Dogs of War 

Officers Warrant Officers Enlisted

American Army Units

Infantry - fight on foot with bayonets, rifles, machine guns, grenades & mortars
Cavalry - armored units who mainly perform reconnaissance for larger forces
Artillery - mounted projectile firing guns or missile launchers, as distinguished from rifles and other small arms

• Commission and warrant both mean authority. Enlist means to join.
• Commissioned officers hold a document issued by the President granting military authority, and have usually graduated from either Officer Candidate Schools (after enlisting), ROTC college programs, or military academies.
• Warrant officers rank below commissioned officers and above enlisted personnel. Leaders of the marching band are often warrant officers.
• Everyone else in the armed services is enlisted. GI stands for general inductee, general issue or government issue.
• Regular Army soldiers are volunteers, draftee soldiers were forced into a term of service by the government.
• The words men and Mister can describe either male or female soldiers. Female superior officers are usually addressed as Ma'am, whether or not they are married (would you call Margaret Hoolihan Miss?).
• The words rank and pay grade are often used interchangeably. Properly, enlisted Navy personnel have a rate, not a rank. A Navy rating indicates an occupational specialty.
• The appropriate use of the terms stripes, chevrons and rockers can be confusing. Stripes are for officers and non pay-grade related insignia, and chevrons (pointy) & rockers (smooth curve) are for enlisted rank insignia. Hash marks or service stripes on the sleeve indicate 3 years of service per stripe.

• A Signal Company is responsible for maintaining the communications network. This means repairs at any time, anywhere, even under fire. They also take and deliver messages.
• A Quartermaster Company feeds, clothes and supplies a division with thousands of items ranging from bullets to blankets, raincoats to rations, mines to mimeographs.
• An Ordnance Maintenance Company is the "armorer-artificer". They keep the jeeps running and do repairs to rifles and machine guns. When the shooting stops, they patch the roofs on the barracks.
• The Military Police (MPs) enforce both civilian and military law. In combat, they direct traffic and handle POWs.
• A medic in a Medical Battalion can not carry a firearm (under the terms of the Geneva Convention).
• An Engineering Battalion mostly builds bridges and fixes roads. They also dynamite enemy pillboxes, wire bridges to explode on signal, lay and clear minefields, and provide pure water for the division.
• A Reconnaissance Troop brings back the information vitally needed by the top command. They avoid action with the enemy as much as possible.

• 3 Infantry Regiments (28th, 13th, and 121st)
• 4 Artillery Battalions (28th, 43rd, 45th and 56th)
• 1 attached Artillery Battalion
• 1 or more attached Tank Battalions
• 1 Reconnaissance Troop (8th)
• 1 Engineer Combat Battalion (12th)
• 1 Medical Battalion (8th)

• Division Commander: Major General Allison J. Barnett
• Divisional Artillery Commander: Brigadier General Peter P. Rhodes
• 3 Infantry Regiments (274th, 275th and 276th)
• 4 Artillery Battalions (725th, 882nd, 883rd and 884th)
• 1 Tank Destroyer Battalion (648th)
• 1 Reconnaissance Troop (70th)
• 1 Engineer Combat Battalion (270th)
• 1 Medical Battalion (370th)
• 1 Counter Intelligence detachment (14 spooks)
• 1 Signal Company (570th)
• 1 Ordnance Light Maintenance Company (770th)
• 1 Quartermaster Company (70th)
• 3 attached Tank Companies (each with 9 guns, 10 men per gun squad)
• Additional attached Artillery and Tank units throughout the war
• 1 Military Police Platoon
• 1 Division Band

Officers

A midshipman is someone just graduated from the Naval Academy.
A cadet is still in a military or naval school. From Webster's Dictionary (1913): "Cadet \Ca*det"\, n. 2. A young man who makes a business of ruining girls to put them in brothels."
A brevet commission bestows either a temporary or honorary increase in rank, without higher pay.

The skipper of a ship is called captain regardless of rating, which is often only Commander or Lieutenant. He is responsible for everything that goes right or wrong, whether or not he's on the bridge when somebody goofs. He does not stand any specific watch, but he is on duty 24 hours a day. He does not necessarily have to follow orders from higher-ranking officers on his vessel unless the higher officer assumes command - this rule is confusing, and can lead to delicate situations. When he's back ashore in the officer's club, his authority reverts back to his official rating.

• There are never 5-star Generals in the Marines or Coast Guard, and there are 5-star Navy Admirals only during times of war. There are no 5-star Army generals at this time (not since Omar Bradley died).
• A Captain in the Navy (O6 CAPT) ranks much higher than a Captain in the Army (O3 CPT).
• A Private First Class in the Marines (E2 Pfc) is 1 grade lower than a PFC (E3) in the Army.
• Air Force Staff Sergeants (E5 SSgt) and Master Sergeants (E7 MSgt) rank 1 grade lower than those of the same names in the Army or Marines (E6 SSG and E8 MSG).
• The Navy ranks 2-star Rear Admiral and 1-star Commodore were changed to Rear Admiral, Upper Half and Rear Admiral, Lower Half a number of years ago.
• Majors and Lt Colonels wear an oak leaf (7 points with stem) on their collars - do not confuse this with a maple leaf (the Canadian flag).

