what does this symbol mean?

Military ranks and insignia

US military rank insignia, branch by branch, and the rank and pay grade each one shows.

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.

Army ranks 28 symbols

Every US Army rank insignia, enlisted, warrant officer and officer, in order, with its pay grade.

Navy ranks 25 symbols

Every US Navy rank insignia, enlisted, warrant officer and officer, in order, with its pay grade.

Marine Corps ranks 26 symbols

Every US Marine Corps rank insignia, enlisted, warrant officer and officer, in order, with its pay grade.

Air Force ranks 21 symbols

US Air Force rank insignia, enlisted and officer, in order, with the pay grade each one shows.

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

  1. 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)
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, “Navy Captain”, Naval Traditions: Names of Rank, Officer, “Navy Captain”, Naval History and Heritage Command, Officer, “Navy Captain”
  6. 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
  7. A Study in Stripes, Walter J. Boyne, Air Force Magazine, 1 March 2008, Air & Space Forces Magazine (Air & Space Forces Association), 1948 design
  8. 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
  9. 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

Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research