Defense Primer: Military Officers
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Updated December 10, 2024
Defense Primer: Military Officers
Grade and Rank The Armed Forces are hierarchical organizations with clearly defined levels of authority. The different levels for officers are defined in law and called grades, while rank refers to the order of precedence among those in different grades and within the same grade (e.g., someone who has been a Major for three years outranks someone who has been a Major for two years; see 10 U.S.C. §741). However, it is common for the term rank to be used as a synonym for grade. Pay grade is an administrative classification that determines certain rates of pay, but it is sometimes used to indicate grade as well. For example, a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy may be referred to as an O-4. See Figure 1. Numbers and Roles Officers (including warrant officers) make up about 18% of the Armed Forces, with enlisted personnel and military service academy cadets and midshipmen making up the other 82%. Officers outrank all enlisted personnel. Table 1 below lists the number of active-duty officers in each pay grade. Warrant officers (pay grades W-1 to W-5) perform highly technical or specialized work within their career field and
also, in the case of the Army, serve as helicopter pilots. Warrant officers constitute about 9% of the officer corps. Company-grade or junior-grade officers (pay grades O-1 to O-3) typically lead units with several dozen to several hundred personnel, or serve as junior staff officers. They make up about 56% of the officer corps. Field-grade or mid-grade officers (pay grades O-4 to O-6) typically lead units with several hundred to several thousand personnel, or serve as senior staff officers. They make up about 35%of the officer corps. The number of officers in these grades is limited by law (10 U.S.C. §523). General or flag officers (pay grades O-7 to O-10) may lead units or organizations with several thousand to hundreds of thousands of personnel or serve as staff for the largest military organizations. General and flag officers make up just under 0.4% of the officer corps. The number of officers in these grades is limited by law (10 U.S.C. §§525-526). Insignia As shown in Figure 1, each officer grade in the Armed Forces has distinctive insignia, typically worn on the sleeve, shoulder, collar, and/or headgear (caps, berets, etc.).
Table 1. Active-Duty Military Officers by Pay Grade (as of August 31, 2024)
Pay Grade
Service
Total Army Navy Marine Corps Air Force Space Force
O-10 13 8 3 13 3 40
O-9 53 37 25 43 5 163
O-8 110 68 29 86 9 302
O-7 124 107 39 99 11 380
O-6 3,614 2,959 702 3,183 232 10,690
O-5 8,607 6,417 1,951 9,171 746 26,892
O-4 15,690 10,151 3,941 13,210 1,129 44,121
O-3 26,350 19,522 5,881 20,934 1,262 73,949
O-2 12,307 7,435 3,823 6,873 581 31,019
O-1 9,848 6,614 2,734 7,001 565 26,762
W-5 555 79 111 not reported 0 745
W-4 1,642 462 269 not reported 0 2,373
W-3 3,103 809 673 not reported 0 4,585
W-2 6,137 713 880 not reported 0 7,730
W-1 4,273 33 284 not reported 0 4,590
Total 92,426 55,414 21,345 60,613 4,543 234,341
Source: Department of Defense, Defense Manpower Data Center, Active Duty Military Personnel by Service by Rank/Grade, August 2024. Note: The Air Force first began accepting applications for Warrant Officers in April 2024.
Defense Primer: Military Officers
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Figure 1. Pay Grade, Grade, and Insignia of Officers
Source: CRS adaption of Department of Defense web page: https://dod.defense.gov/About/Insignias/Officers/. The Department of the Air Force provided CRS with the insignia design for Air Force Warrant Officers. The U.S. Coast Guard, which normally falls under the Department of Homeland Security, uses the same names, collar insignia, and striping conventions as the Navy.
Resources
10 U.S.C. §§101(b), 523, 525-526a, 741, 742.
Department of Defense Instruction 1310.01, Rank and Seniority of Commissioned Officers.
CRS Report R44496, Military Officer Personnel Management: Key Concepts and Statutory Provisions.
CRS Report R44389, General and Flag Officers in the U.S. Armed Forces: Background and Considerations for Congress.
Defense Primer: Military Officers
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10685 · VERSION 17 · UPDATED
Kristy N. Kamarck, Coordinator, Specialist in Military Personnel
Carly A. Miller, Research Librarian
IF10685
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