Corporal

The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase capo corporale ("head of a body").[1] It may also be derived from an appointment as an officer's bodyguard, originally being an adjective pertaining to the word "body".

All three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic use two or three ranks of corporal, or cabo. Corporals in the Argentine military are considered suboficiales subalternos (subaltern sub-officers/lower non-commissioned officers), superior only to all ranks of Volunteers (enlisted members of the Army and Air Force) and Seamen (enlisted members of the Navy).

In the Argentine Army, there are two ranks of corporal, junior and senior: Cabo ("corporal") and cabo primero ("first corporal").

While the Argentine Navy has three corporal ranks, from junior to senior: Cabo segundo (corporal second class), Cabo primero (corporal first class) and cabo principal (principal corporal), which is equal to the army rank of sargento (sergeant). The Air Force has the same number of corporal ranks as the navy, and keeps the same titles, with the exception of cabo (corporal) instead of the navy's cabo segundo (corporal second class).

The rank is also used by the Argentine National Gendarmerie and the Argentine Federal Police, which use the rank in the same manner as the Army, as well as the Argentine Naval Prefecture.

Corporal is the second lowest of the non-commissioned officer ranks in the Australian Army, falling between lance-corporal and sergeant. A corporal is usually appointed as a section commander, and is in charge of 7–14 soldiers of private rank. They are assisted by a second-in-command, usually a lance-corporal or senior private. A Corporal within Artillery is known as a bombardier. Corporal is also a rank of the Royal Australian Air Force, being equal to both the Australian Army and Royal Air Force rank of corporal.

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  Army - shoulder
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  Army - sleeve
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  Air Force - sleeve

Corporal is a non-commissioned officer rank in the Bangladesh Army, falling between lance-corporal and sergeant, and in the Bangladesh Air Force, falling between leading aircraftman and sergeant.[2]

The branches of the Belgian Armed Forces use three ranks of corporal: corporal (Dutch: korporaal, French: caporal), master corporal (Dutch: korporaal-chef, French: caporal-chef) and 1st master corporal (Dutch: 1ste korporaal-chef, French: 1e caporal-chef). Corporal is equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-3, whereas master corporal and 1st master corporal are equivalent to OR-4. The rank immediately below corporal is 1st private and the rank directly above 1st master corporal is sergeant.

Units with a cavalry, artillery or Logistic Corps (Transport unit) tradition replace Corporal by "Brigadier".

The equivalent of these ranks in the Naval Component are quartermaster, chief quartermaster and 1st chief quartermaster.

Kapral BHD (OR-3/4)

The Byelorussian Home Defence (February 23, 1944 – April 28, 1945) used the Kapral (Belarusian: Капрал), in the meaning of Corporal as enlisted grade, equivalent to Obergefreiter (OR-3b), Hauptgefreiter (OR-3a) or Stabsgefreiter (OR-4) of the German Nazi-Wehrmacht (1933-1945).

Corporal (in Portuguese cabo) is the first NCO rank of the Army, Navy, Air Force and states military police forces. Soldiers who successfully complete the corporal course may be promoted to the rank of corporal should they excel in the course. A corporal in the Brazilian Army will lead the smallest fractions of units as machine gun squads, mortar and infantry squads.

Corporal is an Army and Air Force non-commissioned member rank of the Canadian Forces. Its Naval equivalent is leading seaman. It is senior to the rank of private and its naval equivalent able seaman, and junior to master corporal (caporal-chef) and its equivalent master seaman (matelot-chef). It is part of the cadre of junior non-commissioned officers, and one of the junior ranks. In French, the rank is caporal.

The rank insignia of a corporal is a two-bar chevron, point down, worn in gold thread on both upper sleeves of the service dress jacket; in rifle green (army) or dark blue (air force) thread on CADPAT slip-ons for operational dress; in old gold thread on blue slip-ons on other air force uniforms; and in gold metal and green enamel miniature pins on the collars of the army dress shirt and outerwear coats. On army ceremonial uniforms, it is usually rendered in gold braid (black for rifle regiments), on either both sleeves, or just the right, depending on unit custom.

