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Officer Candidate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Officer Candidate is a rank in some militaries of the world that is an appointed position while a person is in training to become an officer. More often than not, an Officer Candidate is a civilian who has applied to join the military directly as an officer. Officer Candidates are, therefore, not considered the same status as enlisted personnel.
In the United States Army, Officer Candidates attend either the Federal Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning, Georgia, or a state National Guard sponsored military academy that follows the same curriculum as the Army's Federal OCS. Soldiers who attend OCS are usually prior service enlisted personnel, though individuals can enlist in the military to attend OCS directly after Basic Training.[1]
Army Officer Candidates exist in a gray zone with regard to rank, and their status does not directly correspond to a position of seniority or authority within the standard Army ranks. Typically, they are referred to or addressed as "Candidate," and during the first few weeks of indoctrination, are treated much the same as a new recruit. The pay for a Army Officer Candidate, however, is equal to an E-5 on the enlisted pay scale, unless the Candidate previously achieved a higher enlisted rank than E-5, e.g., an E-7 who becomes a candidate would continue to receive E-7 pay, and so on. Once commissioned, the new officer advances to the pay rate of O-1, unless they have at least four years of active duty service, in which case they are paid the higher O-1E rate in recognition of the prior enlisted service. Such pay continues at promotion to the next two grades ("O-2E" and "O-3E"), but is discontinued at the grade of O-4.
In the United States Navy, Officer Candidates are trained at the Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida. Officer Candidate is also the rank to which participants in the active duty commissioning program "Seaman to Admiral 21" are appointed. STA 21 Officer Candidates are appointed to the rank at the Naval Science Institute and go on to hold the rank while training with the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. STA 21 OCs maintain their enlisted pay grade and eligibility for enlisted advancement. Approximately 200 sailors are selected each year to participate in the Seaman to Admiral 21 program. The rank of Officer Candidate is denoted by an officer's uniform with no insignia except for a Line Officer's star device on white and dress blue uniforms. On khaki and working blue uniforms, fouled anchors are worn on the collar points.
The film An Officer and a Gentleman focuses around a main character who is appointed an Officer Candidate in the Naval Aviation Program and must deal with personal and social issues to be commissioned as an Ensign.
In the United Kingdom Officer Candidate or Potential Officer Candidate is a term used in the British Armed Forces to describe civilians or enlisted persons who apply to join the service as an officer. Being a description, it does not infer rank or salutation.