Colonel

The senior field grade officer of the US Army, O-6 and NATO OF-5, typically commanding a brigade.

Overview

Colonel wears a silver eagle, informally the bird or full bird to distinguish from the lieutenant colonel leaf, and commands a brigade combat team of three thousand to five thousand soldiers or holds equivalent headquarters command. The title descends from colonnello, the little column or column of soldiers an Italian condottiere contracted to raise, entering English in the sixteenth century. Colonels sit at the hinge of the Army: below them run the operating units, above them the generals who move divisions. Promotion to brigadier general is rare, a fraction of eligible colonels.