The U.S. Army has three basic categories of soldiers, enlisted and commissioned (officers) and the third, warrant officers. Officers are commissioned by the authority of the U.S. Congress. Warrant officers are appointed by military authority (officers). Enlisted soldiers are all others, aka "other ranks". Non-commissioned officers or NCOs are enlisted soldiers above the rank of private who have been selected for certain degrees of authority as set out in regulation and by officers. It is not our intent to lay forth the whole history of rank in the U.S. Army but we will attempt to illustrate the various ranks so that our readers can compare the ranks to see the equivalents for the various time periods. Very little change has taken place in the officer ranks although at one time there were ranks such as 3rd Lieutenants, Subalterns, and Ensigns. However, the enlisted structure has had a number of changes, due in part to the changing responsibilities of the NCO corps. The first chart shows all services (excluding the Space Force) while the other charts are Army only.
Currently:
1958:
WWII:
WWI:
Confederate Service - Civil War:
