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- A direct commission officer (DCO) is a United States uniformed officer who has received an appointed commission without the typical prerequisites for achieving a commission, such as attending 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 OCS/OTS programs typically slightly over three months in length. Civilians who have special skills that are critical to sustaining military operations, supporting troops, health and scientific study may receive a direct commission upon entering service. 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 three U.S. armed services. The U.S. Marine Corps does not offer a DCO program anymore; Navy officers provide medical and chaplain services, and chief warrant officers (CWO) and limited duty officers (LDO) serve as occupational field experts. The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps exclusively use a DCO program to commission their officers. Depending on his or her specialization and duty status, a DCO attends either Officer Indoctrination School (OIS), Officer Development School (ODS), Direct Commission Course (DCC), or Direct Commission Officer School (DCO School), which vary from two weeks in duration for certain reserve DCOs to five weeks in duration for active-duty DCOs. (en)
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