Military Organization Question (Vanity)

None ^ | 3/18/03 | RonF

[RonF]

I've been following the blog on this link. Not being a veteran, I was confused by one piece of military lingo: "CO" and "XO". I do know enough to know that CO = Commanding Officer and XO = Executive Officer. Past that I'm hazy. I am under the impression that an XO is the "second in command" of a military unit. Is that correct? What are the duties of an XO? Sorry for making a post out of this, but I didn't know where else to go for the answer.

[RonF]

Sorry, I goofed on the posting. The link is www.lt-smash.com

[U S Army EOD]

The XO is there to take over for the CO but in a small unit he is usually responsible for the administration/paper work in the unit. This is because the CO is commanding the troops and usually to lazy to do it. In a large unit, there is a staff. You may have an operations officer, supply officer, security officer, etc. Once again it falls to the XO to organize and co-ordinate the staff. This is because the CO is busy commanding the troops and is usually to lazy to do it. Being an XO sucks because, he usually has to do all the not so fun work and has none of the glory of being the CO. However, if the XO screws up or a staff member screws up which causes the unit to screw up, the CO usually gets all the blame. When this happens, it is not so bad being the XO after all.

[battlegearboat]

Best way to find out is to join up.

Think you can pass a Backgroud Investigation (BI)?

[battlegearboat]

Backgroud=Background

[Michael121]

CO = Commanding Officer
XO = Executive Officer

[RonF]

A background investigation I can pass. However, I'm 50 years old and right now my service consists of being a Scoutmaster.

[LetsRok]

I have a question of my own. The news refers to "82 Airborne" or "101 Infantry". Where are airborne units 1-82 and Infantry units 1-100? Why send the 82nd before the 1st?

[RonF]

I don't know. My guess is that during WW II, there was an expansion of the armed forces so that 1-81 and 1 - 99 existed. Once the war was over and the armed forces were downsized, certain units that had distinguished themselves were retained, and the others were dissolved/absorbed. But that's a sheer guess on my part.