Army Rank Structure

Welcome to yet another post!

Today I am in the mood to blog about something rather than the different schools you can attend as an American Soldier. This blog will be about the rank structure in the United States Army. Rank is an important matter in the Army, matter in fact, military as a whole. It is what gives authority and privilege to do such actions. But with higher rank comes higher responsibilities, just like in the civilian world. In the civilian world, we have managers, CEOs, directors, etc. In the Army world, they have Generals, Lieutenants, Sergeants, Privates and the list goes on forever. I will give you a more in depth detail of how the rank system works in the military.

First off, the ranks are subdivided into two different groups: Officers and Enlisted. The officers are the ones who command and give orders while enlisted soldiers are the ones who execute them. In easier terms, officers are managers and enlisted soldiers are the workers underneath them.

The rank structure is important in having an organized and successful Army because you got to have leaders and followers. You have to have somebody planning out what to do and somebody actually doing what it planned out to do. The military rank structure works in sync with the local police ranks as well. The police departments these days use corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, captains, and so on to differentiate who is in charge and who has certain experience. It goes same as the Army.

Moving up in ranks is yet another difficult situation. It takes much effort and dedication to move up in the ranks (the ladder) especially in the officer side. That is because they are the commanders and leaders who direct the enlisted. Their decisions can kill or save their soldiers and they play a vital role in keeping the Army rolling around.

US Army Rank Structure (The ladder)/from highest to lowest

Officer Enlisted

General Command/Sergeant Major

Lt. General First/Master Sergeant

Major General Sergeant First Class

Brigadier General Staff Sergeant

Colonel Sergeant

Lt. Colonel Corporal/Specialist

Major Private First Class

Captain 1/2 Private

1/2 Lieutenant