In the army, what is the difference between a comissioned officier and a non commissioned one?

Answer 1

Commissioned officers assume the duty of command starting with four star generals who assume duty for the entire command, such as the war in Iraq. Actually, I believe that general is a lieutenant general. All the way down to platoon or unit command which is usually held by a first or second lieutenant.
NCO's are usually entrusted with the responsibility of commanding the enlisted ranks, some of which are operations, and some of which are administrative. A 1st sergeant as an example, may command the entire company as senior enlisted NCO, however he will report to the commanding officer who will be a commissioned officer, probably a captain. A Sgt/mjr may command at a higher level, but again the enlisted ranks of a larger unit, such as a battalion. Again, the Sgt/mjr. will report to the commanding officer of the battalion, probably a major or Lieutenant Colonel.

The chain of command sometimes gets a little fuzzy when dealing with a battalion level Sgt/Mjr, as it pertains to officers within the battalion. Obviously, the Sgt/mjr has a lot of sway at that level, after all, he answers only to the boss, so he's treated with respect even by the junior officers. To say, these junior officers take orders from the Sgt/mjr would not be accurate, however, if the Sgt/mjr is passing on verbal orders from the CO, they had better be listening to the Sgt/mjr.

Answer 2

First of all, NCO (non-commissioned officer) is my no means below a Commissioned officer. A 2LT has been in service for a make of 2 or 3 years. A CSM (Command Sergeant Major) has been in most of his life.

Commissioned officer (or just officer) has a Commissioned from Congress. They are the guys responsible for all that goes on. If I, as a SSG, screw something up its ultimately his responsibility. Officers are the upper level managers, they command Companies and Battalions and so on. They guys that get stuff done are the NCO. They run the day to day operation and lead the fighting soldier on the ground. That's the short version anyway. Search for the "Commissioned officers Creed" and the "Noncommisoned officers Creed on the net and that will tell you more.

Answer 3

A commissioned officer is one from the grade of 2nd Lt. up thru the General ranks. they were commissioned as officers by Congress(actually, it never goes to Congress but the point is that they were given the commisiono by the U.S. Government)

A non-commissioned officer is /are those in the Warrant Officer class and there are either 2 or 3.... If forgot.. Warrant Officer 1, WArrant officer grade 2, etc.. They receive a commission but not as an act of congress but by the Dept. of the Army.. Their rank is lower than that of the commissioned officer but higher than that of the enlisted grades which are from Private to Sargeant.... Do not forget that the Warrant Officer is an admirable grade and usually it is them and the top Sergeant grades that run the army

Answer 4

The Army is organized with double command structure. Commissioned officers generaly are college grads and have attended special officer training the ranks are leutenant, captain, col., gen.

Non coms are sargents. The non coms actually run the military. They make most of the knitty gritty decisions.

Here's the double command structure as I understand it.

A sargent is in charge of a squad 8 to 10 people
A sargent is in charge of a platoon (platoon sargent) 4 or 5 squads
But there's also a leutenant in charge of the platoon called a platoon leader.
Then the first sargent is in charge of a company 3 to 5 platoons. But there's also a company commander who is a officer.


The way I've seen it work. The officers decide what we're going to do in general. The sargents decide how we're going to get it done and make sure it happens.

Answer 5

In Army commissioned officer is 2nd Lt. on up to General, Non commissioned officer any rank below 2nd LT.

Answer 6

non commissioned officer is enlisted E-4 and up

Answer 7

non-commissioned officers are your echelon of leadership within the enlisted ranks. They function as a tactical level employment of leadership. NCOs are highly skilled, generally well educated, and fully knowledgable of the technical aspects of their career fields. In other words, NCOs serve as masters of their respective fields. NCOs also provide insight to their officer corps by interacting on a more personal level and on a more frequent basis than officers are able to. As such, NCOs are often the first to become aware of issues that arise in respect to health, moral, and welfare.

Officers are trained to function on operational and strategic levels. They serve in a way that does not promote technical mastery. In effect, an officer is trained to be a "jack of all trades." At lower levels, and depending on branch of service/MOS/AFSC/etc, an officer may be a flight/squad commander and (in the Air Force, at least) will be responsible for overseeing the operation of several different "shops." This means that the officer ensures that each shop is fulfilling its function and that the NCOs are keeping their people up to speed and fit to fight. The lower level officer works in close conjunction with his NCOs on a daily basis and relies on them to ensure that his orders, higher orders, and daily functions are carried out in an efficient manner.

Higher level officers, generally high level field grade and above, operate on a strategic level. they oversee the operational job of lower level officers, directing the general means of accomplishment and overseeing the mission capability of their units. A higher level officer is a master of multi-tasking because they are responsible for leading a large multitude of task accomplishing shops. Still, Officers at this level work closely with high level senior NCOs to provide a viewpoint from both a technical level into job function, ensure discipline among troops, and to allow visibility into the forces health, moral, and welfare.

Answer 8

As with all the services, you can look at the commissioned officers as management and non commission officers and non management or supervisory capacities.