seeking their commission by means other than ROTC or a service academy, such as through Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard Officer Candidate School (OCS). This includes civilian college and university students in the Marine Corps' Platoon Leader Class (PLC) program, the Coast Guard's Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) where students attend those services' respective officer candidate schools. It also previously included the Navy's since discontinued Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) for civilian college and university graduates and its Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate Program (AVROC) program for college/university seniors and college graduates, the latter having been embedded in the AOCS program. Another term, "officer trainee", was previously used by the Air Force's OTS program until that term was changed to cadet in 2015. Officers commissioned in to the Space Force are typically accessed via USAF commissioning programs such as the U.S. Air Force Academy, Air Force ROTC, and Air Force Officer Training School. The term "cadet" may also be used generally to refer to students at a private military academy, or members of a youth group associated with the military who are receiving preliminary training with the intention of possibly joining the military, sometimes at a younger age than they would be able to do otherwise. Officer cadets are generally paid below the standard pay rates for junior officers, but receive some of the rights and responsibilities of a junior officer during their training. Academy cadets and midshipmen are considered Geneva Conventions Category III personnel, the same as warrant officers and junior officers/company grade officers below the rank of major in the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Space Force and below the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy and Coast Guard. Reserve Officers' Training Corps Cadets and midshipmen in the ROTC programs generally hold training ranks equivalent to their branch's enlisted ranks during their first three years of training and officer-equivalent ranks during their senior year, except in the Air Force where they hold officer-equivalent rank during their junior and senior years. In addition, a small amount of NROTC midshipmen 2/C may hold officer ranks, limited by the amount of available billets. Cadets or midshipmen holding cadet-enlisted rank must salute cadet or midshipman officers within their own branch of the service. Cadet officer ranks in US Army ROTC are denoted by "pips" – one to three circular insignia denoting the company-grade equivalents, one to three diamond-shaped insignia denoting