Enlisted

A yeoman is a petty officer (PO3) who performs clerical duties.

• Army Specialists (SP4 - SP7) rank just below the equivalent corporal or sergeant rank in Army authority, but have the same authority as the equivalent rank for branches other than the Army.
• Obsolete insignia for Air Force Master Sergeants and above (E7 to E10) have one of the upper chevrons moved to the bottom (giving 3 chevrons below the star instead of 2 as is now the case). A diamond in the center dark blue fields for these ranks indicates First Sergeant status.
• Super grades Master Sergeant (E8) and above are rarely bestowed, and many of these pay grades did not exist before 1958.

British and German World War II Ranks

The German ranks are German words, e.g. general \Jen"ruhl\ is pronounced \Ghen`ehr*awl"\. Do you think Colonel Hogan really enjoyed spending time with Unterfeldwebel Schultz and Oberst Klink?

The German Army and SS (the SchutzStaffel, which included the Geheime StaatsPolizei or Gestapo) included many in-between ranks not included here. Today's German Army (Bundeswehr) retains the same ranks as those listed for the older Wehrmacht. All National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi) related ranks and titles (including the SS) have been discarded.
 

U.S. Army	British Army	German Army	German S.S.
Private	Private	Grenadier	SS Schütz
Private First Class	Lance Corporal	Obergrenadier	SS-Oberschütz
Corporal	Corporal	Unteroffizier	Unterscarführer
Sergeant	Sergeant	Unterfeldwebel	Scharführer
Staff Sergeant	(no equivalent)	Feldwebel	Oberscharführer
Master Sergeant	Command Sgt-Major	Oberfeldwebel	Hauptscharführer
Warrant Officers	Regimental Sgt-Major	Stabsfeldwebel	Sturmscharführer
Second Lieutenant	Second Lieutenant	Leutnant	Untersturmführer
First Lieutenant	Lieutenant	Oberleutnant	Obersturmführer
Captain	Captain	Hauptmann	Hauptsturmführer
Major	Major	Major	Sturmbannführer
Lieutenant Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Oberstleutnant	Obersturmbannführer
Colonel	Colonel	Oberst	Standartenführer
General	General	General	(no equivalent)

American Wars

More Links & Info

Check out the official 1997 Military Pay Chart (update: 1998 Pay Chart shows a 2.8% increase). If I had joined the Air Force as an officer when I was 22, and was now a 37 year old Major with dependents, I would be getting $3,997.50 + $776.70 + $154.16 = $4,928.36 a month. If I gross up the non-taxable allowances by 50% (assuming I would pay 33% taxes on equivalent taxable income), that's the equivalent of $5,393.79 a month fully taxed, or $64,725 a year (fully taxed) plus excellent benefits. Jeez, that's more than most 37 year olds get! Too bad military life is so similar to prison life. Now for the real payoff: if I were to do 5 more years, make Lieutenant Colonel and retire, I would get at least $2,477.85 a month = $29,734 a year (taxable) for the rest of my life.

The true stories of Medal of Honor recipients will make you cry.

Q: How many Army Generals were there in Desert Storm?
A: 1 4-star (Schwarzkoff), 4 3-stars, 11 2-stars, 38 1-stars.

Lt. Lewis B. Puller, Jr. (son of the most decorated U.S. Marine ever, General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller) won the Pulitzer Prize for his book about his father, then committed suicide in May 1994 presumably due to post traumatic stress disorder.

Here's the military phonetic alphabet, also cool for talking on CBs:

A-  ALPHA           J-  JULIET          S-  SIERRA
B-  BRAVO           K-  KILO            T-  TANGO
C-  CHARLIE         L-  LIMA            U-  UNIFORM
D-  DELTA           M-  MIKE            V-  VICTOR
E-  ECHO            N-  NOVEMBER        W-  WHISKEY
F-  FOXTROT         O-  OSCAR           X-  X-RAY
G-  GOLF            P-  PAPA            Y-  YANKEE
H-  HOTEL           Q-  QUEBEC          Z-  ZULU
I-  INDIA           R-  ROMEO

Army  officer's hat:  NCO's hat:

Navy  hat:  NCO's hat:  CPO's hat: 

Air Force 

Marines  hat: 

Coast Guard 

I got most of this information from dictionaries and the Internet, so if any of you genuine soldiers / sailors / airmen / officers out there find any errors, please Email me and I will immediately make corrections. I was surprised how often veterans I spoke to were unable to contribute much information, e.g. a retired Lieutenant Colonel couldn't quite draw me an accurate picture of an oak leaf, and an active Army Reserve Staff Sergeant knew almost nothing about officer ranks O7 and above.
 

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