how do you get a commission in the navy

Full Answer

How do I become a commissioned officer in the Navy?

Learn more about ways to join as a Commissioned Officer in America’s Navy. While most Officers possess a college degree, there is no degree requirement to become a Chief Warrant Officer or a Limited Duty Officer.

What is the process of commissioning an officer?

Congress creates the office to which the President nominates an officer. Once the Congress approves the appointment, the President grants the officer the commission. While in practice granting commissions to officers is a ministerial act, it does not change the nature of the commission in the constitutional context.

What is a commission in the US Navy?

A commission is an Executive directive which ultimately serves as a subordinate executive held accountable to the Nation State's Chief Executive. In our case the commission is ultimately subordinate to the POTUS. Now the US Navy is not well suited to commissions because there are a finite number of officers mixed with enlisted.

How are commissions granted to officers under the Constitution?

Congress creates the office to which the President nominates an officer. Once the Congress approves the appointment, the President grants the officer the commission. While in practice granting commissions to officers is a ministerial act, it does not change the nature of the commission in the constitutional context. In the famous Marbury v.

How do you get a military commission?

You can earn a commission in the U.S. Army through one of four programs: the U.S. Military Academy, the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps, the Officer Candidate School or direct appointment. All require applicants to be high school graduates, pass a medical and physical exam, and be at least 17 years old.

How long is a commission in the Navy?

A commission is indefinite, unless you resign your commission or are discharged by board action. When commissioned, you incur an eight-year Military Service Obligation (MSO).

What does commission mean in Navy?

Commissioning is the culmination of three to five years of hard work, and marks the new officer's official transition from student to leader. Each fall, the ROTCs conduct individual commissioning ceremonies for their branch, and in the spring, participate in a joint commissioning ceremony.

How old can you be to commission in the Navy?

To join the Navy, you must: Be a U.S. citizen; or Legal Permanent Resident (Enlisted) Be between the ages of 17 and 39 to enlist or be between 19 and 42 to become an Officer* Have a high school diploma or GED equivalent (Enlisted) or have a four-year degree from an accredited university (Officer)

Is joining the Navy worth it?

If you're looking for a career that provides stable income, the military is a great option. Pay is determined by a set scale based on rank and time in service. Additional financial incentives, such as skill-based or retention bonuses and hazardous duty pay may also be available.

Can you leave the Navy at any time?

Service members may request leave at any time.

What does it mean to receive a commission in the military?

What is a commissioned officer? A commissioned officer is a member of the military who already had a rank before beginning their current position. Due to their rank, these individuals have greater authority than non-commissioned officers.

What makes a commissioned officer?

A commissioned officer is a military officer who has achieved a rank before officially assuming their role. These officers' Presidential commissions allow them to command both officers and enlisted personnel under them.

Is it hard to become a Navy officer?

Both emotionally and physically, the training is highly hard. You will be commissioned as a Navy Officer after successfully completing OCS. You will be taught leadership skills, receive physical and military training, and study academics relating to ship and submarine command during your training time.

How old is the oldest active Navy Seal?

Charles Gillet served his country as a member of the U.S. Navy during both World War II and the Korean War. He took pride in his achievement of being the oldest living Navy Seal at the age of 97.

What rank do most Navy officers retire at?

It is reasonable to assume that the average enlisted member will be able to retire at 20 years having achieved the rank of E-7, and the average officer should be able to retire at 20 years at the rank of O-5.

What is the oldest you can be to become a Navy Seal?

What are the age limitations for being commissioned as a Navy officer assigned to SEAL training? Applicants must be at least 19 years of age and commissioned before their 42nd birthday at time of commissioning.

How hard is it to become a commissioned officer in the Navy?

Both emotionally and physically, the training is highly hard. You will be commissioned as a Navy Officer after successfully completing OCS. You will be taught leadership skills, receive physical and military training, and study academics relating to ship and submarine command during your training time.

How many years is a Navy contract?

For the Navy, current enlistments obligation ranges from 3-6 years active service. Military personnel may retire after 20 years of service and must retire after 30 years of service in most cases.

Does the Navy have 3 year contracts?

The Navy and Army have both offered 3 year contracts, followed by inactive service. The most common enlistment contract is a 4 year contract, with 4 more years on Inactive Ready Reserve.

Can you serve in the Navy for 2 years?

The Navy will offer a two-year active duty enlistment, but they couple it with a two or four-year active (drilling) Navy Reserve commitment. The minimum active duty enlistment periods offered by the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps are four years.

