I’ve read several explanations but they all go over my head. I can’t seem to find an actually decent explanation as to what a “commission” is in a military setting.
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In the UK a commission is a formal letter of appointment from the royal family. You either have one, or don’t.
If you don’t, your job title *can* include the word officer. So in the Royal Navy for example, Petty Officer contains that word, but they don’t hold a commission.
Generally speaking once an enlisted person (IE, non commissioned) reaches a certain rate (it’s not called rank if you don’t have a commission) they are deemed as senior. Again in the Navy they’re called a Senior Rate.
From that point onwards they’re an NCO, and their equivalents around the world by rate are also seen as such – NATO OR6.
Top fact, when you salute a commissioned officer you’re not saluting the person. You’re saluting their cap badge, which comes with the commission, and therefore you’re saluting the boss man (the king now the queen died). So if some random officer is rocking a hard hat without a cap badge on it, technically you don’t need to salute. Same if they just remove their cap – it’s a sign they don’t *want* to be saluted, or they want to be more informal.
This is also why in the forces it is traditional to remove your beret / cap when smoking. So you don’t salute / get saluted. An alternative to this is smartly coming to attention.
I’m an NCO and was once in an army officer training base. They had no idea of my rank as they had never seen a sailor before, and in the Army an epaulette with a crown on it is quite senior. I have a crown on my epaulette but the design is unrelated to the Army rank structure.
The amount of people that snapped to attention or saluted me while I was just shopping was wierd.
Source, 21 years in the British military.
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