The Officer Commanding (OC) is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, the term Commanding Officer is applied to commanders of minor as well as major units.
Normally an Officer Commanding is a company, squadron or battery commander (typically a Major). However, the commanders of independent units of smaller than company size, detachments and administrative organisations, such as schools or wings, may also be designated Officers Commanding.
The term Officer Commanding cannot be applied to any officer who is given command of a minor unit. For example, a platoon commander whose platoon is part of a company would not be an Officer Commanding. The Officer Commanding with power over that platoon would be the company OC. Officer Commanding is an appointment that confers a level of additional powers and responsibilities on the appointee.
Officers Commanding are generally given the same power and responsibilities as Commanding Officers of battalions and regiments. They are held responsible for the unit's properties and monies, can hear disciplinary charges against soldiers, sailors, or airmen under their command, and can delegate these powers.
Famous quotes containing the words officer and/or commanding:
“When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“The blues women had a commanding presence and a refreshing robustness. They were nurturers, taking the yeast of experience, kneading it into dough, molding it and letting it grow in their minds to bring the listener bread for sustenance, shaped by their sensibilities.”
—Rosetta Reitz, U.S. author. As quoted in The Political Palate, ch. 10, by Betsey Beaven et al. (1980)