Limited Duty Officer
Encyclopedia
A Limited Duty Officer (LDO) is an officer in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 or United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 who was selected for commissioning based on his/her skill and expertise, and is not required to have a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

. They are employed in situations where it is desirable to have an officer with strong, specific technical knowledge and seasoned leadership. Per Title 10, US Code, an LDO is a permanent commissioned officer appointed under section 5589 in a permanent grade above chief warrant officer
Chief Warrant Officer
Chief warrant officer is a military rank used by the Canadian Forces and the Israel Defence Forces.-Canada:In the Canadian Forces, a chief warrant officer or CWO is the most senior non-commissioned member rank in the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force...

, W-5, and designated for limited duty.

Role

LDOs perform similar tasks as those of the Warrant Officer
Warrant Officer
A warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...

 (WO), but the formal definition differences are subtle and focus on the degree of authority and level of responsibility, as well as the breadth of required expertise. The term "Limited Duty" refers not to an LDO's authority, but rather the LDO's career progression and restrictions. Historically an LDO, prior to World War II, could only advance as far as Lieutenant (O-3E). In later years, an LDO could be promoted to Commander (O-5) and, in the Marine Corps, the senior LDO rank remains Lieutenant Colonel (O-5). In the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...

 the ceiling in most U.S. Navy LDO communities was raised to Captain (O-6).

The LDO/WO motto is "sursum ab ordine" which means "up from the ranks" to underline a distinction between them and officers commissioned directly from collegiate programs such as the U.S. Naval Academy, Naval ROTC, and similar post-collegiate pre-commissioning officer candidate programs of the Navy and Marine Corps.

Command

Unlike their Unrestricted Line Officer
Unrestricted Line Officer
Unrestricted Line Officers are commissioned Officers of the Line in the United States Navy who are qualified to command at sea the Navy's warfighting combatant units such as warships, submarines, aviation squadrons and SEAL Teams...

 (URL) brethren, most LDOs cannot aspire to command a major warship
Warship
A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

, combat aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 squadron, or auxiliary vessel, although for a select few in the right communities this is now a possibility. In the U.S. Marine Corps, some Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) permit LDOs to be commanding officers. Many LDOs have qualified for command ashore of certain shore activities, ranging from small activities such as Navy Operational Support Centers (formerly "Naval Reserve Centers") at the Lieutenant Commander and Commander level, to large activities such as the Naval Air Technical Training Center at the Captain level. In other words, LDOs may succeed to command activities which have a primary function corresponding to the Navy officer designator or Marine Corps Military Occupational Speciality (MOS) of the officer concerned.

LDOs will only be assigned to billets that are in their designator or MOS and that are designated as LDO billets. LDOs may not be assigned to billets designated for U.S. Navy Unrestricted Line Officers or their U.S. Marine Corps counterparts. This does not preclude an LDO from being assigned additional duties as deemed appropriate, including Joint duty.

In the U.S. Marine Corps, only warrant officers (WOs) can become LDOs. LDOs are experts and leaders in the Navy enlisted rating or Marine Corps MOS from which they came. LDOs are considered more the officer and less the technician than the WO. In the Marine Corps, WOs with less than 20 years of active duty service are eligible for the LDO program. This program is managed within the Recruiting Command because it is an accession board not a promotion board.

In the U.S. Navy, LDOs and CWOs are former enlisted technicians (petty officers or chiefs). They are experts and leaders in the technical specialty enlisted rates from which they came. In the Navy, First Class Petty Officers (E-6) and Chief Petty Officers (E-7) in the Navy with more than 8 but less than 16 years of service are eligible for the LDO program, while chiefs with 12 or more years of service, senior chief and master chiefs usually are selected in the CWO program. However CWOs can, and do, move into the LDO program, but do so as a Lieutenant, junior grade (O-2E). This is because CWOs rank "with but after" Ensigns
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....

(O-1).

External links

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