Lance corporal

Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organizations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer, usually equivalent to the NATO Rank Grade OR-3.

Etymology

The presumed origin of the rank of lance corporal derives from an amalgamation of corporal from the Italian phrase capo corporale ("head of the body") with the now-archaic lancepesade, which in turn derives from the Italian lancia spezzata, which literally means "broken lance" or "broken spear", formerly a non-commissioned officer of the lowest rank. It can be translated as "one who has broken a lance in combat", and is therefore a leader.^[1] "Lance" or "lances fournies" was also a term used in Medieval Europe to denote a unit of soldiers (usually 5 to 10 men strong).

Commonwealth of Nations

In Commonwealth forces, a lance corporal is usually the second in command of a section. Lance corporals are commonly addressed as "corporal", with "lance jack" or "half-screw" (with corporals being "full screws") being common colloquialisms for the rank. Much like the use of bombardier instead of corporal in artillery units, lance corporals are known as lance-bombardiers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. ^[2]). The badge of rank is a 1-bar chevron worn on both sleeves or on an epaulette.

Australia and New Zealand

Lance corporal is the lowest of the non-commissioned officer ranks in the Australian Army and New Zealand Army, falling between private and corporal. It is the only appointed rank, and thus demotion is easier than with other ranks, a commanding officer can demote a lance corporal, whereas other ranks require a Courts Martial for demotion. A lance corporal is usually the second in command of a section, and is in control of the gun group in an infantry section. There is no equivalent rank within the Royal Australian Air Force or Royal Australian Navy.

Second corporal was also formerly used in Australia in the same way that it was used in the British Army.

Canada

The Canadian Forces abolished the Canadian Army rank of lance corporal on their creation as a unified force in 1968. The rank of trained private equates to OR-3 and wears the single chevron, but has no command authority. In terms of actual authority, the current appointment of Master Corporal equates most directly to the pre-unification appointment of lance corporal. In both cases, this rank was granted to the second-in-command of an infantry section.

United Kingdom

British Army and Royal Marines

British Army insignia

Lance corporal (LCpl or formerly L/Cpl) is the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer in the British Army and Royal Marines, between private and corporal (although officially they have a NATO grade of OR3, due to them having the same battlefield role of fire team commander as a sergeant in the U.S. Army they are often treated as OR5s when working with U.S. forces). The badge of rank is a one-bar chevron worn on both sleeves, or on an epaulette on the front of the Combat Soldier 95 dress standard (although lance corporals in the Foot Guards, Honourable Artillery Company, 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards and The Queen's Royal Hussars wear two-bar chevrons and in the Household Cavalry a two-bar chevron surmounted by the crown is worn). The Royal Artillery uses the term lance-bombardier instead.

A lance corporal of the East Surrey Regiment, British Army equipped with a Thompson M1928 submachine gun (drum magazine), 25 November 1940

The designation "chosen man", used during the Napoleonic Wars, was a precursor to the rank. The date of introduction of lance corporals to the British Army is unclear. The first reference to a lance corporal in the London Gazette is in 1831.^[3] However, the first mention of the rank in The Times is in 1819,^[4] so it appears they existed at least from the second decade of the 19th century. The first mention in the London Gazette of a lance corporal in the Royal Marines is in 1838.^[5]

Until 1 September 1961, lance corporal and lance bombardier were only appointments rather than substantive ranks, given to privates who were acting NCOs, and could be taken away by the soldier's commanding officer (whereas a full corporal or bombardier could only be demoted by court martial).^[6] The Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps also used the similar rank of second corporal, which was a substantive rank (also wearing one chevron), until 1920. Until 1920, bombardiers in the Royal Artillery were equivalent to second corporals and until 1918 (when the rank of lance bombardier replaced it), acting bombardiers were equivalent to lance corporals (both wearing one chevron).

In the infantry, a lance corporal usually serves as second-in-command of a section and commander of its delta fire team. It is also a rank commonly held by specialists such as clerks, drivers, signallers, machine-gunners, and mortarmen. In the Intelligence Corps and Royal Military Police all other ranks are promoted to lance corporal on the completion of their training.