How to become a 2nd lieutenant commision?

Earn a college degree and go through college ROTC to earn a 2nd Lieutenant commision into active, reserves, or National Guard.

How does food get served on a submarine?

But as others have said the distance it’s carried is much further on a destroyer I’ve been told so the food tends to be colder. For a submarine there is a pass through in the bulkhead between the ship’s galley and the wardroom pantry so food is sent in serving trays to the pantry and the wardroom steward plates it and serves it.

Why are junior officers underpaid?

Most junior officer’s are under compensated compared to their peers until about their fifth year - why? Because most of them signed a five-year contract so the military doesn't need to spend more to retain them. Now the O3 - Aviator, nuke officer, tanker, infantry officer who’s demonstrated leadership in adversity; they get buckets of money thrown at them to retain them. Why? Again the experience, that serenity under stress, the clarity of decision that confidence to act is priceless in industry…

Do Navy officers pay for their own food?

One other thing many non- navy and heck even navy guys don't get… Officer’s pay for every meal served to them and at sea pay for every meal prepared. This like many things is steeped in tradition. The idea of officers paying for their own meals and uniforms comes from Valley Forge and Gen Washington. In an effort to care for his cold, hungry, tired, and exhausted army he wrote a series of letters to Congress begging for money for food and supplies. When the Congress was slow to reply he affirmed that His officers, being gentlemen, and men of means would never be a burden of the fledging country and promised the officers would pay for their own food and uniforms if they’d just send funds to feed the troops (sounds like a pretty amazing leader). This was codified and embraced throughout the long history of the US military and remains for the most part in place today.

Do O1 officers get allowance for subsistence?

Now officers do get an Allowance for subsistence & quarters and once as an O1 or O1E a uniform stipend is issued to help offset these ‘startup’ costs.

Why do we commission military officers?

Commissioning is done to ensure the President is fully accountable for what the military does in defense of the nation, and this is why officers serve at the pleasure of the President. It is fundamentally different in nature from the enlisted contract.

Why does the officer commission not exist?

The officer commission does not exist simply to distinguish the military’s executive class from a technical labor force. The nation could accomplish that without commissioning its officers. Nor does the commission describe the type of work officers and enlisted do.

Why did the Constitutional Convention of 1787 require the President to commission all officers of the United States?

Constitution, the President is required to commission all officers of the United States: “. . . he shall take care that the Laws be faithfully executed and shall commission all the officers of the United States.”

Why is military officership a profession?

Military officership, according to Huntington, is a profession because it fully embodies these characteristics. Military officers certainly share a sense of organic unity that distinguishes them from laypersons. The expertise, Huntington asserts, is the management of violence. While enlisted personnel are technical experts in the application of violence, the officer is the manager of violence on behalf of the state. The responsibility of all officers is the military security of the state. In return, the society of the state must fairly compensate its military officers, but not overcompensate them, lest their chief motivation for service become confused. The state’s military officers are not mercenaries on behalf of a well-paying client; they are professionals of a higher calling.

Why did the British give noblemen commissions?

In the Middle Ages, sovereigns would offer noblemen commissions to raise armies to protect the realm. The commission was a lawful extension of sovereign power. The granting of commissions became more commonplace under the British Empire. After the American war for independence, the Continental Congress recognized the need to continue the practice. Because there was no unitary executive during the second Continental Congress, authority to grant commissions was somewhat clumsily shared between Congress and state governments.

What happens when the Congress approves the appointment of an officer?

Once the Congress approves the appointment, the President grants the officer the commission. While in practice granting commissions to officers is a ministerial act, it does not change the nature of the commission in the constitutional context. In the famous Marbury v.

What is the role of the commission in the Constitution?

The commission binds both the officer to the state to serve lawfully and defend the Constitution, and the state’s executive to each officer , making him or her a direct extension of the executive’s constitutional power.

What is a commission in the military?

A commission is a formal document issued to appoint a named person to high office or as a commissioned officer in a territory's armed forces. A commission constitutes documentary authority that the person named is vested with the powers of that office and is empowered to execute official acts. A commission often takes the form of letters patent.

Who signs the commission of a newly commissioned officer?

Commissions of officers in the U.S. Foreign Service are also signed by the President. The commission of a newly commissioned officer reads:

What is the wording of a Lieutenant's Commission from 1800?

