How to Understand Military Ranks

In the civilian world there are your coworkers, your boss, your other boss (maybe a few more, depending on your company) and then the vice president followed by the CEO. Everyone from bottom to top knows their role on the work and social ladder. In the military you have the same social and power scale; however, it will be stricter and formal than in the civilian sector.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Use the word rank or rate depending on which service you are talking about. Rate is used for the Navy and Coast Guard; rate is used for all other military branches. Both mean the level you are in the military.

2. Understand the basic levels in the military: Enlisted personnel, Warrant Officers and Commissioned Officers. Commissioned officers are above warrant officers and enlisted members while warrant officers are above enlisted members.

3. Learn what the different patches worn by each person means. For instance in the Army, one yellow stripe with a green border means the person is an enlisted private first class. Two strips is an enlisted sergeant.

4. Watch military movies and films. Today directors and scriptwriters try to be militarily accurate with the weapons and language they use. Plus, scriptwriters seem to love to always have each character identify themselves by announcing their rank whenever possible.

Resources

• Find out basically all you need to know about the military.
• Here you can find a rankings list for all military branches listed by branch.
• Find here military ranks by clicking on the military branch you wish to know more about.

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.

[barsoom]

on 3/10/2009 First of all... this only applies to U.S. military. As a member of the Canadian Navy with a different rank structure I know that you are being U.S. centric. It is sheer arrogance on your part to assume that only US citizens will be accessing your web site.Secondly... "Rate is used for the Navy and Coast Guard; rate is used for all other military branches." should actually read, "Rate is used for the Navy and Coast Guard; rank is used for all other military branches."Hope this helps.