The Comparative military ranks reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Comparative military ranks

The military rank system is a means of categorizing the hierarchy of an armed force. This list compares the military ranks of various countries and organizations as currently in use.

For a comparison of major participants in the First and Second World War see:

Comparative military ranks of World War I

Comparative military ranks of World War II

Other references:

U.S. Army officer rank insignia

U.S. Navy officer rank insignia

U.S. Air Force officer rank insignia

Military rank for details on the history of the rank system.

British military rank insignia

Table of contents

1 British, US, German, and Argentine (naval) officer ranks 2 Enlisted ranks 2.1 German enlisted ranks 3 Israeli Defence Forces ranks 4 External Links

British, US, German, and Argentine (naval) officer ranks

NATO Rank code	British Army and Royal Marines	US Army, USAF and USMC	Royal Navy	US Navy	RAF1	Bundeswehr Heer and Luftwaffe	Bundesmarine	Argentine Navy & Marines
OF-10	Field Marshal (not RM)	General of the Army General of the Air Force (no USMC equiv)	Admiral of the Fleet	Fleet Admiral (FADM)	Marshal of the Royal Air Force
OF-9	General	General	Admiral	Admiral (ADM)	Air Chief Marshal	General	Admiral	Almirante (AL)
OF-8	Lieutenant General	Lieutenant General	Vice Admiral	Vice Admiral (VADM)	Air Marshal	Generalleutnant	Vizeadmiral	Vicealmirante (VL)
OF-7	Major General	Major General	Rear Admiral	Rear Admiral (Upper Half) (RADM)	Air Vice Marshal	Generalmajor	Konteradmiral	Contraalmirante (CL)
OF-6	Brigadier	Brigadier General	Commodore	Rear Admiral (Lower Half) (RDML)	Air Commodore	Brigadegeneral	Flottillenadmiral
OF-5	Colonel	Colonel	Captain	Captain (CAPT)	Group Captain	Oberst	Kapitän zur See	Capitán de Navío (CN)
OF-4	Lieutenant Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Commander	Commander (CDR)	Wing Commander	Oberstleutnant	Fregattenkapitän	Capitán de Fragata (CF)
OF-3	Major	Major	Lieutenant Commander	Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)	Squadron Leader	Major	Korvettenkapitän	Capitán de Corbeta (CC)
OF-2	Captain	Captain	Lieutenant	Lieutenant (LT)	Flight Lieutenant	Stabshauptmann	Stabskapitänleutnant	Teniente de Navío (TN)
						Hauptmann	Kapitänleutnant
OF-1	Lieutenant	First Lieutenant	Sub Lieutenant (junior to Army/RAF equivalent)	Lieutenant, Junior Grade (LT(JG))	Flying Officer	Oberleutnant	Oberleutnant zur See	Teniente de Fragata (TF)
	Second Lieutenant	Second Lieutenant	Acting Sub Lieutenant (junior to Army/RAF equivalent)	Ensign (ENS)	Pilot Officer	Leutnant	Leutnant zur See	Teniente de Corbeta (TC)
OF(D)			Midshipman		Acting Pilot Officer	Oberfähnrich	Oberfähnrich zur See	Guardiamarina (GU)
Student Officer	Officer Cadet	Cadet	Officer Cadet	Midshipman	Officer Cadet	Fähnrich	Seekadett

Note that the US military usually uses O-1 to 0-11 to symbolize officer, and not the NATO codes of OF-1 to OF-10 in which all subaltern officers are classed as OF-1 (O-1 and O-2 in US).

Not listed are US warrant officers. In accordance with Army Regulation (AR) 135-100 , Department of the Army Pamphlet (DA Pam) 600-11 and Army Field Manual (FM) 22-100 (para A-3) [1], a warrant officer is an officer who can and does command, carry out military justice actions and sits both selection and promotion boards. A warrant officer is a single-track specialty officer, initially appointed by the Secretary of the Army, he/she receives a commission upon promotion to Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2).

Notes to table above

1. RAF-style ranks are also used by the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, Nigerian Air Force, Indian Air Force, Pakistan Air Force, Bangladesh Air Force and Sri Lanka Air Force. The Ghana Air Force and Air Force of Zimbabwe (previously Royal Rhodesian Air Force) also use the same basic system, but replace Pilot Officer and Flying Officer with Air Sub Lieutenant and Air Lieutenant. The Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Malaysian Air Force also previously used the system.

