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Military rank insignia, and a quiz to learn them
Chevrons, rockers, bars, oak leaves, eagles, stars. How to read any US rank insignia, and a quiz built on the images of the Department of War chart.
Name that insignia
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US military rank insignia follow a few rules that hold across the six services. Enlisted insignia are built from chevrons, the stripes pointing up, with rockers, the curved stripes below, added from the midlevel grades; a center device such as a star, a diamond or a specialty mark identifies a position or a job. The Navy and the Coast Guard use a rating badge whose center mark "indicates the wearer's particular rating", according to the Department of War chart, and gold stripes after twelve or more years of good conduct. Officer insignia are bars, oak leaves, an eagle and stars, where silver outranks gold whenever the same shape appears twice. Most E-1s wear no insignia; the Coast Guard seaman recruit wears one stripe. The quiz above uses the 133 images published on the Department of War chart, works of the US government that are not subject to copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
How is this rank abbreviated?
Army, E-8
MSG
| Master Sergeant | MSG |
| First Sergeant | 1SG |
Abbreviations as printed on the Department of War chart; capitals differ by service.
Ranks and pay tables read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Reading enlisted insignia
In the Army, chevrons count up from private E-2 to sergeant, rockers appear at staff sergeant, and the center tells a position apart: the first sergeant's diamond, the sergeant major's star. The Marine Corps adds crossed rifles to its chevrons from lance corporal up. The Air Force and the Space Force use their own stripe shapes. The Navy and the Coast Guard combine an eagle, chevrons and the rating mark in one badge. The images in the tables of each service page show them all.
What is this rank called in another service?
Army Master Sergeant (MSG) in the Air Force
Senior Master Sergeant
| Pay grade | E-8 |
| Group | Senior noncommissioned officer |
| Abbreviation | SMSgt |
Equivalence follows the pay grade, the rule the services use between them.
Reading officer insignia
The same ten devices serve all six services: one gold bar (O-1), one silver bar (O-2), two silver bars (O-3), a gold oak leaf (O-4), a silver oak leaf (O-5), an eagle (O-6), then one, two, three and four stars (O-7 to O-10). Warrant officers have bars of their own, which differ by service. Naval officers also wear stripes on shoulder boards and sleeves, as the chart notes.
Where the images come from
Every insignia on this site is an image of the Department of War chart "U.S. Military Rank Insignia", reduced in size. The chart shows Space Force officers with the Air Force images, and has no image for E-1 in five services or for Coast Guard warrant officers; this site keeps those gaps rather than drawing its own. No image here is a sign of any official connection: this is an independent reference.