NATO OF-4
The NATO code for senior field officers, typified by lieutenant colonel and naval commander.
Overview
OF-4 covers lieutenant colonel in armies, commander in navies, and wing commander in Commonwealth air forces. In most militaries this is the classic battalion and ship command grade: the point at which officers hold substantial independent command, some five hundred personnel or a warship. The NATO table places the US lieutenant colonel and naval commander at the same notch, as with the British peers. STANAG 2116 codifies the equivalences so that a NATO standing group staff mixes nations without ambiguity. Selection boards across the alliance treat OF-4 as the last rank most officers reach before competitive pyramid cuts deepen.
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