Corporal is the first non-commissioned officer rank, and the lowest rank officially empowered to issue a lawful command. Corporals can lead troops if they have the formal qualifications to be promoted to master corporal but have not been promoted yet. However, the rank of corporal was severely downgraded after Unification, along with the attendant responsibilities. A corporal in the Canadian Army in 1967 had the same duties and responsibilities that a sergeant has today. In an infantry section, a corporal will sometimes command an assault team if a master corporal is leading the section or they are pending promotion to master corporal.

Another effect of Unification was to delete the appointments of lance-corporal and lance-sergeant (a corporal holding the acting rank of sergeant). The former is still common in other Commonwealth militaries.

Corporal is deemed to be the substantive rank of the members carrying the appointment of master corporal. On pay documents, corporal was formerly listed as "Cpl (A)" and master corporal as "Cpl (B)".

The rank of corporal in artillery units follows the British convention and is styled bombardier – thus a master corporal is a master bombardier.

In rifle regiments, a distinction was historically drawn between a corporal and an acting corporal; The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada had a special insignia to distinguish between the two.

In the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police, there are three grades of Corporal: Corporal, Corporal 2nd. and Corporal 1st. The next level is Sergeant 2nd. grade.

PLA Corporal epaulet

Corporal (Chinese: 下士, literally junior NCO) is the lowest among the ranks of the non-commissioned officer of the People's Liberation Army. This rank was once replaced by the rank "level one non-commissioned officer" (Chinese:一级士官, 1998–2009), but was re-introduced in 2009.

In the Danish military, the rank of corporal (korporal in Danish) is the lowest rank of the NCO group. Professional (non-conscripted) soldiers, often those with the rank of "overkonstabel" (somewhat similar to "specialist" in the U.S. Army) may sometimes get selected for the rank of corporal, if they have unique experience or skills. This can't be given as a battlefield appointment and the aspiring corporal has to take a course in order to be promoted (6 weeks in the Army, 3 weeks in the Airforce and Navy). A corporal will often be given a task similar to that of other countries corporals; i.e. ad hoc assistance of squad-commanders. In the homeguard, a private can after completing a 10-day course get promoted to the rank of corporal and function as second in command of an infantry squad. The rank of corporal was phased out but was reintroduced into the Danish Army in October 2008.[3][4]

In the Estonian Defence Forces, the rank of corporal (kapral in Estonian) is not an NCO rank, but an enlisted one and is equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-2.

Insignia of alikersantti

In the Egyptian Army, the rank of corporal ('arif عريف) is an enlisted one and is equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4.

Insignia of alikersantti

Alikersantti is an OR-4 rank and the lowest NCO rank of the Finnish Defence Forces. Alikersantti carries two-chevron rank insignia. In translations from English to Finnish, the corporal rank is often mistranslated as lance corporal, which is called korpraali in Finnish. In direct translation, the rank name basically means "junior sergeant" or "sub-sergeant". Typical duties of alikersantti are leading the squad or being second-in-command of the squad.

There are three ranks of corporal (caporal in French). In the French Army, these are not NCO ranks, but enlisted ones. The corporals are called "ranked" (gradés). NCO start at the rank of sergent (OR-5).

Insigia – first class staff corporal

• "Corporal" (caporal) is a NATO OR-3 level rank. The insignia is two chevrons of wool (vs. the two gold chevrons of a sergeant).
• "Master corporal" (caporal-chef) is OR-4. The insignia is two chevrons of wool plus a gold chevron.
• "First class master corporal" (caporal-chef de première classe) is intermediate between OR-4 and OR-5. The insignia is one red chevron and two gold chevrons.

With the exception of Troupes de Marine, which uses caporaux whether the men are infantry, cavalry or artillery, regiments with a cavalry tradition use brigadier.

Modern-day Bundeswehr shoulder boards

Oberstabsgefreiter

Stabsgefreiter

NATO equivalent OR-4

Historically, the German army rank of Unteroffizier[5] was the traditional German equivalent to the British Army corporal rank, and this grade has existed as a military rank since at least the 18th century. The German ranks of Stabsgefreiter and Oberstabsgefreiter are sometimes considered to be equivalent to a corporal rank in the US and other armies. The deputy to an Unteroffizier usually held the rank of Obergefreiter or Gefreiter (but others in the gruppe—squad/section—could as well) and as such is comparable to a British Army or Royal Marine lance corporal.[5][6][7] Gefreiter and Obergefreiter ranks are based on experience and not on positions. The additional German rank of Obergefreiter was historically considered a senior lance corporal otherwise second corporal in the foot artillery which replaced the bombardier rank.

