Junior officer
Junior officer, company officer or company grade officer refers to the lowest operational commissioned officer category of ranks in a military or paramilitary organization, ranking above non-commissioned officers and below senior officers.
The terms company officer or company-grade officer are used more in the Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps as the ranks of captain, lieutenant grades and other subaltern ranks originated from the officers in command of a company or equivalent.
In many armed forces, a junior officer is specifically a commissioned officer holding rank equivalent to a naval lieutenant, an army captain or a flight lieutenant or below.
In the United States Armed Forces, the term junior officer is used by the Navy and the Coast Guard for officers in the ranks of ensign, lieutenant, junior grade, lieutenant,and lieutenant commander.
The U.S. commissioned officer corps is divided into ten pay grades.
Officers in pay grades O-1 through O-3 are considered company grade officers. In the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force, these pay grades correspond to the ranks of second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and captain, and in the Navy, these pay grades correspond to ensign, lieutenant , and lieutenant.
Officers in pay grades O-4 through O-6 are considered field grade officers. In the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, these pay grades correspond to the ranks of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel, and in the Navy, lieutenant commander, commander, and captain.
The highest four pay grades are reserved for general officers in the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force and flag officers in the Navy. The ranks associated with each pay grade are as follows: in the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force, brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general and general ; in the Navy, rear admiral, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral.
