History And Importance Of US Military Rank

The History and Importance of Rank Within the U.S. Military ranks have been established to determine who get to tell others what to do. The higher the rank the higher the authority and responsibility they have to hold. There are three categories of ranks the Enlisted, the Warrant officers, and the Commissioned officers. Enlisted members are the working party, Warrant officers outrank all enlisted, while the head of all are the commissioned officers who rule over all. Each rank has a role to play within the military all the way from E1 to O9. To start let’s learn a little; within the U.S. Navy they use the term “Rate” not rank. Also there is “Rank” and there is “Pay Grade”; now as they sound the same they are different a pay grade is a classification

Take an E3 for example in the Army they are called a Private First Class or PFC for short, in the Air Force they are called Airmen, and within the Navy and Coast Guard they are Seaman or are rate specific such as a Hospital Corpsman would be Hospitalman or HN for short. Through the year’s ranks were usually shown through many different symbols such as carrying different weapons, showy uniforms, decorative feathers of different colors, and colorful sashes and stripes. In a little history the American militia acquired most of its rank insignias from the British before the Revolutionary War. Many different ranks were within the military, but one issue was always present the lack of funds for uniforms. To resolve this problem Gen. George Washington wrote that the unfortunate issue at hand is to be handled to distinguish commissioned officers from privates by some badge of

Originally an Army’s Second lieutenant was called a coronet and ensigns were subalterns, during these times no distinct insignia was given to the original O1’s and so congress assigned them the one single bold gold bar also known as a “butterbars” in 1917, in 1832 eagles were awarded to Colonels; pronounced Kernels; from 1836 oak leaves were awarded to Majors and Lieutenants one of gold the other of silver, Capitan’s were awarded double silver bars called “railroad tracks” and a single silver bar was awarded to First Lieutenants. As mentioned earlier the Navy took on a different ranking system, up until 1857 a Capitan was the highest rank until congress granted Flag Officers. Before then to designate someone an Admiral in Republic times was deemed to be too royal for the United States. Until then the Navy had three levels to Capitan, about the same as the Army’s Brigadier general, Colonel, and Lieutenant Colonel. This ensued confusion among ships staff for all Navy ship commanders are called “Capitan” regardless of their rank. When the Civil War ensued the highest grade Capitan’s became Commodores and Rear Admirals and each wore either one single star to two stars on their epaulettes, respectively. The lower ranks became Commanders with oak leaves, and Capitan’s stayed in the middle equal to Army Colonels and word eagles. From the French word meaning “Roof” Chevron’s which are V-shaped stripes were used to