the administrative things they have to know and etiquette and such-like.

An officer who was formerly enlisted gets much, much more respect than his fellow officers who were not. It would only be a step down in respect if the LDO’s enlisted shipmates didn’t know the difference. They all know the difference.

Furthermore, it’s not unheard of for an LDO to study, stand the necessary watches, gain the necessary qualifications and then cross over to become a general line officer, able to command ships and reach the highest levels of the service.

That was the case with Mike Boorda, the Chief of Naval Operations who sadly committed suicide back in the mid-90s. Chief of Naval Operations is the highest-ranking person in the Navy, and Boorda was the first CNO who didn’t go to the Naval Academy.

He also didn’t go through ROTC or OCS.

He didn’t go to college at all. In fact he never even finished high school. He entered the Navy as a 17-year-old high school dropout, an E-1 (seaman recruit), worked his way up through the ranks, was commissioned as an LDO, crossed over to Line officer and eventually made LDO. It’s a remarkable, inspiring story, and if he hadn’t offed himself for a really stupid reason he’d still be one of the most admired sailors in U.S. history.

[super]1[/super]For purposes of this thread I’m allowing the term “military” to include the Air Force.

25

LOL. I know just enough about military culture to get this.

Thanks for the information, sewalk and fiver. Just to clarify, a rising-star NCO would have to decide at some point in her/his career whether s/he wants to be a career enlisted (and hopefully make E9) or become a WO/LDO (with the possibilty for the latter of eventually becoming a highly respected line officer). Is that right?

BTW, here is a great (and official, I believe) website listing all the US ranks and pay grades along with their respective insignia for all services. It’s the best explanation of them I’ve seen.

26

LDOs are pretty rare in the Army. I know that the Navy is more predisposed to commission them. The Navy and Air Force require pilots to be commissioned, resulting in a lower percentage of officers available for command duty, although the structure of the USAF makes this less of an issue. In the Army, most officers are line officers (lawyers, doctors, and chaplains are pretty much the only exceptions) and command slots are harder to get. There is usually no need to create more officers to fill command positions.

Warrant officer positions are similarly limited. The only specialties that have any great number are Medical (PAs are WOs), Quartermaster & Signal (mostly maintainence chiefs), Personnel and Finance, Aviation, and Law Enforcement. Combat arms branches (Infantry, Artillery, Armor, Cavalry, Air Defense, Special Forces, and some Engineers) have virtually no WOs.

27

Oops. Obviously in my earlier post, when I wrote:

I meant to write:

Please make a note of it.

Alan Smithee, the decision to become an LDO (in the Navy, at least) usually comes in the late-middle of an enlistedman’s career. The minimum rate to be considered is First Class Petty Officer (E-6), but most of those selected are already Chief Petty Officers (E-7) or even Senior Chiefs (E-8).

Funny thing, though: when you’re first commissioned as an LDO it’s a temporary assignment, up for review in a few years (four years, I think). Your “permanent” paygrade remains whatever it was when you were commissioned.

If, after the trial period has passed, you’re not making it as an officer or just don’t like it, you may revert back to your enlisted paygrade and your career resumes from that point.

Although (here it’s a little confusing, I know) if you become an LDO, and during that time you reach the point where you would’ve competed for advancement to your next enlisted paygrade, your permanent paygrade would advance automatically.

Whew! So, for example, if you were a chief (E-7) who became an LDO, and while you had your commission you got enough time as a chief to go up for senior chief, your permanent paygrad would become E-8 automatically, so if you wash out as an officer at least you’ll be a senior chief when you go back to the enlisted ranks.

28

Some comments on some of the posts I’ve read here, having finally deciding to read this thread since it appears to have outlived its usefullness.

Field commissions are permanent. Perhaps during the time of General Custer, they weren’t, but when I was in the Army in the 60’s, they were permanent commissions.

WOs are not limited to helicopters or a few limited areas. 5th Army HQ in Seoul was jumping with WOs.

A soldier can enter OCS even during basic training. I was offered that possibility, but it meant an extra year of service. Guys were drafted for two years. Officers had to serve at least three. Now that there is no draft, I guess they all serve at least three.

Here’s another question. When I was in Seoul, the talk was there was a sgt, E9, who used to be a full bird but after having been passed over for promotion three times, he either had to resign or take an enlisted grade. I’ve heard subsequently about that, and it’s apparently true for lower ranking officers. But generals are appointed by the President and I don’t know if that would apply to a full bird. Does anyone know?