First lieutenant (O-2)

How to read it

DA Pamphlet 670-1 describes the first lieutenant insignia as one silver-colored bar, 3/8 inch wide and 1 inch long, with a smooth surface. The Second lieutenant (O-1) wears the same bar in gold, and a Captain (O-3) wears two silver bars. The Department of Defense lists the grade as O-2. The Army’s ranks page describes a first lieutenant as a seasoned lieutenant with 18 to 24 months of service, who leads more specialized weapons platoons and is often selected as executive officer of a company-sized unit.

Also searched as: 1LT, O-2 army.

Silver bar or gold bar?

Silver is the senior: a silver bar is a first lieutenant, a gold bar a Second lieutenant (O-1). The Army Institute of Heraldry dates the first lieutenant’s single bar to 1836, and the second lieutenant’s gold bar to December 1917.

A silver bar with black squares

A silver bar with black squares or a black line is a warrant officer’s insignia, from Warrant officer 1 (W-1) to Chief warrant officer 5 (W-5). DA Pamphlet 670-1 makes the warrant bars 1 1/8 inches long, against the lieutenant’s plain 1-inch bar.

How a lieutenant is addressed

As “Lieutenant”, in Army Regulation 600-20 and the Army Recruiting Command’s customs training.