A direct commission officer (DCO) is a United States uniformed officer who has received a commission without the typical prerequisites for achieving a commission, such as a four year service academy, a four year or two year college ROTC program, or one of the officer candidate school or officer training school programs, the latter typically slightly over 3 months in length.
Civilians who have special skills that are critical to sustaining military operations, supporting troops, health and scientific study may receive what are called "direct commissions." These officers usually occupy leadership positions in the following areas: law, science, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nurse corps, intelligence, supply-logistics-transportation, engineering, public affairs, chaplain corps, oceanography, merchant marine affairs, and others.
The U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard have more extensive active and reserve component DCO programs than the other two U.S. armed services.
The U.S. Marine Corps does not offer a DCO program. The Marines, however, do have a substantial population of "Mustang" Officers who are Limited Duty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers recruited from their senior non-commissioned officer ranks, typically gunnery sergeants (E-7) and above.
The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps exclusively use a DCO program to commission their officers.
Depending on the specialization and duty-status of the officer, "DCOs" as they're called, will attend either Officer Indoctrination School (OIS), Officer Development School (ODS), or Direct Commission Officer School (DCO School) which vary from two weeks duration for certain Reserve DCOs to five weeks duration for Active Duty DCOs.
Read more about Direct Commission Officer: U.S. Army Reserve Direct Commission Officers, U.S. Navy Direct Commission Officers, U.S. Coast Guard Direct Commission Officers, U.S. Public Health Service (Commissioned Corps) Direct Commission Officers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Commissioned Corps) Direct Commission Officers
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