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Under officer is an appointment held by the most senior Officer cadet at some Commonwealth officer training establishments such as the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and in University Officers' Training Corps in the United Kingdom.
It is also a cadet rank used in some Commonwealth youth cadet forces, where it is typically the most senior rank a cadet can hold. In cadet forces it is commonly styled cadet under officer.
In the Australian Army Cadets and Australian Air Force Cadets, the rank of cadet under officer (CUO) is the highest cadet rank. They are saluted and addressed as "Sir" or "Ma'am" by their subordinates, but not by adult officers or instructors or members of the Australian Defence Force.
AAC cadet under officers may be assigned as national, regional, or battalion under officer, as quartermaster, or as the commander of a company or platoon. The rank badge is a lozenge, which contains 26 chevrons. The national cadet under officer has red in the centre of the lozenge. Regional cadet under officers have blue in the centre of the lozenge. AAFC cadet under officers can only be assigned squadron-level appointments, such as squadron warrant officer, or chief instructor.
To become a cadet under officer, a cadet must have completed the senior leaders course module two, otherwise known as the CUO/WO course, often held either at a mid or end of year session. The course runs for one week on a military base, and during this course a prospective cadet under officer will learn platoon and company level command. To gain entry to the course the cadet must have successfully completed the senior leaders course module one or the sergeant course, which entitles them to bear ranks up to staff sergeant.
The insignia for an Australian Air Force Cadets (AAFC) cadet under officer is a thick white stripe.
To achieve the rank of cadet under officer, an AAFC cadet sergeant, cadet flight sergeant or cadet warrant officer must complete the cadet under officer course, which typically takes three weeks at a Royal Australian Air Force base in their home state. Upon successful completion of the cadet under officer course, cadet under officers are given full officer privileges, which includes the right to use the officers' mess on military establishments.
To become an under officer, cadets were required to:
One of the more commonly used locations for the under officer course was the Royal New Zealand Police College, located in Porirua. This location presented the opportunity for NZCF students and staff to interact with the New Zealand Police and use their equipment. The last RNZPC course was held on 20–29 January 2017. The last under officer course was held at RNZAF Woodbourne on 6–15 July 2018.
Consultation for the potential removal of the rank began in 2018 with the area warrant officers talking to under officers and warrant officers around the country to seek opinions regarding how under officers were utilised on a local level. NZCF officers who had recently been UOs were also polled for an opinion. The result of that was that, in 2019, HQ NZCF announced their intention to remove the rank completely from service, to be replaced by the officer cadet rank. The officer cadet rank had traditionally been used solely on commissioning courses to give personnel a shared rank and equalise personnel from the two different methods of commissioned (serving cadets and direct entry personnel).
In 2020, the rank of under officer was disestablished and its responsibilities passed on to the rank of officer cadet, which changed the purpose of officer cadet from being an intermediate rank given to those on NZCF commissioning courses. In April 2021, the last under officer graduated from the NZCF Officer Commissioning Course. The rank of officer cadet is now given to all personnel who are intending to commission into the NZCF, giving direct entry candidates the opportunity to practise being in uniform before attending the course.
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