Military ranks and insignia
US military rank insignia, branch by branch, and the rank and pay grade each one shows.
Every US Army rank insignia, enlisted, warrant officer and officer, in order, with its pay grade.
Every US Navy rank insignia, enlisted, warrant officer and officer, in order, with its pay grade.
Every US Marine Corps rank insignia, enlisted, warrant officer and officer, in order, with its pay grade.
US Air Force rank insignia, enlisted and officer, in order, with the pay grade each one shows.
Ranks by pay grade, branch by branch
A pay grade and a rank differ. The pay grade is a letter and a number (E for enlisted, W for warrant officer, O for officer) set by law, 37 U.S.C. § 201; it fixes basic pay and is the same in every service. The rank is the title and insignia each service gives that grade, so an E-5 is a sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps, a petty officer second class in the Navy and a staff sergeant in the Air Force. Some grades hold two ranks: an Army E-4 is a specialist or a corporal.
- Each service’s senior enlisted adviser is an E-9 in a post of their own, senior to every other enlisted member of that service: Sergeant major of the Army (SMA); Sergeant major of the Marine Corps (SMMC); Master chief petty officer of the Navy (MCPON); Chief master sergeant of the Air Force (CMSAF).
- In the Air Force, command chief master sergeant is a position held by an E-9, and first sergeant is a duty for an E-7, E-8 or E-9 (a diamond on the chevron), not a rank: Command chief master sergeant (CCM).
- The Navy brought back W-1 in 2018, for cyber warrant officers only; it had used no W-1 since 1975.
- The Air Force re-established warrant officers in 2024, for cyber and IT fields only; the first graduated in December 2024.
- Five-star ranks (General of the Army, Fleet Admiral, General of the Air Force) are reserved for wartime and none is held today. The Space Force has no warrant officers.
About military ranks and insignia
Rank insignia of the US Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. The four branches’ ranks sit in the same pay grades, set by federal law: W-1 to W-5 for warrant officers and O-1 to O-10 for commissioned officers, with enlisted members running from E-1 to E-9. The Department of Defense’s insignia chart sets the branches side by side by pay grade, and titles in the same row can differ.
Same title, different grade
A captain is an O-3 in the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force, and an O-6 in the Navy, whose O-3 is a lieutenant. So a Navy captain wears the silver eagle of a colonel, and an Army captain two silver bars. A staff sergeant is an E-6 in the Army and Marine Corps but an E-5 in the Air Force, where the E-6 is a technical sergeant. A private first class is an E-3 in the Army and an E-2 in the Marine Corps. The Marine private first class wears one chevron, which in the Army is the insignia of a private (E-2); the Army’s private first class has one chevron above one arc.
Officer insignia
Officers wear the same insignia at the same pay grade in every branch: a gold bar at O-1, a silver bar at O-2, two silver bars at O-3, a gold oak leaf at O-4, a silver oak leaf at O-5, a silver eagle at O-6, and one to four silver stars from O-7 to O-10. The eagle became shared in 1941, the Naval History and Heritage Command records, when Navy captains gave up an eagle perched on an anchor for the spread eagle of Army and Marine colonels on their pin-on insignia. Navy officers show rank as stripes, on shoulder boards with white uniforms and on the lower sleeve with blue.
Which branch an enlisted insignia belongs to
Marine chevrons from lance corporal to master sergeant have crossed rifles between the stripes and the rockers; Army chevrons have none, and the Army calls its rockers arcs. Air Force stripes sweep upward from a circle with a star in it, and senior NCOs have stripes above the circle as well as below. A Navy petty officer’s badge is chevrons under a perched eagle, with a specialty mark between them for the sailor’s job. At E-9 a Marine sergeant major has four rockers and an Army sergeant major three arcs.
Sources
- 37 U.S.C. § 201: Pay grades, 37 U.S. Code § 201, Pay grades: assignment to; general rules, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, § 201(a)
- 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, warrant officer and officer tables
- Officer Knowledge (Officer Development School), Officer Training Command Newport, ODS Knowledge Book, Naval Service Training Command, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Navy rank insignia tables
- 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 21–6, 21–7
- Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, “Navy Captain”, Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, Officer, “Navy Captain”, Naval History and Heritage Command, Officer, “Navy Captain”
- Navy Uniform Regulations, articles 4211–4214: CPO rate insignia, United States Navy Uniform Regulations (NAVPERS 15665J), arts. 4211–4214, Navy Personnel Command (MyNavy HR), art. 4211
- A Study in Stripes, Walter J. Boyne, Air Force Magazine, 1 March 2008, Air & Space Forces Magazine (Air & Space Forces Association), 1948 design
- Stripes: A brief history of Air Force enlisted ranks, Randy Saunders, 50th Space Wing historian, 25 October 2011, U.S. Air Force (af.mil), 1991–1997 redesign
- Statutory Framework for Congressional Management of DOD General and Flag Officers (CRS R44389), Congressional Research Service, R44389, updated 29 May 2026 (EveryCRSReport.com copy), Congressional Research Service, Table 1
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 29, 2026. How we research