Being a part of the military is considered as one of the highest honors and a matter of great respect in anybody’s life. Serving the motherland is a matter of high esteem. The ranks of the US military are structured in a hierarchical arrangement, widely known as US military hierarchy.
The structure of US military ranks had its roots in the British military traditions from where it evolved to its current structure. The revolution took place majorly in 19th century. The United States military hierarchy is described from the highest rank to the lower one as below:
- General – The highest rank in the US military, US army, US air force and US navy, is General. The General is a four star officer rank having the normal pay grade of 0-10. It is equivalent to the rank of the admiral in the uniformed services.
- Lieutenant General – In the US military, the next rank to the General is Lieutenant General, normally abbreviated as LTG. This is a three star general officer rank with a normal pay grade of 0-9. This rank is above the Major General rank in the US military hierarchy. This rank is equivalent to vice admiral.
- Major General – The next rank in US military hierarchy and below to Lieutenant General is Major general. It is a two star general officer rank equivalent to rear admiral and with a pay grade of 0-8.
- Brigadier General – The rank next to Major General is Brigadier General in the US military hierarchy. This is a one star officer rank equivalent to rear admiral lower half and having a pay grade of 0-7.
- Colonel – The next rank in the hierarchy is acquired by Colonel with a pay grade of 0-6 and this rank is equivalent to naval rank. This rank is a senior filed grade military officer rank of captain.
- Lieutenant Colonel – The field grade military officer rank with a pay grade of 0-5 is Lieutenant Colonel which lies right below the Colonel. This is equivalent to naval rank of commander.
- Major – The next rank of the hierarchy is Major, a field grade military officer rank with a pay grade of 0-4 and rank equivalent to naval rank lieutenant commander.
- Captain–The next rank after Major in hierarchy is Captain, a commissioned officer rank. This rank is having a pay scale of 0-3.
- First Lieutenant – The next rank in US military hierarchy and below to Captain is First Lieutenant. This rank is equivalent to commissioned officer military rank with a pay scale of 0-2.
- Second Lieutenant –Then is the rank of Second Lieutenant in the US military hierarchy which is right below to First Lieutenant. The rank in the hierarchy is equivalent to commissioned officer military rank with a pay grade of 0-1.
- Cadet –A cadet is the name given to the rank of a trainee in the hierarchy. These are the officers possessing training to become an officer in the military.