Similarly the following is the wording of a Lieutenant's Commission from 1800: By the Commissioners for executing the Office of the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland &c and of all His Majesty's Plantations &c. To Lieut. ..... hereby appointed Lieutenant of His Majesty's Ship the.......

What is commissioning parchment?

Because the word "commission" can also refer generally to an individual's duty, the more specific terms commissioning parchment or commissioning scroll are often used to specify the commissioning document. However the document is not usually in the form of a scroll and is more often printed on paper instead of parchment.

Which state constitutions direct the President to commission the state officers?

Similar to the U.S. Constitution 's provisions directing the President to commission executive officers of the U.S. Government, the state constitutions and/or laws provide for state (and sometimes local) officers to be commissioned; for example, Texas law directs the Texas governor to commission most state officers and elected county officers.

Which article of the Constitution says that the President must commission all the officers of the United States?

United States. Article II, section 3 , of the U.S. Constitution provides that the President "shall Commission all the Officers of the United States," including officers of the uniformed services as well as civilian officers.

When did the Royal Navy merge with the Ministry of Defence?

Royal Navy pre-1964. Before the Board of Admiralty were merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1964, with the title of Lord High Admiral reverting to the Crown, the naval officer's commission was signed not by the Sovereign but by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, executing the office of Lord High Admiral.

What is a Navy recruiter forum?

A forum to discuss Navy Recruiters, processing at MEPS, Delayed Entry Program, Enlisted Ratings, "A" Schools, Officer Candidate School, Recruit Training Command, and transferring to your first command.

What is the DCO program in the Navy?

The idea behind the DCO program is that the Navy takes people who have years of relevant work experience to feel needs of the reserve. Based on what you've said, you're likely not a competitive candidate.

What does the Selection Board look for in a full packet?

Selection board will look at your full packet to include relevant skills, experience, etc.

Does an AD commission require experience?

An AD commission does not require experience.

What commissioning programs are there for USMC?

There are a number of other commissioning programs (mainly PLC for the USMC is common) USMC, USN, and USCG as well. These have different timelines than ROTC.

How many years do you have to be in the Navy to be in the MC?

In summary, if you’re looking at Navy/MC, you need to be in that unit during 3/c year.

When do you get picked up for field training in the Air Force?

Next Air Force, in general people get picked up for field training going into their second summer, but some people are selected for it after their 2/c year and I even know a few 1/c guys that are on a one year program but they had to have just switched to Air Force from another ROTC to be eligible, and it’s a small number. The vast majority are getting picked up during 3/c year with a smaller number getting picked up a year late for various reasons (such as injury). If you’re in Air Force and don’t get picked up by summer after 2/c year, you will not commission in the AF via ROTC.

Can you get a scholarship for the Air Force?

Now for Air Force, for Air Force, a scholarship contract is entirely separate from a contract to commission. The opportunities for scholarships are 4, 3.5, 3, and 2.5 year scholarships. All the scholarship does is pay for school. It does require you to enlist/swear in, because the Air Force doesn’t want you to bail, but it does not guarantee a commission. To commission, everyone (scholarship or not) will compete for an allocation to Field Training during summer after 3/c year (sophomore year), if you get it then, as long as you pass training, your unit must contract you when you return to school in the following fall. This is the mechanism to guarantee a commission (once again still dependent on you maintaining standards the entire time). Now realistically, if you’re on an Air Force scholarship, that money has been invested in you for a reason, it is unlikely that you won’t receive an allocation to field training. The only way I could see this happen is if someone had a scholarship awarded in high school, but ended up sucking in college. This allows the AF to filter people that shouldn’t have had a scholarship in the first place out, even if they technically still meet standards.

Can you compete for a commissioning contract in the Navy?

For these other branches, when you approach 2nd class year (or sometimes later in the case of Army) you can compete just for a commissioning contract that does not have a scholarship attached, these are naturally less competitive. These contracts are very common in the Navy/Marine Corps since they don’t have as much scholarship funds as the Army.

Do you have to compete for a contract at VMI?

I’ll add for clarity that you still need to compete for a contract. Just meeting minimum qualifications and being a VMI cadet does not guarantee a commission. You have to compete for that contract. Realistically, for Army, the competition at VMI is not very hard, but it’s there.

Does VMI require a cadet to be in ROTC?

If you are in Army ROTC at any Senior Military College (including VMI), meet all the standards for graduation and are approved by the PMS, then Federal law assures the cadet of active duty.