Nazi Wehrmacht corporal (OR-3 / OR-4) equivalent until 1945

equivalent	Waffen-SS	Heer (Army)	Luftwaffe (Air Force)	Kriegsmarine (Navy)
OR-1	SS-Schütze	Soldat (private)	Flieger (aircraftman)	Matrose (seaman)
	SS-Oberschütze	Oberschütze
OR-2	SS-Sturmmann	Gefreiter		Matrosengefreiter
OR-3	SS-Rottenführer	Obergefreiter		Matrosenobergefreiter
	no equivalent		Hauptgefreiter	Matrosenhauptgefreiter
OR-4	no equivalent	Stabsgefreiter		Matrosenstabsgefreiter
	no equivalent			Matrosenoberstabsgefreiter

Ranks Waffen-SS as to: GORDON WILLIAMSON: “The SS Hitler´s Instrument of the power”; published by KAISER; appendix, page 250, service ranks of the SS and the equivalent to the Wehrmacht; copyright 1994 by Brown Packaging Books Ltd., London.

In modern-day Bundeswehr usage, the German rank of Unteroffizier is classified as OR-5 within the combined NATO-standard rank scale and is considered to be more a US sergeant rank than that of a corporal, with Oberstabsgefreiter and Stabsgefreiter now considered the equivalent ranks to the corporal (OR-4). The British Army does not use OR 5 and considers sergeants to be OR-6.

In the years between 1934 and 1945, there was also a corresponding paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS) rank grade of Unterscharführer, it was considered equivalent to a Germany Army Unteroffizier rank.

These ranks are still used in the Indian Air Force. it is a rank given to an airman who is senior to leading aircraftman but junior to a sergeant. A corporal is designated as a Non-Commissioned Officer in the Indian Air Force.

IAF Corporal Arm Insignia

In the Indonesian Military, the rank "Corporal" is known as Kopral. In Indonesia, "Corporal" has three levels, which are: Second Corporal (Lance Corporal), First Corporal (Corporal), and Master Corporal. After this rank, the rank: Sergeant is promoted.

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  Second Corporal/Lance Corporal
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  First Corporal/Corporal
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  Master Corporal

Corporal (in Persian سرجوخه Sarjukhe) is one of the lower ranks of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. A sarjukhe is usually responsible for four or five soldiers.

Irish Army corporal's subdued rank slider

Corporal (ceannaire in Irish) is the lowest rank of non-commissioned officer within the Irish Army and Air Corps. The Naval Service equivalent is leading seaman.

IDF Rank: רב טוראי Rav turai (Rabat)

In the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers are promoted from private to corporal (rav-turai' 'רב טוראי or rabat' 'רב״ט) after 7–10 months of service (7 for combatants, 8 for combat support and 10 for non-combatants), if they performed their duties appropriately during this time. Soldiers who take a commander's course, are prisoner instructors or practical engineers become corporals earlier. Corporals get a symbolic pay raise of 3.60 NIS and those who are also non-commissioned officers (mashak) are able to command privates in their respective units.

A corporal may be promoted to sergeant about 11 or 12 months after becoming a corporal, or to the rank of second lieutenant if they complete an officer's course.

Winter

Paratrooper

Italian Army caporale insignia

A soldier could be promoted from private (soldato) to corporal rank (caporale) after 3 months of service until 2014, now they have to pass a selection to be promoted to corporal.[8] The title was use as a senior office in the Italian Kingdom during World War II.

Corporal (in Spanish "cabo") is one of the lower ranks of the Mexican army.

The New Zealand Defence Force awards the corporal rank to soldiers or airmen after 6 or 7 years of service. There is substantial responsibility on the part of a corporal in the New Zealand Army and Royal New Zealand Air Force. They usually command a small team and work closely with their sergeants. A pay increase is also given.

Like their British, Canadian and Australian counterparts, they wear two chevrons to distinguish their rank.

Corporals have what is termed 'power of arrest', and is impressed on recruits in RNZAF basic training. Basically, this power means that any airman or private disobeying or ignoring an order from a corporal will be subject to military arrest by that individual. Needless to say, power of arrest is used by higher ranks to enforce their orders, corporal in the RNZAF being the lowest rank with this power.

