Captain (armed forces)

The army rank of captain (from the French capitaine) is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to the command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today, a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery (or United States Army cavalry troop or Commonwealth squadron). In the Chinese People's Liberation Army, a captain may also command a company, or be the second-in-command of a battalion.

In NATO countries, the rank of captain is described by the code OF-2 and is one rank above an OF-1 (lieutenant or first lieutenant) and one below an OF-3 (major or commandant). The rank of captain is generally considered to be the highest rank a soldier can achieve while remaining in the field.

In some militaries, such as United States Army and Air Force and the British Army, captain is the entry-level rank for officer candidates possessing a professional degree, namely, most medical professionals (doctors, pharmacists, dentists) and lawyers. (In the United States Army, lawyers who are not already officers at captain rank or above enter as lieutenants during training, and are promoted to the rank of captain after completion of their training if they are in the active component, or after a certain amount of time, usually one year from their date of commission as a lieutenant, for the reserve components.)

The rank of captain should not be confused with the naval rank of captain or with the British-influenced air force rank of group captain, both of which are equivalent to the army rank of colonel.

History

The term ultimately goes back to Late Latin capitaneus meaning "chief, prominent"; in Middle English adopted as capitayn in the 14th century, from Old French capitaine.

The military rank of captain was in use from the 1560s, referring to an officer who commands a company. The naval sense, an officer who commands a man-of-war, is somewhat earlier, from the 1550s, later extended in meaning to "master or commander of any kind of vessel". A captain in the period prior to the professionalization of the armed services of European nations subsequent to the French Revolution, during the early modern period, was a nobleman who purchased the right to head a company from the previous holder of that right. He would in turn receive money from another nobleman to serve as his lieutenant. The funding to provide for the troops came from the monarch or his government; the captain had to be responsible for it. If he was not, or was otherwise court-martialed, he would be dismissed ("cashiered"), and the monarch would receive money from another nobleman to command the company. Otherwise, the only pension for the captain was selling the right to another nobleman when he was ready to retire.

Air forces

In most countries, the air force is the junior service and so air force ranks have been adopted or modified from one of the other services. Many, such as the United States Air Force, use a rank structure and insignia similar to those of the army.

However, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force, many other Commonwealth air forces and a few non-Commonwealth air forces^[1] use an air force-specific rank structure in which flight lieutenant is OF-2. A group captain is OF-5 and was derived from the naval rank of captain.

In the unified system of the Canadian Forces, the air force rank titles are pearl grey and increase from OF-1 to OF-5 in half strip increments.^[2]

Equivalent captain ranks

Insignia

A variety of images illustrative of different forces' insignia for captain (or captain-equivalents) are shown below:

• 
  Australian Army
• 
  Bangladesh Army
• 
  Belgian Land Component
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  Brazilian Army (Capitão)
• 
  Brazilian Air Force (Capitão)
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  Brazilian Military Police (Capitão)
• 
  British Army/Royal Marines
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  Canadian Army
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  Colombian Army
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  People's Liberation Army
• 
  Kapitán
  Czech Republic Army
• 
  Egyptian Army
• 
  Kapteeni
  Finnish Defence Force
• 
  Capitaine
  French Army
• 
  Capitaine des Eaux et Forêts
  French Forests Office
• 
  კაპიტანი (kapitani) Georgian Army
  
• 
  Hauptmann
  German Army
• 
  Lochagos
  Hellenic Army
• 
  Százados
  Hungarian Defence Force
• 
  Kaptan
  Pakistan Army
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  Indian Army
• 
  Kapten
  Indonesian Army
• 
  Captaen
  Irish Army
• 
  Seren
  Israel Defense Forces
• 
  Seren
  Israel Air Force
• 
  Seren
  Israeli Navy
• 
  Capitano
  Italian Army
• 
  Kapitonas
  Lithuanian Land Force
• 
  Капетан (Kapetan)
  Macedonian Army
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  Kapitein
  Royal Netherlands Army
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  Capitán (Spanish)
  Kapitán (Tagalog)
  Philippine Army
• 
  Kapitan
  Polish Army
• 
  Căpitan
  Romanian Armed Forces
• 
  Russian Armed Forces
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  Sri Lanka
• 
  Kapten
  Swedish Air Force
• 
  Kapten
  Swedish Army
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  Hauptmann
  Swiss Armed Forces
• 
  Roi Ek (ร้อยเอก)
  Royal Thai Army
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  Yüzbaşı
  Turkish Armed Forces
• 
  U.S. Air Force^[3]
• 
  U.S. Marine Corps^[4]
• 
  U.S. Army

Historical

• 
  U.S. Army (September 1959 to October 2015)^[5]
• 
  U.S. Army (1861 to 1865)
• 
  C.S. Army (1861 to 1865)

See also

• Captain (United Kingdom)
• Captain (United States)
• Senior captain
• Staff captain

References