Civilians who have special skills that are critical to sustaining military operations, supporting troops, health and scientific study may receive a direct commission upon entering service.
The U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard have more extensive active and reserve component DCO programs than the other three U.S. armed services.
The DCP is open to individuals with specialized skills and education in fields such as medicine, law, ministry, engineering, and cyber operations.
Once accepted, they will attend a five-week Direct Commission Officer Basic Course (DCOBC) and then report to their assigned unit.
As a result of BRAC and other budgetary-driven actions, the U.S. Navy consolidated many of its schools at NETC, Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island.
As of January 2007[update] all Navy Reserve LDO and CWO Officers attend the same two-week course of instruction in Newport.
In recent years, the number of direct commissions offered by the Navy Reserve has increased due to the need for skilled officers to serve as Individual Augmentees (IAs) in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Upon completion of their training regimen, DCOs serve on nearly every type of ship in the fleet and at shore establishments around the globe.
The DCO course is conducted by the Officer Candidate School, located at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.
The Direct Commissioning Program serves the expanded needs of the NOAA Corps in certain officer skill areas listed below: