Field Officer

Major wears a gold oak leaf and crosses from leading soldiers directly to orchestrating battalions: the typical major serves as a ...

Lieutenant Colonel wears a silver oak leaf and, in the classic pattern, commands a battalion of five hundred to eight hundred sold...

Colonel wears a silver eagle, informally the bird or full bird to distinguish from the lieutenant colonel leaf, and commands a bri...

Lieutenant Commander wears two full stripes with a thin stripe between, a visual arithmetic of the half step between lieutenant an...

Commander wears three full stripes and, in the classic pattern, takes command of a destroyer, frigate, submarine, or aviation squa...

The naval Captain wears four stripes and commands aircraft carriers with crews of five thousand, cruisers, submarine squadrons, ai...

OF-3 begins the field officer band: major in most land forces, lieutenant commander in most navies, squadron leader in the old Com...

OF-4 covers lieutenant colonel in armies, commander in navies, and wing commander in Commonwealth air forces. In most militaries t...

OF-5 is the summit of field rank: colonel in armies, captain in navies, group captain in Commonwealth air forces. Officers at this...

The centurion commanded a centuria of about eighty legionaries, appointed from the ranks for valor and leadership, and formed the ...

Dux, Latin for leader, from ducere, to lead, was a Roman title for any commander, but in the late empire it named the officer comm...

Hetman, from the German Hauptmann, head man, was the title of the grand commander of Polish and Lithuanian forces from the fifteen...

The primus pilus, literally first file, was the most senior and prestigious of a legion's centurions, commanding the first century...