Commanding Officer

From Halopedia, the Halo Wiki

The Commanding Officer is a billet position filled by officers that are in command of a particular duty, such as commanding a UNSC starship or leading a Marine unit. The status of commanding officer is duly applied to all commissioned officers who hold lawful command over a military unit, ship, or installation. Before a Naval officer is given control of a starship, they usually are given the rank of Captain before such control is given.

In the Navy, commanding officer is the official title of the commander of a ship, but they are usually referred to as "the Captain" regardless of their actual rank, or informally referred to as "Skipper"^[1]. However, there have been Navy COs that held the rank of Commander, such as Captain Keyes before his promotion to Captain during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV^[2]. Marine COs are issued orders by the usually higher ranking Naval COs if on-board a starship. ^[3] Marine Battalion COs (known as Battalion Commanders) are usually Lieutenant Colonels, though Majors can fill this position if a Lieutenant Colonel is unavailable. Marine Platoon Commanders are usually First Lieutenants, and Company Commanders are usually Captains.

Commanding officers may be of any commissioned rank. Usually there are more officers than command positions available, and time spent in command is generally a key aspect of promotion, so the role of commanding officer is highly valued, and in theory only goes to the best officers. In a unit, the commanding officer is often assisted by an Executive Officer (XO) or Second-in-Command (2i/c), who handles personnel and day-to-day matters. Larger units may also have staff officers of various responsibilities. Commanding officers are one of many billet positions that are allowed into Officer's Quarters.

In the UNSC Army, the commanding officer of a platoon is referred to as a Platoon Leader. The commanding officer of a company is referred to as a Company Commander, the commanding officer of a battalion is referred to as a Battalion Commander, and the commanding officer of a brigade is referred to as a Brigade Commander. At the division level and higher, however, the commanding officer is referred to as the Commanding General, as these officers are normally general-grade officers.

[edit] Known Naval Commanding Officers

NOTE: The list is incomplete.

• Jacob Keyes^[4] (Captain)
• Danforth Whitcomb^[5] (Vice Admiral)
• Miranda Keyes^[6][7] (Commander)
• Fleet Admiral Harper^[8] (Fleet Admiral)
• Jilan al-Cygni^[9] (Lieutenant Commander)
• Lord Hood^[10] (Fleet Admiral, CO of the UNSC Home Fleet}
• SPARTAN-051^[11] (Lieutenant Commander)
• Spartan-104^[12] (Lieutenant Junior Grade)
• Vice Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky^[13] (Vice Admiral)
• Captain Gibson^[14] (Captain)
• Rear Admiral Rich^[15] (Rear Admiral)
• Lieutenant Commander Julian Waters^[16] (Lieutenant Commander)
• Commander Richard Lash^[17] (Commander)
• Captain Iglesias^[18] (Captain)
• Admiral Patterson^[19] (Admiral)
• Lieutenant Commander Xaing Cho^[20] (Lieutenant Commander)
• Lieutenant Bethany Durruno^[21] (Lieutenant)
• Lieutenant Joe Yang^[22] (Lieutenant)
• Admiral Roland Freemont^[23] (Admiral)
• Admiral Ysionris Jeromi^[24] (Admiral)
• Vice Admiral Preston Cole^[25] (Vice Admiral)
• Vice Admiral Gerov^[26] (Vice Admiral)
• Captain de Blanc^[27] (Captain)
• Captain Greene^[28] (Captain)
• Captain Veredi^[29] (Captain)
• Captain Wallace^[30] (Captain)
• Commander J. G. Ortega^[31] (Commander)
• Cutter^[32] (Captain)

[edit] Known Marine/Army Commanding Officers

NOTE: This list is incomplete.

• Antonio Silva (Marine/Major)
• Melissa McKay (Marine/First Lieutenant)
• James Ackerson (Army/Colonel)
• Nicolas Strauss (Marine/Major General)
• General Kits (Marine/General)

[edit] Sources

1. ↑ Halo:Combat Evolved Captain Keyes (O.S.): "Bridge to Cryo 2, this is Captain Keyes. Send the Master Chief to the bridge immediately." / Tech Chief Thom Shephard: "Captain, we'll have to skip the weapons diagnostics and I-" / Captain Keyes (O.S.): "On the double, crewman." / Tech Chief Thom: "Aye aye sir. {Pause} The Skipper seems jumpy, we'd better get moving. We'll find your weapons later."
2. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach, pg 161
3. ↑ Halo: Combat Evolved
4. ↑ Halo:Combat Evolved
5. ↑ Halo: First Strike
6. ↑ Halo 2
7. ↑ Halo 3
8. ↑ Halo 2
9. ↑ Halo: Contact Harvest
10. ↑ Halo Trilogy
11. ↑ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
12. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
13. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
14. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
15. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
16. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
17. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
18. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
19. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
20. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
21. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
22. ↑ Halo:Ghosts of Onyx
23. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach
24. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach
25. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach
26. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach
27. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach
28. ↑ www.ilovebees.com
29. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach
30. ↑ Halo: The Fall of Reach
31. ↑ Halo: Ghosts of Onyx
32. ↑ www.HaloWars.com