In the Norwegian Armed Forces, promotion to the rank of korporal is an acknowledgement for good service by conscripted personnel. The rank does give some commanding authority, and corporals may be given increased informal responsibilities by senior officers and non-commissioned officers. The rank carries two chevrons and a slight pay increase.

All conscripted personnel in the military police are awarded the rank after the five-month learning period is over.

These ranks are still used in the Pakistan Air Force. it is a rank given to an airman who is senior to leading aircraftsman but junior to a sergeant.

In the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the rank Corporal is locally called as Kabo. It is currently being used by both the Philippine Army and the Philippine Marine Corps. It stand above the rank of Private first class and below Sergeant.

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  Kabo
  Philippine Army
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  Kabo
  Philippine Marine Corps

The Philippine Revolutionary Army also used corporal as part of their ranks during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American War. It is the lowest enlisted personnel rank on the service, below the rank of sergeant.

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  Kabo
  Philippine Revolutionary Army

As of February 8, 2019, a new ranking classification for the Philippine National Police was adopted, eliminating confusion of old ranks. The rank of Corporal is included on the new ranking classification. It is the second from the bottom, placing above the rank of Patrolman and below Police Staff sergeant.

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  Kabo
  Philippine National Police

Shoulder strap of a kapral in the Polish Army.

In the Polish Land Forces, the rank of kapral is the lowest rank in the NCO corps (OR-3 in NATO code). Most commonly the rank is held by a NCO commanding an infantry squad, tank or gun crew, or a similar unit. The equivalent rank in the Polish Navy is mat.

As with many other military ranks, direct comparison between various armies might be misleading. Before World War II, the Polish Army's kapral was more or less equivalent to the British rank of lance corporal, while the British rank of corporal was named plutonowy (lit. platooner). In modern times, the rank is still equivalent to a UK lance corporal or a private first class in the U.S. Army (OR-3), while the British and American rank of corporal (OR-4) is equivalent to the Polish rank of starszy kapral (lit. "senior corporal"), which was introduced in 1971.

Historically, the rank was first introduced in Poland in the 17th century, together with mercenary troops of Italian origin. In foreign troops on the royal payroll, a kapral commanded four ranks of musketeers or part of a company of pikemen. In the 20th century, between the world wars, the rank of corporal was held by both conscripted NCOs and professional soldiers alike. This was changed after World War II, when the Polish Army was under Soviet command and the rank of kapral was modified to resemble that of Soviet junior sergeant, reserved for conscripted NCOs. In the modern Polish Army, the rank is exclusively reserved for professional soldiers.

The insignia of kapral (worn on shoulder straps or badge above breast pocket) are two bars.

The Portuguese Navy has the rank of cabo da Armada (corporal of the Navy). All other branches of the Portuguese Armed Forces have several ranks of corporal (cabo in Portuguese). The Portuguese Army and the Portuguese Air Force have the ranks of segundo cabo (second corporal), primeiro cabo (first corporal) and cabo-adjunto (corporal adjudant). The National Republican Guard has the ranks of cabo (corporal), cabo-chefe (chief corporal) and cabo-mor (corporal-major).

The several ranks of corporal correspond to the several pay grades, above that of private, that can be reached inside the enlisted rank professional category of the Army, the Air Force and the National Republican Guard. In the Navy, the rank of cabo da Armada is the highest pay grade in the enlisted rank category.

The rank of corporal (Russian: капрал) existed in the Russian Army from 1647 to 1798, when it was replaced with that of non-commissioned officer (Russian: унтер-офицер, from German: unteroffizier, literally "sub-officer"). Soviet and modern Russian armies have the rank of lance (or junior) sergeant (Russian: младший сержант) that is not equivalent to the rank of corporal, as junior sergeants are assigned as squad leaders.

In the Spanish Armed Forces, cabo (corporal) is the rank between soldado de primera (first class private) and cabo primero (first corporal). It actually equates to a NATO OR-3, with cabo primero equating to an OR-4 and cabo mayor to an OR-5.

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  Spanish Army Cabo insignia.
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  Spanish Navy Cabo insignia.
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  Spanish Navy Marines Cabo insignia.
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  Spanish Air Force Cabo insignia.
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  Civil Guard Cabo insignia.

Army

Navy

Air force

In the Swedish Army, Navy and Air Force, the rank of korpral is a rank for soldiers with a specialization, and often in charge of a group six to ten men.

