Title 10Armed ForcesRelease 119-73

§7153 Commissioned officers: appointment without specification of branch; transfer between branches

Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle B— - Army › Part PART II— - PERSONNEL › Chapter CHAPTER 715— - APPOINTMENTS IN THE REGULAR ARMY › § 7153

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Regular Army officers are appointed without a named branch, except for special branches and West Point positions; the Secretary of the Army assigns or transfers them to other branches by skill and need.

Full Legal Text

Title 10, §7153

Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Appointments in commissioned grades in the Regular Army shall be made without specification of branch except in each of the special branches and as professors or director of admissions of the United States Military Academy.
(b)Commissioned officers appointed in the Regular Army without specification of branch shall be assigned, and may be transferred and reassigned, by the Secretary of the Army to branches other than the special branches, according to their professional qualifications and the needs of the Army.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 3283(a) 3283(b)10:506(b) (2d sentence).10:506(c) (1st sentence).10:506(c) (less 1st sentence and less proviso).Aug. 7, 1947, ch. 512, § 502(b) (2d sentence), (c) (less proviso), 61 Stat. 884; June 12, 1948, ch. 449, § 104(d)(1), 62 Stat. 358. Subsection (a) is substituted for 10:506(b) (2d sentence) and 506(c) (1st sentence). The words “in each of the special branches” are substituted for the enumeration of branches in 10:506(b) (2d sentence) and for the words “each of the several corps of the Army Medical Service, as chaplains”, in 10:506(c). In subsection (b), the words “other than the special branches and the Women’s Army Corps” are substituted for 10:506(c) (words between 3d and 4th parentheses). The word “their” is substituted for the words “of the officers concerned”. The words “of the Army” are substituted for the words “of the branches, arms, and services”. The words “from time to time” and “arms, and services” are omitted as surplusage.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 3283 of this title as this section. 1978—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 95–551 substituted “director of admissions” for “registrar”. Pub. L. 95–485 struck out “, in the Women’s Army Corps,” after “special branches”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95–485 struck out “and the Women’s Army Corps” after “special branches”. 1958—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 85–600 inserted reference to registrar of the Military Academy.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of

Amendments

and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

10 U.S.C. § 7153

Title 10Armed Forces

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73