Military Abbreviations

782 abbreviations in 13 subcategories

Military ranks, pay grades, branches, units, equipment, operations and service-member slang. Rank abbreviations differ between the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Space Force, and between countries; each entry states which service uses it.

• Military Term
• Military Unit and Organization
• Weapon and Military Equipment
• Veteran
• US Army Rank
• British Military Rank
• US Navy and Coast Guard Rating
• Military Pay Grade
• US Navy and Coast Guard Rank
• US Air Force and Space Force Rank
• US Marine Corps Rank
• Military Award and Decoration
• Naval Ship

Military Term Abbreviations

General military abbreviations used by US service members and in news coverage: personnel status and casualty terms, pay and allowances, moves and travel orders, training pipelines, orders and reports, field operations, intelligence and security, and service slang. Most come from US Department of Defense usage and many are shared with NATO allies; where the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps use different terms for the same thing, the entries say so.

All 248 military term abbreviations →

Military Unit and Organization Abbreviations

Abbreviations for the US armed services and their reserve components, the Department of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commands, major service commands, unit echelons from squad to division, special operations forces, service academies and major allied and foreign forces. Echelon abbreviations such as Co, Bn and Bde are combined with numbers and branch codes in official designations; in Army notation, "B Co, 2-327 IN" means Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment.

All 126 military unit and organization abbreviations →

Weapon and Military Equipment Abbreviations

Abbreviations for missiles, bombs and munitions, artillery and rocket systems, small arms, body armor, armored vehicles, military aircraft designations and drones. Many come from official US designation systems, such as the mission prefixes in AH-64 or MQ-9, while others, like RPG and AK-47, are foreign-origin names that entered English through news coverage. Entries explain what each system does, who uses it and how it differs from similar-sounding terms.

All 77 weapon and military equipment abbreviations →

Veteran Abbreviations

Abbreviations that US veterans, military retirees and their families meet when dealing with the Department of Veterans Affairs, military records, disability claims, retirement pay, education benefits, life insurance and veterans' organizations. Many name specific forms, programs or chapters of federal law, and knowing them makes it easier to read VA letters and file claims. Benefit rates change every year, so check current figures with the VA or the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

All 53 veteran abbreviations →

US Army Rank Abbreviations

Official abbreviations for US Army enlisted, warrant officer and commissioned officer ranks, from Private (PVT) to General of the Army (GA). Army regulations write rank abbreviations in capital letters without periods (SGT, CPT, LTC), unlike the Air Force and Marine Corps, which use mixed case (SSgt, Capt), and AP style, which uses forms such as Sgt. and Lt. Col. before a name in news copy. Each entry gives the pay grade, insignia and typical job held at that rank.

All 34 US Army rank abbreviations →

British Military Rank Abbreviations

Rank and appointment abbreviations of the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, as used in Ministry of Defence documents, UK news reports and many Commonwealth forces. British usage writes most ranks in mixed case without full stops (LCpl, Lt Cdr, Sqn Ldr), gives many regiments their own title for a private soldier (gunner, sapper, trooper, rifleman, guardsman) and treats warrant officers as the most senior non-commissioned ranks rather than as junior officers. Ranks written identically in US usage, such as Maj, Col and Lt Gen, appear in the US Air Force and Marine Corps lists.

All 50 british military rank abbreviations →

US Navy and Coast Guard Rating Abbreviations

Two- and three-letter codes for enlisted ratings, the occupational specialties of the US Navy and Coast Guard. A sailor's rate combines the rating with the pay grade: HM3 is a third class petty officer hospital corpsman, BMC a chief boatswain's mate, ITCS a senior chief information systems technician and ETCM a master chief electronics technician. In 2016 the Navy announced it would drop rating titles in favor of generic job codes, then reversed the decision within three months after strong objections from sailors and veterans.

All 52 US Navy and coast guard rating abbreviations →

Military Pay Grade Abbreviations

US military pay grades (E-1 to E-9 for enlisted members, W-1 to W-5 for warrant officers and O-1 to O-10 for commissioned officers) and the NATO rank codes (OR-1 to OR-9 and OF-1 to OF-10) used to compare ranks across allied forces. A pay grade is identical in every US service even though rank titles differ: an E-5 is a sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps, a staff sergeant in the Air Force and a petty officer second class in the Navy and Coast Guard. Basic pay for each grade is set by law, usually raised every January, and increases with years of service.

All 44 military pay grade abbreviations →

US Navy and Coast Guard Rank Abbreviations

Rank abbreviations of the US Navy and US Coast Guard, which share one rank structure, from Seaman Recruit (SR) to Fleet Admiral (FADM). Enlisted sailors below chief are identified by a "rate" that joins their rating (job) to their pay grade, so a second class petty officer who is a boatswain's mate is written BM2. Navy style writes officer abbreviations in capitals (LCDR, CAPT), which matters because a Navy CAPT is an O-6 while an Army, Air Force or Marine Corps captain is an O-3.

All 31 US Navy and coast guard rank abbreviations →

US Air Force and Space Force Rank Abbreviations

Rank abbreviations of the US Air Force and the US Space Force, which share one officer rank structure and most senior enlisted titles. Both services write ranks in mixed case without periods (SrA, TSgt, Lt Col, Brig Gen), following the Air Force writing guide known as The Tongue and Quill, and the Air Force uniquely writes second lieutenant as 2d Lt. The Space Force, created in December 2019, uses Specialist 1 through Specialist 4 (Spc1 to Spc4) for its junior enlisted grades and Sergeant (Sgt) at E-5.

All 27 US Air Force and Space Force rank abbreviations →

US Marine Corps Rank Abbreviations

Rank abbreviations of the US Marine Corps, written in mixed case without spaces or periods (LCpl, GySgt, 1stSgt, LtCol, BGen), a style that differs from both the Army's all-capital forms and the Air Force's spaced forms. Marine enlisted ranks diverge from the Army at several grades: a Marine PFC is an E-2, a lance corporal fills E-3, and at E-8 and E-9 Marines follow either a command track (first sergeant, sergeant major) or a technical track (master sergeant, master gunnery sergeant).

All 25 US Marine Corps rank abbreviations →

Military Award and Decoration Abbreviations

Abbreviations for US military decorations, service medals, ribbons, combat and skill badges and unit awards, plus the best-known British gallantry awards. They appear on DD-214 discharge papers, award citations, evaluation reports, obituaries and ribbon racks, usually in order of precedence. Additional awards of the same decoration are shown with oak leaf clusters or stars, and devices such as the "V" indicate valor.

All 37 military award and decoration abbreviations →

Naval Ship Abbreviations

Ship name prefixes and hull classification symbols used by the US Navy, US Coast Guard and Commonwealth navies. A prefix such as USS or HMS shows which navy a ship belongs to and whether it is commissioned, while a hull symbol such as DDG or SSN, followed by a hull number, identifies the ship's type, as in USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51). US hull symbols are assigned by the secretary of the Navy and combine letters for the basic type with modifiers such as G for guided missile and N for nuclear power.

All 23 naval ship abbreviations →

Edited by the AbbreviationList.com team. Spotted an error or a missing meaning? Contact us.