What is a 'commission'?

[Scarecrow]

Hello there, naval types. I've been reading through my old Classic Traveller of late (I'm running Tower Trouble from WD71 in a couple of weeks) and I remembered something that I've never really understood. What is a commission?

I seem to recall that you need to be commissioned in order to get promoted. Is that every time or just once? Can you work on a ship without being commissioned? Can you be commissioned without ever being promoted?

What is it? What does it mean?

Cheers,

Crow

 

[Rover]

Hello there, naval types. I've been reading through my old Classic Traveller of late (I'm running Tower Trouble from WD71 in a couple of weeks) and I remembered something that I've never really understood. What is a commission?

I seem to recall that you need to be commissioned in order to get promoted. Is that every time or just once? Can you work on a ship without being commissioned? Can you be commissioned without ever being promoted?

What is it? What does it mean?

Cheers,

Crow

Hi Crow,
A commission means your character becomes an officer in the military. (Lieutenant or higher in the army for example.) As opposed to the enlisted ranks, some are referred to as Non-commissioned officers. (Corporal or sergeant) Different branches have different rank names and traditions. A Captain in the US Navy outranks a captain in the US army, yet both are called captain.

A certain level of command authority is bestowed to a commissioned officer along with various duties and responsibilities. Officers tend to deal with big picture stuff like strategy, procurement and logistics. Non-commissioned offices deal with smaller picture stuff like small unit tactics.

Technically you do not need a commission to get a promotion, just to become an officer. Once you are an officer you move up the ranks.

check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officer_(armed_forces)

Many members here are (or were) in the service and may be able to explain things better.

Hope that helps.

R

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

To expand on what rover said:

a commision is, or possibly was, a physical, signed document, given to the officer by the head of state (or someone acting in his name), and in past times signed by the head of state personally (the king/queen of england used to sign british commisions right up until 1900, when the losses in the boer war made this impractical).

the dosument was the officers proof of his status as an actual officer, in the same way a passport is proof of your nationality. it sperated the bearer form the non-commissioned officers, like the sargents and warrant officers,

Can you work on a ship without being commissioned? Can you be commissioned without ever being promoted?

as an crewman? yhea, of coruse, as an officer? strictly speaking, no, but you can be promoted on the spot, a "battlefield commission", which are normally confirmed by the hierarchy (assuming you don't screw up).

In any case, in modern useage, being Commissioned means being an officer, rather than a NCO or enlisted soldier. when you become an officer, you get given the commission without doing anything extra beyond whatever you did to get promoted. the commison is just a bit of paper that says "this mn, <name> is an officer of the <service>, who was promoted on <date>".

that last part is quite important for the officer, as the date on his commison is the basis of his senoirity, which determines the chian of command within rank (ie, who commands who when both have the same rank. oldest date wins, with expections).

also, you can be commissioned directly into any rank, not just 2nd Lt. In the british army, at least, a lot of senior Warrant Officers, men with 15-20 years of service and a vast amount of knowledge of combat, are sent though sandhurst and are commissioned as captains.

as Rover said, a "captain" in the naval service is much more senior than a army "captain" (a naval captian is the equivilent of a full Colonel in the army (OF-5). A army captain is the same rank as a navy full Lieutenant (OF 2)

 

[Scarecrow]

That's brilliant. Thanks, both.

Crow

 

[aramis]

A commission is a written permission from the Crown to command soldiers and/or sailors in the Crown's name for some specified period of time. Or equivalent governmental unit in non-monarchial systems. The ability to grant that may be delegated in some nations.

(Traditionally, in the US, Commissioned Officers are commissioned by congress as officers, with rank to be granted by delegated authorities. Technically, US Warrant Officers are commissioned by presidential executive order, and used to be commissioned by the ship's captain or the regiment's Colonel. Anywhere below you see crown, you can substitute national government when not dealing with monarchies.)

Originally, it specified what kind of unit one could command in the crown's name. As ranks developed, each became a separate commission. As the number of units proliferated, the crown started delegating the issuance of the commissions, with just a roster that the crown approved.

Now, the commission is just to be an officer, and the rank is added administratively later.

