Deck officer was a position given to soldiers who performed surveillance or acted as crewmembers for starships.
During the Clone Wars, it was standard practice for remote Galactic Republic listening posts to have a deck officer on duty at the landing platform at all times. At the outpost on the Rishi Moon, clone trooper CT-327 was the on-duty deck officer when the base was attacked by Separatist commando droids, and became the first casualty as a result. When Clone Commander Cody and Clone Captain Rex later arrived at the station for a scheduled inspection, they noticed the lack of a deck officer and commented that it seemed the base's personnel were sloppy.
During the Imperial Era, a deck officer was on duty at the Galactic Empire's Lothal Depot on the planet Lothal when Princess Leia Organa landed three ships there, ostensibly to deliver relief supplies but actually so the local rebels, Phoenix Cell, could steal them.
During the Galactic Civil War, Lieutenant Tigran Jamiro was serving as the deck officer at Echo Base, current headquarters of the Rebel Alliance, when Captain Han Solo turned up to question him about the whereabouts of the missing Commander Luke Skywalker, who had not returned from his patrol. After discovering from Jamiro that no one had seen or reported Skywalker returning, Solo decided to go out, despite the danger of frigid temperatures at night on Hoth, to find his friend himself.
The position of deck officer first appeared in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.
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- Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide