Corporal (E-4)
Two chevrons are the insignia of a corporal (CPL), pay grade E-4 in the US Army and the lowest of its noncommissioned officer ranks.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The corporal’s insignia in DA Pamphlet 670-1 is two chevrons. The Army’s ranks page calls the corporal the base of the noncommissioned officer ranks: a team leader in the smallest Army units, responsible for the individual training, personal appearance and cleanliness of soldiers. The Department of Defense lists the corporal at E-4, the same pay grade as the Specialist (E-4), but as the higher rank of the two. Above the corporal is the Sergeant (E-5), with three chevrons.
Also searched as: army corporal, CPL.
Ranks and insignia as the US Army’s own regulations and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
Corporal or specialist?
Both are E-4. The Army Recruiting Command’s customs training puts it in two sentences: corporals, like specialists, are E-4s; however, corporals serve in a leadership position. Army Regulation 600-20 says a specialist ranks immediately below a corporal.
How a corporal is addressed
As “Corporal”, the title of address in Army Regulation 600-20. The Recruiting Command’s training counts corporals, with sergeants and staff sergeants, as junior noncommissioned officers.
Read next
More army ranks
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- DA Pamphlet 670-1, Guide to the Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia, DA PAM 670-1, 26 January 2021, Headquarters, Department of the Army (Army Publishing Directorate), para 21–7a(11), 21–7a(10), 21–7a(9)
- U.S. Military Rank Insignia, Resources: U.S. Military Rank Insignia (enlisted and officer insignia by paygrade), U.S. Department of Defense (defense.gov), Insignia chart: specialist, corporal, sergeant; Introduction; Army note
- U.S. Army Ranks, army.mil ranks page (enlisted, warrant officer and officer ranks), U.S. Army, Enlisted ranks: Corporal
- Army Regulation 600-20, Army Command Policy, AR 600-20, 6 February 2025 (administrative revision 20 February 2025), Headquarters, Department of the Army (copy hosted by the Army Transportation Corps, transportation.army.mil), para 1–7b; table 1–1; table 1–1, note 4
- Military Customs and Courtesies (Initial Soldier Training), U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Future Soldier training slides, 14 April 2020, U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Enlisted ranks, slide 13
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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