Junior commissioned officer

Junior commissioned officer (JCO) is a term describing a group of military ranks found in the Indian Army, Pakistan Army, Bangladesh Army and Nepal Army. Those soldiers holding JCO rank receive a commission from the President with commanding power.

During British rule, these officers were known as viceroy's commissioned officers (VCOs) except in Nepal, which was never a British colony. Under the British, there was a clear colonial context, until 1866 VCOs being the highest ranks that most Indians could achieve while most commissioned officers were British.

Psychological terrorism can ruin the soldier's morale and ability to perform on the battlefield and thus psychological counselors for the troops form the ranks of JCOs, who are appointed as Pandits/Maulvis/Padris, others, to care for the religious sites of the Indian Army, provide succor in times of distress, as well as carryout the religious ceremonies in the religious places, as each unit has its own Mandir/Masjid/Church.[1]

Senior non-commissioned officers are promoted to JCO rank on the basis of merit and seniority, restricted by the number of vacancies. Junior commissioned officers are treated as a separate class, and hold many additional privileges. In the army, they have a separate mess (the JCOs' mess, the CPOs' mess or the WOs' mess), get well furnished family quarters, and are authorized to travel in AC II tier on the railways.

Due to their long years of service and experience, officers accord JCOs great respect and influence, especially in cases involving the enlisted ranks, their welfare and morale. Another custom religiously followed is that a JCO is never addressed using just his name or rank. The word saheb (master) is added as a suffix (e.g.: "Subedar Saheb" or "<Name> Saheb").

Army

The JCO ranks in the Indian Army and Pakistan Army (from highest to lowest) are:

Navy

The JCO equivalent (or chief petty officer) ranks in the Indian Navy and Pakistan Navy are:

Air Force

The JCO equivalent (or warranted) ranks in the Indian Air Force and Pakistan Air Force are:

Other information

While Army JCOs receive a parchment from the president on commissioning, naval chief petty officer ranks and the air force warrant officer(JWO/WO/MWO) ranks receive a presidential warrant on promotion. This is a certificate issued on behalf of the president of India or the president of Pakistan to authenticate the promotion of a sailor to the chief rank, an airman to warrant rank. The warrant is made on pre-printed stationery written by hand.

All army JCOs, navy chief petty officers and air force warrant ranks (JWO to MWO) are group B officers with class-II gazetted status.

Honorary commissions

There is also a custom of giving honorary commissions to deserving junior commissioned officers. Every year a list of eligible JCOs is drawn up based on meritorious service and honorary commissions are awarded on 26 January (India), 23 March (Pakistan) and 14 or 15 August in Pakistan and India respectively. This could be within the last year of service or post retirement.

Honorary commissioned officers wear the appropriate rank insignia, but they do not become members of the officers' mess. They do, however, receive the pay and pension of their honorary rank. The honorary ranks in the various forces are:

Army:

Navy:

Air Force:

Generally, in official documents the junior commissioned officer rank held by the officer is also added before the honorary commission rank. For example, "subedar & honorary lieutenant" or "subedar major & honorary captain".

See also

References

  1. ↑ Indian Army Religious JCOS
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