Enlisted ranks

(Germany: see below)

see 1	nominally supervises (US forces)	US Army	USAF	USMC	USN	British Army	Royal Marines	Royal Navy	RAF	Household Cavalry
E-9	the senior enlisted person in each service	Sergeant Major of the Army	Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (CMSgtAF)	Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps	Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON)	Warrant Officer2 Class 1 (WO1)	Warrant Officer2 Class 1 (WO1)	Warrant Officer2 Class 1 (WO1)	Warrant Officer2 (WO) or Master (Aircrew)	Warrant Officer2 Class 1 (WO1)
E-9	Brigade (Army), Wing (USAF), Regiment (USN, USMC) or higher	Command Sergeant Major (CSM)	Command Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt)	Sergeant Major (SgtMaj)	Command Master Chief Petty Officer (CMCPO)
E-9	Battalion (Army, USN, USMC), Group (USAF)	Sergeant Major (SGM)	Chief Master Sergeant (CMSgt)	Master Gunnery Sergeant (MGySgt)	Master Chief Petty Officer (MCPO)
E-8	Company (Army, USN, USMC), Squadron (USAF)	First Sergeant (1SG)	Senior Master Sergeant (SMSgt)	First Sergeant (1st Sgt)	Senior Chief Petty Officer (SCPO)	Warrant Officer2 Class 2 (WO2)	Warrant Officer2 Class 2 (WO2)	Warrant Officer2 Class 2 (WO2)	No E-8 equivalent	Warrant Officer2 Class 2 (WO2)
		Master Sergeant (MSG)		Master Sergeant (MSgt)
E-7	Platoon (Army, USN, USMC), Flight (USAF)	Sergeant First Class (SFC) or Platoon Sergeant	Master Sergeant (MSgt)	Gunnery Sergeant (GySgt)	Chief Petty Officer (CPO)	Staff Sergeant (SSgt)	Colour Sergeant (CSgt)	Charge Chief Petty Officer3 (CCPO)	Flight Sergeant or Chief Technician	Staff Corporal (SCpl)
								Chief Petty Officer (CPO)
E-6	Squad or Section	Staff Sergeant (SSG)	Technical Sergeant (TSgt)	Staff Sergeant (SSgt)	Petty Officer 1st Class (PO1)	Sergeant (Sgt)	Sergeant (Sgt)	Petty Officer (PO)	Sergeant (Sgt)	Corporal of Horse (CoH)
E-5 note 4	Fireteam	Sergeant (SGT)	Staff Sergeant (SSgt)	Sergeant (Sgt)	Petty Officer 2nd Class (PO2)
E-4		Corporal (CPL) or Specialist Four (SP4 or SPC)	Senior Airman (SRA)	Corporal (Cpl)	Petty Officer 3rd Class (PO3)	Corporal (Cpl) or Bombardier (Bdr)	Corporal (Cpl)	Leading Rate5	Corporal (Cpl)	Lance Corporal of Horse (LCoH)
E-3		Private First Class (PFC)	Airman First Class (A1C)	Lance Corporal (LCpl)	Seaman (SN)	Lance Corporal (LCpl) or Lance Bombardier (LBdr)	Lance Corporal (LCpl)	No E-3 equivalent	No E-3 equivalent	Lance Corporal (LCpl)
E-2		Private (PV2)	Airman (Amn)	Private First Class (PFC)	Seaman Apprentice (SA)	Private (Classes 1 to 3) (Pte) or other corps title such as Sapper, Gunner etc.	Marine (Mne)6	Able Rating6	Junior Technician (technical trades only	Trooper (Tpr)
									Senior Aircraftman (SAC)
									Leading Aircraftman (LAC)
E-1		Private (PV1)	Airman Basic (AB)	Private (Pvt)	Seaman Recruit (SR)	Private (Class 4) or Junior			Aircraftman (AC)