Army

Air Force

Marines

Navy

Corporal (Chinese: 下士, literally junior NCO) is the lowest among the ranks of the non-commissioned officer of the Taiwan Army, Marines, Air Force and Military Police. The rank wears an insignia with a broad chevron along with a narrow one, representing the NCO character and the juniority of the rank, respectively.

Onbaşı insignia

In Turkey, the rank of Onbaşı (Corporal) is above the rank of the private. Onbaşı literally translated to "Head of 10"

Army

Air force

Police

Since 2015, the Corporal (Ukrainian: Капрал, romanized: Kapral), an OR4-rank, was introduced in the National Police of Ukraine, that is a special rank of junior quarterdeck. It corresponds to former junior sergeant of militia. Also since 2018-19, the Corporal (Ukrainian: Капрал, romanized: Kapral) was introduced in the Court Security Service (Ukrainian: Служба судової охорони, romanized: Court Security Service), and the DBR(Ukrainian: Державне бюро розслідувань, romanized: State Bureau of Investigation) as a special rank of junior quarterdeck.

See also

• Ukrainian military ranks, Army
• Ukrainian police ranks

RAF corporal insignia.

RAF corporal as it appears on dress uniform.

The rank of corporal, which falls between lance-corporal and sergeant is used by the British Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Air Force. A corporal is often regarded as a slightly more senior rank in the UK services than in other countries: although British corporals are classified as OR-4 under the NATO system, they usually fill posts held by an OR-5 equivalent in other countries, such as section Commander.

The badge of rank is a two-bar chevron (also known as "stripes", "tapes", or "hooks"). A corporal's role varies between regiments; but, in the standard infantry role, a corporal commands a section, with a lance-corporal as second-in-command (2ic). When the section is split into fire teams, they command one each. In the Royal Armoured Corps, a corporal commands an individual tank. Their duties therefore largely correspond to those of staff sergeants in the United States Army and corporals are often described as the "backbone" of the British Army.

In the Household Cavalry, all non-commissioned ranks are designated as different grades of corporal up to regimental corporal major (who is a warrant officer class 1). There is no effective actual rank of corporal, however, and the ranks progress directly from lance-corporal to lance-corporal of horse (who is effectively equivalent to a corporal; technically, a lance-corporal of horse holds the rank of corporal but is automatically give the appointment of lance-corporal of horse). Similarly, in the Foot Guards and in the Honourable Artillery Company, every Corporal is appointed as a lance-sergeant meaning they wear three chevrons rather than the regular two, with a lance-corporal wearing two chevrons instead of one: this is sometimes said to have originated with Queen Victoria who did not like "her own guardsmen" having only one chevron.

Royal Artillery corporals are called bombardiers; although, until 1920, the Royal Artillery had corporals and bombardier was a lower rank. The rank of second corporal existed in the Royal Engineers and Royal Army Ordnance Corps until 1920.

A common nickname for a corporal is a "full screw", with lance-corporals being known as "lance-jacks".

Corporal is the lowest NCO rank in the Royal Air Force (aside from the RAF Regiment who have lance-corporals), coming between junior technician or Senior aircraftman technician and sergeant in the technical trades, or senior aircraftman and sergeant in the non-technical trades. Between 1950 and 1964, corporals in technical trades were known as "corporal technicians" and wore their chevrons point up.

In the Royal Navy, the equivalent to corporal is leading hand or leading rate.

The Army Cadet Force, Combined Cadet Force, Air Training Corps, Royal Marines sections of the Sea Cadet Corps and the Combined Cadet Force all have the rank of corporal, reflecting the structure of their parent service; therefore it is the second NCO rank of the ACF, CCF (including the RAF Section, which has the rank of lance corporal) and marine cadets, and the first NCO rank in the ATC.

In the Vietnam People's Army, corporal (Hạ sĩ) is the lowest rank in non-commissioned officer. Corporal is below sergeant and above private 2nd class.

Venezuelan insignia

The rank is used by the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela.

In some navies, a "ship's corporal" is a position used in place of a leading seaman.

• Corporal of the field
• Master corporal
• Tech corporal
• Corporal of horse
• Staff corporal
• Corporal major
• Lance corporal
• List of comparative military ranks

• Media related to Corporals at Wikimedia Commons