Royal Air Force

On 1 April 2010, the rank of lance corporal was introduced into the RAF Regiment, although it is not used by other branches of the Royal Air Force.^[7][8] RAF Regiment lance corporals have powers of charge over aircraftmen, leading aircraftmen and senior aircraftmen, but not junior technicians and senior aircraftmen technicians, who, despite being OR2s, require a corporal or above to charge if required.^[9]

Cadet Forces

The British cadet forces reflect the ranks of their parent services, so the Army Cadet Force, army and RAF sections of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) and the various marine cadet organisations have cadet lance corporals as their first NCO rank. In the CCF(RAF), the rank was formerly called junior corporal. The Air Training Corps does not use the rank of lance corporal.

Finland

The equivalent of a lance corporal in the Finnish Defence Forces is a korpraali [fi]"or "korpral [swe]" (literally, corporal). (The language of command in the Finnish Military is Finnish, whereas orders can be given in either Finnish or Swedish. Hence military ranks have official translations in both domestic languages.) Korpraali is not considered an NCO rank.

Typically, the promotion is given to rank-and-file conscripts who perform exceptionally well.^[10] Conscripts attending the NCO course are promoted to lance corporal during the latter half of the NCO course prior to promotion to corporal (Finnish: alikersantti) or prior to being detailed to Reserve Officer School.

Reservists in the rank of private may be promoted to lance corporal if they distinguish themselves during a refresher exercise or in international deployment.^[11]

Indonesia

The Lance Corporal rank insignia of the Indonesian Army

In the Indonesian Military, the rank "Lance Corporal" is known as Kopral Dua (Kopda) and is below the rank of "Corporal" and above the rank of "Master Private". In Indonesia, "Corporal" has three levels, which are: Second Corporal (Lance Corporal), First Corporal (Corporal), and Master Corporal.

India and Pakistan

The equivalent to lance-corporal in the British Indian Army was acting lance-daffadar in cavalry regiments and lance-naik in other units. These ranks are still used in the Indian Army and Pakistan Army.

Portugal and Brazil

In the Portuguese Army, the equivalent of a lance corporal rank used to be that of anspeçada. The rank of anspeçada was replaced, in the end of the 19th century, by the present rank of segundo-cabo (second corporal), the former rank of cabo (corporal) being renamed primeiro-cabo (first corporal).

After the independence of Brazil in 1822, the new Brazilian Army followed the Portuguese system of ranks, having also the rank of anspeçada. The rank existed also in the Brazilian States Military Polices and in the Military Firefighters Corps. The rank of anspeçada was discontinued in Brazil in the first half of the 20th century.

Singapore

Singapore Armed Forces' insignia

Lance-corporal (LCP) in the Singapore Armed Forces ranks between private first-class (PFC) and corporal (CPL).^[12]

Lance-corporals who are appointed second-in-command/ third-in-command of a section (military unit) can give commands to the rest of the platoon section. National Servicemen are usually promoted to this rank after completing their respective vocational courses and within the 1st year of service.

A lance-corporal (下士) wears rank insignia of a single point down chevron with an arc above it (similar to an inverted US Army PFC rank insignia).

Singapore Armed Forces enlistee ranks

NATO rank code	OR-1	OR-2	OR-3	OR-4
Insignia	(No Insignia)	(No Insignia)
Rank	Recruit	Private	Lance corporal	Corporal	Corporal first class
Abbreviation	REC	PTE	LCP	CPL	CFC

Sweden

Sweden has vicekorpral (previously vicekonstapel, "vice constable", in the artillery and anti-aircraft artillery) as a rank intermediate between private and korpral. It was primarily a school degree discontinued in 1972 but reinstated in 2008 or 2009.

United States

Army

Lance Corporal was a title used in the U.S. Army to denote privates serving as temporary noncommissioned officers. The title of lance corporal existed in the US Army since at least 1802, as the US Army Institute of Heraldry documents its first occurrence in an “unofficial journal” dated in that year. The first official use of the title of lance corporal is documented in the General Regulations for the Army, or, Military Institutes, (Articles 18 and 20), authorized by an Act of Congress on March 2, 1821 and published by the War Department in July 1821 and again on March 1, 1825.

