Major

Major is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world.

This article is about the military rank. For college majors, see Academic major. For use in music, see Major and minor. For other uses, see Major (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Mayor.

Comparative military ranks in English
Armies
Air forces
Space forces		 Navies Air forces
(Commonwealth system)
Commissioned officers
Field marshal or
General of the army or
General of the air force		 Admiral of
the fleet		 Marshal of
the air force
General Admiral Air chief marshal
Lieutenant general Vice admiral Air marshal
Major general Rear admiral Air vice-marshal
Brigadier or
brigadier general		 Commodore Air commodore
Colonel Captain Group captain
Lieutenant colonel Commander Wing commander
Major or
commandant		 Lieutenant
commander		 Squadron leader
Captain Lieutenant Flight lieutenant
Lieutenant or
first lieutenant		 Lieutenant
junior grade or
sub-lieutenant		 Flying officer
Second lieutenant Ensign or
midshipman		 Pilot officer
Officer cadet Officer cadet Flight cadet
Enlisted grades
Warrant officer or
sergeant major		 Warrant officer or
chief petty officer		 Warrant officer
Sergeant Petty officer Sergeant
Corporal or
bombardier		 Leading seaman Corporal
Private or
gunner or
trooper or
specialist		 Seaman Aircraftman or
airman or
aviator

Background

When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicators, major is one rank senior to that of an army captain, and one rank subordinate or below the rank of lieutenant colonel. It is considered the most junior of the field officer ranks.[1]

Majors are typically assigned as specialised executive or operations officers for battalion-sized units of 300 to 1,200 soldiers. In some militaries, notably France and Ireland, the rank of major is referred to as commandant, while in others it is known as captain-major.

When used in hyphenated or combined fashion, the term can also imply seniority at other levels of rank, including general-major or major general, denoting a low-level general officer, and sergeant major, denoting the most senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) of a military unit. The term major can also be used with a hyphen to denote the leader of a military band such as in pipe-major or drum-major.

Historically, the rank designation develops in English in the 1640s, taken from French majeur, in turn a shortening of sergent-majeur, which at the time designated a higher rank than at present. The term [[Mayor]] for the head of a municipal government can also be traced to the same French word.

The rank of major is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures, such as the Pennsylvania State Police, New York State Police, New Jersey State Police, and several others. As with a military major, this rank is most commonly the next rank above captain. The rank is equivalent to an inspector or commander in other large police departments or to the UK rank of superintendent.

Alphabetically sorted by name of country:

Insignia

Insignia of army majors.

Insignia of air force majors
  • Argentina
  • Brazil
  • Croatia
  • Denmark
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Sweden
  • Turkey
  • United States (also space force)
  • Vietnam

Insignia of naval infantry majors
  • Israel
  • Philippines
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
    Royal Marines
  • United States Marine Corps
  • Indonesian Marine Corps

Ranks equivalent to major by country

Alphabetically sorted by name of country or sovereign state

  • Croatia (Bojnik)
  • Rav seren - army (Israel)
  • Rav seren - air force (Israel)
  • Rav seren - navy (Israel)
  • Major (Майор) - army (Ukraine)

See also

References
  1. "Army Major". Military-Ranks. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
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