line officer

American  

noun

1. a military or naval officer serving with combatant units or warships, as distinguished from a staff officer, supply officer, etc.

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Etymology

Origin of line officer

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

The Navy ultimately allowed Greitens to become a general unrestricted line officer at a support center in St. Louis at his current rank, lieutenant commander.

From Washington Post • May 31, 2019

I’ve been a line officer and a field officer, and those would not be easy decisions to make.

From Washington Times • Sep. 21, 2015

Commissioned a captain in the Twelfth Connecticut Volunteers in 1862, De Forest served first as a line officer, later as a divisional staff officer.

From Time Magazine Archive

Polis countered, “She may have been a fine line officer and cop on the beat, but she’s a terrible agency head.”

From Washington Post

It seemed as if the Phalanx must surrender; they were outnumbered two to one, and every line officer was dead or wounded.

From The Black Phalanx African American soldiers in the War of Independence, the War of 1812, and the Civil War by Wilson, Joseph T. (Joseph Thomas)