Notes to table above

1. Pay grade is used in the US military as to normalize the equivalent enlisted and officer ranks respectively. For example, the base pay of an E-8 is the same in the Air Force and the Army. In theory, those two E-8s will have equivalent levels of seniority and responsibility. When enlisted men from several services are together, the senior enlisted man is responsible for the group. For comparing ranks with other countries the Paygrade numbers match with the NATO Codes for Enlisted (Other) ranks. Hence E-1, at least for this purpose, can be considered same as OR-1, E-2 as OR-2 and so on.
2. A Warrant Officer in UK Services is a senior enlisted rank not comparable to the various grades of Warrant Officer in the US. The US rank is held by single track career specialists (ranking between Enlisted Ranks and 2nd Lieutenant) and have no NATO equivalent. An RN Warrant Officer Class 1 incorporated the former rank of Fleet Chief Petty Officer.
3. A Charge Chief Artificer could be given a NATO OR-8 status, but like other Charge Chiefs, it was considered a substantive CPO (OR-7) and ranked below WO2 in other services. In April 2004, however, Charge Chief Artificers were renamed Warrant Officers Class 2 and became a separate rank.
4. British Sergeants/Petty Officers are seen as equal to E5 and E6 although Corporals as well as Sergeants may appointed to an official OR-5 (i.e. E-5) military role as is suited to the particular situation.
5. Leading Rate is junior to Corporals in other Services
6. From April 1, 1999 Able Rating and Ordinary Rating Merged, Marine 1st Class and Marine 2nd Class Merged. Junior Rating and Junior Marine Abolished.

German enlisted ranks

Bundeswehr (Army) and Luftwaffe (Air Force)	Bundesmarine (Navy)
Oberstabsfeldwebel	Oberstabsbootsmann
Stabsfeldwebel	Stabsbootsmann
Hauptfeldwebel	Hauptbootsmann
Oberfeldwebel	Oberbootsmann
Feldwebel	Bootsmann
Stabsunteroffizier	Obermaat
Unteroffizier	Maat
Oberstabsgefreiter	Oberstabsgefreiter
Stabsgefreiter	Stabsgefreiter
Hauptgefreiter	Hauptgefreiter
Obergefreiter	Obergefreiter
Gefreiter	Gefreiter
Schütze/Flieger	Matrose

Israeli Defence Forces ranks

Ranks of the Israeli Defence Forces.

Enlisted Ranks דרגות חוגרים

Rank in Hebrew	Avribations	Pronounced as...	US equivalent
טוראי	none	Turai	Private
טוראי ראשון	טר"ש	Turai Rishon	Private 1st Class
רב טוראי	רב"ט	Rav Turai	Corporal
סמל	none	Samal	Sergeant
סמל ראשון	סמ"ר	Samal Rishon	Staff Sergeant

NCO Ranks דרגות נגדים

Rank in Hebrew	Avribations	Pronounced as...	US equivalent
רב סמל	none	Rav Samal	Sergeant First Class
רב סמל ראשון	רס"ר	Rav Samal Rishon - Rasar	First Sergeant
רב סמל מתקדם	רס"מ	Rav Samal Mitkadem	Sergeant Major
רב סמל בכיר	רס"ב	Rav Samal Bachir	Warrant Officer
רב נגד	רנ"ג	Rav Nagad	Chief Warrant Officer

Petty officers Ranks דרגות קצונה זוטרה

Rank in Hebrew	Avribations	Pronounced as...	US equivalent
קצין מקצוע אקדמאי	קמ"א	Katzin Miktzoa Academy	Academic Officer
קצין אקדמאי בכיר	קא"ב	Katzin Academy Bachir	Senior Academic Officer
סגן-משנה	סג"מ	Segen Mishne	Second Lieutenant
סגן	none	Segen	Lieutenant
סרן	none	Seren	Captain

Senior officers Ranks דרגות קצונה בכירה

Rank in Hebrew	Avribations	Pronounced as...	US equivalent
רב סרן	רס"ן	Rav Seren	Major
סגן אלוף	סא"ל	Sgan Aluf	Lieutenant Colonel
אלוף משנה	אל"מ	Aluf Mishne	Colonel
תת-אלוף	תא"ל	Tat Aluf	Brigadier General
אלוף	none	Aluf	Major General
רב-אלוף	רא"ל	Rav Aluf	Lieutenant General or General

Note about ranks: if the ranks of the IDF are to be translated one-to-one to Western rankss then a "Rav Aluf" is equivalent to Lieutenant General (since Major General is "Aluf"). But since Rav Aluf in Israel is the high commander of the army (including air force and navy), the translation of it as "General" is more appropriate.

• IDF ranks in Engish
• IDF ranks in Hebrew

External Links

• World Rank Insignia

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