It's still a document granting permission to command in the name of the Government, within a specified scope determined by regulation, and in accord with one's rank.


Originally, each rank's commission was purchased; some were given as political largesse by the crown instead, others given as rewards for exemplary service (Merit Promotions). Eventually, they dropped new commissions for each rank in most countries, and most also dropped buying one's commission.

So literally, the commission is the document which makes one an officer of the crown. Because a commissioned officer represents the crown, they are saluted. All troops not commissioned are (usually) subject to their orders.

In modern use, it makes one an Ensign or 2nd Lieutenant or Sublieutenant, or "Pilot Officer" or "Flight Officer", depending upon service.

Note that ships are also commissioned... Given written orders from the crown to begin service to the crown, or in the case of civilian ships, service to their owner. Originally, the ship and the captain would be on the same commission, but eventually it got separated.

Note that the term Officer originally meant any one who worked for a noble... it later came to also mean anyone with delegated authority. At which point the term Commissioned officer came to be distinguished from Non-Commissioned Officer, aka Petit Officer. Originally, NCO's/Petit Officers were appointed by the man with the commission to raise the unit. Eventually, the various ranks/grades of NCO's and Petit Officers came to be, and Petit got corrupted to Petty...

 

[Garyius2003]

To make things even more confusing, in the American forces warrant officers over the grade of one are also commissioned.

That means all navy warrants, all Marine infantry weapons officers, and all Marine CWO2s and Army CW2s and above have Congressional commissions.

Due to the pay scales they get paid fairly well, with grade 5 warrants getting paid between major and LtCol. However, they rank under 2ndLts.

To make things even odder, in the army only warrant officers command ships. That means a Beeson class ship, 5,000 tons, is actually usually commanded by a CW4 warrant.

Also in the American forces, each promotion in rank is a new commission from the congress. An officer goes from Capt to Major the Congresss issues a new commission. Of course for most officers they are commissioned in a large bill. General officers are sometimes commissioned individually to their new rank.

 

[BlackBat242]

as Rover said, a "captain" in the naval service is much more senior than a army "captain" (a naval captian is the equivilent of a full Colonel in the army (OF-5). A army captain is the same rank as a navy full Lieutenant (OF 2)

In the US military:
Army ranks go 2nd Lieutenant (O-1), 1st Lieutenant (O-2), Captain (O-3), Major (O-4), Lieutenant Colonel (O-5), and Colonel (O-6).
Navy ranks go Ensign (O-1), Lieutenant Junior Grade (O-2), Lieutenant (O-3), Lieutenant Commander (O-4), Commander (O-5), and Captain (O-6).

US Military Ranks - for Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

fair enough, i was using the NATO comparitive rank scale for the british ranks of those names..

 

[Jame]

In the US military:
Army ranks go 2nd Lieutenant (O-1), 1st Lieutenant (O-2), Captain (O-3), Major (O-4), Lieutenant Colonel (O-5), and Colonel (O-6).
Navy ranks go Ensign (O-1), Lieutenant Junior Grade (O-2), Lieutenant (O-3), Lieutenant Commander (O-4), Commander (O-5), and Captain (O-6).

US Military Ranks - for Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines

There's also Generals/Admirals, which are O7, O8, O9 and O10. (Pardon, I don't remember the specifics and don't feel like looking them up.

 

[far-trader]

Hi Crow, I imagine you got it from the above but just to be crystal clear to one of your questions, you only need to succeed at the Commission roll once. After that you only need to check for Promotion rolls.

To clarify further, in the basic char gen (LBB 1) there are no Promotion rolls until you succeed at the Commission roll. And you can't roll for Commission in the first term if you are drafted, only if you make the enlistment roll. After the first term if drafted, you roll normally for Commission.

Also you can roll for both Commission and Promotion in the same term, and succeeding at both will jump you two ranks (from enlisted to Rank 1 for the Commission, then from Rank 1 to Rank 2 for the Promotion).

Some later rules (such as LBB 4,5,6, and 7) handled things a bit differently though (with promotions and ranks for enlisted personnel, and expanded officer ranks as Jame notes) as enhanced CT char gen.