Non-commissioned officer
A
non-commissioned officer (sometimes
noncommissioned officer), also known as an
NCO or
noncom, is an
enlisted member of an
armed force who has been given authority by a
commissioned officer.
The non-commissioned officer corps is the 'junior' management of the military. Typically NCOs serve as administrative personnel, as advisors to the officer corps, as trainers of both lower and higher ranking personnel, and as both supervisors of, and advocates for, the lower-ranking or more inexperienced enlisted personnel. But their most valuable function is as a link between the 'common soldier' and the
(commissioned) officer, who in most armies is encouraged to not develop a too close personal relationship with his charges.
The NCO corps includes all the grades of
sergeant and, in some militaries,
corporals and
warrant officers. The naval equivalent includes some or all grades of
petty officer, although not all navies class their petty officers as NCOs.
An experienced NCO corps is a key component of Western armies: in many cases NCOs are credited as being the metaphorical "backbone" of their service. By contrast, the weak NCO corps of the modern-day
Russian armed forces, and those modelled after it, is widely blamed for the general ineffectiveness of those militaries. The Russian Federation has recently recognized this problem and plans to develop a fully professional NCO corps.
Some have compared the
centurions of the
Roman Army with modern NCOs. At some levels this comparison may be apt, but a Roman centurion was responsible for between 60 and 1,200 men, making him much more comparable to an officer. The Roman
decurion held a small-team leadership position similar to that of a junior NCO.
In the
Canadian Forces, the
Queen's Regulations and Orders defines a non-commissioned officer as:
"A Canadian Forces member holding the rank of Sergeant or Corporal." QR&O 1.02 [1]
By definition, with the unification of the CF into one service, the rank of Sergeant includes the naval rank of
Petty Officer 2nd Class, and Corporal includes the Naval rank of
Leading Seaman; Corporal also includes the appointment of
Master Corporal (Naval
Master Seaman).
NCOs are officially divided into two categories: Junior Non-Commissioned Officers (Jr NCOs), consisting of Corporals/Leading Seamen and Master Corporals/Master Seamen; and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (Sr NCOs), consisting of Sergeants and Petty Officers 2nd Class. In the
Canadian Navy, however, the accepted definition of "NCO" reflects the international use of the term (i.e. all grades of Petty Officer).
Junior Non-Commissioned Officers
mess and billet with Privates and Seamen; their mess is usually referred to as the
Junior Ranks Mess. Conversely, Senior Non-Commissioned Officers mess and billet with
Warrant Officers; their mess is normally referred to as the Warrant Officers and Sergeants Mess (Army and Air Force establishments) or the Chiefs and Petty Officers Mess (Naval establishments).
As a group, NCOs rank above
Privates and below
Warrant Officers.
In the
British Armed Forces, NCOs are divided into two categories.
Lance Corporals,
Corporals and
Lance Sergeants are Junior NCOs (JNCOs).
Sergeants,
Staff Sergeants,
Colour Sergeants, and (in the
Royal Air Force)
Chief Technicians and
Flight Sergeants, are Senior NCOs (SNCOs).
Warrant Officers are often included in the SNCO category, but actually form a separate class of their own. SNCOs and WOs have their own
messes, which are similar to officers' messes (and are usually known as Sergeants' Messes), whereas JNCOs live and eat with the unranked personnel.
The
Royal Navy does not refer to its
Petty Officers as NCOs, but calls them Senior Ratings (or Senior Rates).
Leading Ratings and below are Junior Ratings.
In the
United States Army,
United States Air Force and
United States Marine Corps, all ranks of
Sergeant are termed NCOs, as are
Corporals in the Army and Marines. In the
United States Navy and
United States Coast Guard, all ranks of
Petty Officer are so designated. Junior NCOs function as first tier supervisors and technical leaders.
NCOs serving in the top three enlisted grades are termed senior noncommissioned officers (
Chief Petty Officers in the Navy and Coast Guard). Senior NCOs are expected to exercise leadership at a more general level. They lead larger groups of service members, mentor junior officers, and advise senior officers on matters pertaining to their areas of responsibility. Within the Marine Corps these senior NCOs are called Staff NCOs. They include all ranks between E-6 and E-9.
A select few senior NCOs serve at the highest levels of their service, advising their service Secretary and Chief of Staff on all matters pertaining to the well-being and utilization of the enlisted force.
Unlike other militaries,
Warrant Officers in the
United States Armed Forces are never considered NCOs; they have their own rank tier.
In fiction (especially in movies), NCOs often have a rather stereotyped role. They represent the old, grizzled
veteran, the fatherly voice of reason to both his enlisted charges and his superiors. In US military movies, they are often depicted as black. This NCO is almost always very competent, and often used as a dramaturgical foil or mirror to an incompetent officer.
A good example of this archetypical role would be Sergeant Apone (
Al Matthews), in
Aliens, with Lieutenant Gorman (
William Hope) as the clueless officer.
*NCOA - Noncommissioned Officers Association (U.S.)
*NCOER - Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report (U.S. Army)
*NCOIC - Noncommissioned Officer In Charge (U.S./U.K./Canada)
*NCOWC - Noncommissioned Officers' Wives Club (U.S.)
*
Military ranks
*
Comparative military ranks
