German Army rank insignia

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The German Heer (as the German Luftwaffe) distinguishes three career paths: officers (Offiziere), NCOs (Unteroffiziere) and enlisted men (Mannschaften).

Rank insignia are worn on both shoulders.

1 Officers
2 Non-commissioned officers
3 Enlisted personnel

[edit] Officers

Shoulder insignia	Abbr.	Rank (American Equivalent)	NATO equivalent
	G Gen	General	OF-9
	GL GenLt	Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General)	OF-8
	GM GenMaj	Generalmajor (Major General)	OF-7
	BG BrigGen	Brigadegeneral (Brigadier General)	OF-6
	O Oberst	Oberst (Colonel)	OF-5
	OTL OberstLt	Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)	OF-4
	M Maj	Major (Major)	OF-3
	SH StHptm	Stabshauptmann (only in specialist officer careers)	OF-2
	H Hptm	Hauptmann (Captain)	OF-2
	OL OLt	Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant)	OF-1
	L Lt	Leutnant (Second Lieutenant)	OF-1
officer candidates			NCO equivalent
	OFR OFähnr	Oberfähnrich	Hauptfeldwebel
	FR Fähnr	Fähnrich	Feldwebel
	FJ Fhj	Fahnenjunker	Unteroffizier
	OG OA	Obergefreiter (Offizieranwärter)	OA may be combined with any enlisted rank

[edit] Officer education

Career officers usually start as enlisted personnel. At some point during their first months of service officer candidates receive a silver string (Litze) to be worn with their rank insignia designating them officer candidates (Offizieranwärter). After successfully completing special training they are promoted Fahnenjunker after usually 12 months of service (when entering as a Schütze/ recruit equivalent) and return to their units. Another officer training program needs to be completed to be promoted Fähnrich after a minimum of 21 months of service. Usually officer candidates are promoted to Oberfähnrich after 30 months and finally Leutnant after 36 months of service. After this, young officers usually leave their units for 3.5 to 4 years of non-military education at one of the Bundeswehr universities.

[edit] Field grade officers

In order to be promoted to Major (major; a rank only career officers can achieve), the officers have to complete successfully a course called Stabsoffizierlehrgang (SOL) (field grade officer basic course). It takes a mimimum of 10 years of officer's service to become a major. Oberstleutnant '(lt.-col.) is the standard final rank for career officers which can be awarded after 17 years of service. The salary of this rank depends on the respective function (A 14 or A 15 in the German salary scheme). Oberst (colonel) is the highest field grade rank (promotion requires a minimum of 17 years of officer's service, i.e. 20 years of service overall).

[edit] Officers in General Staff Service

About 1,5 per cent of each crew are chosen to take part in the Generalstabslehrgang (general staff course) at the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr (military academy) at Hamburg. This course lasts two years after the completion of which the participants put a "i.G." after their rank, meaning im Generalstabsdienst (in general staff service). Having completed this course, the minimum rank those officers achieve is usually Oberst/ colonel. The Generalstabslehrgang is a necessary requirement for the promotion to a General's rank.

[edit] Non-commissioned officers

Shoulder insignia	Abbr.	Rank	NATO equivalent
	OSF OStFw	Oberstabsfeldwebel	OR9
	SF StFw	Stabsfeldwebel	OR8
	HF HptFw	Hauptfeldwebel	OR7 / OR8
	OF OFw	Oberfeldwebel	OR6
	F Fw	Feldwebel	OR6
	SU StUffz	Stabsunteroffizier	OR5
	U Uffz	Unteroffizier	OR4
NCO candidates
	OG UA	Obergefreiter (Unteroffizieranwärter)	OR2
	UA may be combined with any enlisted rank

NCOs (Unteroffiziere) play an important role in the Heer as they are entrusted the command of most sub-company units. They often are referred to as the backbone of the army. Especially Feldwebels and above carry similar responsibilities officers have. This is largely due to the German military doctrine of Auftragstaktik: German orders usually do not include specific instructions, but rather a task, the available time and the available means. This gives leaders of smaller units a great deal of freedom and responsibility.

[edit] Enlisted personnel

Shoulder insignia	Abbr.	Rank
	OSG OStGefr	Oberstabsgefreiter
	SG StGefr	Stabsgefreiter
	HG HptGefr	Hauptgefreiter
	OG OGefr	Obergefreiter
	G Gefr	Gefreiter
	S	Schütze (Trooper)

Enlisted personnel are largely made up of conscripts serving their nine months of mandatory service. Starting as Schütze or trooper a promotion to Gefreiter is mandatory after basic training (first three months of service). After additional three months of service (usually consisting of special training required for his arm of service) any soldier is promoted to Obergefreiter unless he fails even most basic requirements. Conscripts leaving the army after nine months of service may be promoted to Hauptgefreiter der Reserve (lance-corporal in reserve) effective the day of their discharge to award outstanding performance. Longer serving enlisted soldiers will receive their Hauptgefreiter promotion after nine months to award outstanding performance or after twelve months of service.

To be promoted Stabsgefreiter a soldier requires at least four years of enlisted service. Soldiers may opt to sign long-term contracts as enlisted soldiers, but most enlisted soldiers serving long terms in fact applied for NCO careers but failed their training requirements and opted rather to serve their term as enlisted soldiers than being released from service immediately.

The rank of Oberstabsgefreiter is being abolished (no more promotions to this rank).

The most important distinction between NCOs and enlisted men is that the latter cannot give any order even to lower-ranking soldiers unless specific circumstances apply (e.g. while on guard duty or to soldiers ordered to do so by their regular chain of command).

The rank Schütze is replaced by ranks specific to their Waffengattung (branch of service):