Private first class (E-2)
Private first class (PFC) is the second enlisted rank in the US Marine Corps, pay grade E-2. Its insignia is a single chevron, point up.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The Marine Corps’ rank list puts private first class at E-2, one step above private (E-1) and below lance corporal (E-3). A private wears no insignia, so the single chevron is the first one a Marine wears. The lance corporal above adds crossed rifles under the chevron. The Department of Defense says service members in pay grades E-1 through E-3 are usually in some kind of training status or on their initial assignment.
Also searched as: E-2 marines, PFC.
Ranks and insignia as the Marine Corps’ own orders and pages set them out. Pay grades are the Department of Defense’s.
Marine or Army private first class?
The same title sits at different pay grades. In the Army, one chevron on its own is private second class, E-2, the same pay grade as a Marine PFC. The Army’s private first class is E-3, and its insignia is one chevron above one arc.
Read next
- Next in Marine Corps ranksLance corporal (E-3)Lance corporal (LCpl) is the third enlisted rank in the US Marine Corps, pay grade E-3. Its insignia is one chevron above crossed rifles.
- The same shape in European flagsFlag of LatviaLatvia’s flag is carmine red with a narrow white horizontal stripe across the middle, in the proportions 2:1:2. The flag law gives the colours no meaning; the President’s Chancery says the flag is first mentioned in the 13th-century Livonian Rhymed Chronicle.
More marine Corps ranks
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- Marine Corps Ranks, marines.mil, Ranks, United States Marine Corps, Enlisted, rank table
- Officer Knowledge (Officer Development School), Officer Training Command Newport, ODS Knowledge Book, Naval Service Training Command, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps Enlisted Rank Structure
- U.S. Military Rank Insignia, Resources: U.S. Military Rank Insignia (enlisted and officer insignia by paygrade), U.S. Department of Defense (defense.gov), Enlisted insignia, E-1 to E-3
- 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(12)–(13), pp. 180–181
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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