Staff sergeantĪ noncommissioned officer ranking in the army above a sergeant and below a platoon sergeant or sergeant first class, in the air force above a sergeant and below a technical sergeant, and in the marine corps above a sergeant and below a gunnery sergeant Sergeant first classĪ noncommissioned officer in the army ranking above a staff sergeant and below a master sergeant Master sergeantĪ noncommissioned officer ranking in the army above a sergeant first class and below a staff sergeant major, in the air force above a technical sergeant and below a senior master sergeant, and in the marine corps above a gunnery sergeant and below a master gunnery sergeant First sergeantĪ rank in the army above a sergeant first class and below a sergeant major and in the marine corps above a gunnery sergeant and below a master gunnery sergeant Sergeant majorġ : a noncommissioned officer in the marine corps ranking above a first sergeantĢ : a noncommissioned officer in the army, air force, or marine corps serving as chief administrative assistant in a headquarters Command sergeant majorĪ noncommissioned officer in the army ranking above a first sergeant Sergeant major of the Army As the different kinds of sergeant rise in seniority, arcs or curved lines below the chevrons indicate increasing rank.

armed forces and police is three upward chevrons. The insignia for the rank of sergeant in most U.S. There are many varieties of sergeants, including a hierarchy of specific ranks denoting duties and seniority, given in detail below. (Today a sergeant at arms is the title of a person who preserves order, makes ceremonial announcements, and provides security for courtrooms and legislative chambers.)Ī drill sergeant is responsible for training soldiers. The original military use of sergeant was the term sergeant at arms-the position was an “armed servant” of a medieval lord. The word sergeant has the same Latin root as servant. Often these are the people directly responsible for training and leadership of soldiers in the field. Sergeant is the common name for many of the noncommissioned officer ranks. Marine Corps and represents a rank above a private first class and below a corporal.Ī noncommissioned officer ranking in the army and marine corps above a corporal and below a staff sergeant The rank of lance corporal is used in the U.S. It’s a strange mixing up of root words meaning “body” and “head” in order to arrive at corporal. It seems possible that the influence of corpus and the French-derived word corps meaning “a group of soldiers” caused the word caporal to evolve into corporal. But the military rank actually comes from the French word for “head of a small unit of soldiers,” caporal, ultimately from the Latin word for “head,” caput, which is also the root of the name for the rank of the head of a company of soldiers, captain. The corporal in corporal punishment comes from the Latin word for “body,” corpus.

It might be tempting to connect the lowest grade of noncommissioned officer-presumably someone who disciplines soldiers-with corporal punishment, but that’s not where this word comes from.

A noncommissioned officer ranking in the army above a private first class and below a sergeant and in the marine corps above a lance corporal and below a sergeant

Sergeant first class stripes