In the General Regulations for the Army of the United States (Article XVI, Paragraph 64), published on January 25, 1841, and again in the 1847 edition (Article XIII, Paragraph 121; Article XIV, Paragraph 134; and Article XLIX, Paragraph 818) the title of lance corporal is authorized. (Lance corporals were to serve as assistant squad leaders.) Again, in the Revised Army Regulations of 1861 published on August 10, 1861 and in the 1863 edition “With An Appendix Containing the Changes and Laws Affecting Army Regulations And Articles Of War To June 25, 1863” (Article 40, Paragraph 971), lance corporal is authorized. Lance corporal is again authorized in Regulations of the Army of the United States and General Orders In Force on the 17th of February 1881 (Article LV, Paragraph 812) and in Regulations of the Army of the United States 1895 (Article XXXII, Paragraph 257).

In the edition of 1901 “With Appendix Separately Indexed And Showing Changes to January 1, 1901”, in the Appendix, page 331, in Headquarters of the Army, General Orders, No. 42, June 30, 1897, Part II, the lance corporal is authorized to wear “…a chevron having one bar…”. In Regulations for the Army of the United States 1904, (Article XXX, Paragraph 263), “…no company shall have more than one lance corporal at a time, unless there are noncommissioned officers absent by authority, during which absences there may be one for each absentee.” This proscription appears again in Article XXX, Paragraph 272 of Regulations for the Army of the United States 1910, and the editions of 1913, and 1917 “Corrected to April 15, 1917 (Changes, Nos. 1 to 55)”.

In 1920, the former lance corporal insignia of rank was assigned to private first class in War Department Circular No. 303, dated 3 August 1920. However, the Institute of Heraldry states that some US Army Tables of Organization and Equipment (TOEs) still authorized lance corporals until circa 1940.

In February 1965, the US Army announced that effective September 1, 1965, pay grade E-3 would be re-designated as lance corporal.^[13] The rank insignia was to be the pre-World War II specialist grade 6 insignia of one chevron above one arc, or “rocker.” However, by September 1965 the plan was canceled. ^[14]

Marine Corps

Lance corporal (LCpl) is the third enlisted rank in order of seniority in the U.S. Marine Corps, just above private first class and below corporal. It is not a non-commissioned officer rank. It is the most common rank in the USMC.

The USMC is the only component of the U.S. Armed Forces to currently have lance corporals. Promotion to lance corporal is based on time in grade, time in service, and the conduct of the Marine. Further promotion to the NCO ranks (Corporal and above) is competitive and takes into account the individual service record of the Marine. There can only be a certain number of corporals and sergeants in each MOS, so even with a qualifying score, promotions may be delayed due to an excessive number of corporals occupying billets in a certain MOS.

From the earliest years of the Corps, the ranks of lance corporal and lance sergeant were in common usage. The rank of Lance Corporal has been in the Marine Corps since the 1830s. Marines were appointed temporarily from the next lower rank to the higher grade but were still paid at the lower rank. As the rank structure became more firmly defined, the rank of lance sergeant fell out of use, with rank of lance corporal serving in the Corps into the 1930s, but this unofficial rank became redundant when the rank of private first class was established in 1917. The lance corporal fell out of usage prior to World War II, before it was permanently established in the sweeping rank restructuring of 1958.^[15]

United States enlisted ranks
Pay grade → Branch of service ↓	E-1	E-2	E-3	E-4	E-5	E-6	E-7	E-8	E-9
Army	PVT	PV2	PFC	SPC – CPL	SGT	SSG	SFC	MSG – 1SG	SGM – CSM – SMA
Marine Corps	Pvt	PFC	LCpl	Cpl	Sgt	SSgt	GySgt	MSgt – 1stSgt	MGySgt – SgtMaj – SgtMajMarCor
Navy	SR	SA	SN	PO3	PO2	PO1	CPO	SCPO – CMDCS	MCPO – CMDCM – FORCM, FLTCM – MCPON
Air Force	AB	Amn	A1C	SrA	SSgt	TSgt	MSgt – 1st Sgt	SMSgt – 1st Sgt	CMSgt – 1st Sgt – CCM – CMSAF
Coast Guard	SR	SA	SN	PO3	PO2	PO1	CPO	SCPO	MCPO – CMC – Area CMC, CGRF-MC – MCPOCG

See also

• Comparative military ranks
• Lance sergeant
• Lances fournies

Notes