Captain (land)
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The army rank of Captain is an officer rank historically corresponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically the commander, or second in command, of a company or squadron (NB: in the U.S. Army, a squadron is a larger, battalion-equivalent, unit).
Captain is one rank above a lieutenant (or first lieutenant) and one below a major (or commandant).
The rank of captain should not be confused with the naval rank of captain or with the commonwealth air force rank of Group Captain, both of which are more senior.
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[edit] History
Prior to the professionalization of the armed services of European nations subsequent to the French Revolution, a captain was a nobleman who purchased the right to head a company from the previous holder of that right. He would in turn receive money from another nobleman to serve as his lieutenant. The funding to provide for the troops came from the monarch or his government; the captain had to be responsible for it. If he was not, or was otherwise court-martialed, he would be dismissed ("cashiered"), and the monarch would receive money from another nobleman to command the company. Otherwise, the only pension for the captain was selling the right to another nobleman when he was ready to retire.
[edit] Air forces
In most countries the air force is the junior service and so air force ranks have been adopted or modified from one of the other services. Many, such as the United States Air Force, use a rank structure and insignia similar to those of the army.
However, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries use a rank structure in which Flight Lieutenant is OF-2. A Group Captain is OF-5 and was derived from the naval rank of captain.
In the unified system of the Canadian Forces, however, the air force rank titles are identical to that of the Army, while the rank insignia is common to Army, Navy, and Air Force; thus, an air force or army captain wears two gold stripes on sleeve or epaulet (the same as a naval lieutenant), while the modern equivalent of the British group captain bears the rank and insignia of colonel, i.e. four gold stripes on sleeve or epaulet (same as a naval captain).
[edit] Etiquette
As a matter of etiquette in the U.S. Navy there is only one captain aboard a vessel. Therefore, if a captain (land) is at the officer's mess, he or she is given the courtesy title of Major (one rank higher) to be differentiated from the head of the ship.
[edit] Equivalent Captain ranks
- Jeg-tooran (جګتورن) (Afghanistan)
- Hauptmann (Germany)
- Hauptsturmführer (Nazi SS)
- Lochagos (Greece)
- Taewi (South Korea)
- Kapten (Sweden)
- Roi Ek (ร้อยเอก) (Thailand)
- Yüzbaşı (Turkey)
- Đại Úy (Vietnam)
- Százados (Kapitány) (Hungary)
- Seren (סרן) (Israel Defence Forces)
[edit] Insignia
A variety of images illustrative of different forces' insignia for captain (or captain-equivalents) are shown below:
 Kapitein insignia of the Belgian Land Component |
 Hauptmann insignia of German Army |
 Lochagos insignia of the Hellenic Army |
 Kaptein insignia of the Norwegian Army |
 Captain (Captaen) insignia of the Irish Army |
 Yüzbaşı insignia of the Turkish Army |
 Kapitein insignia of the Royal Netherlands Army |
 Căpitan insignia of the Romanian Armed Forces |
 Roi Ek (ร้อยเอก) insignia of the Royal Thai Army |
 Captain insignia of the British Army[1] |
 Captain insignia of US Army and US Air Force.[2] |
 Captain rank insignia of the Confederate Army as used during the American Civil War |
[edit] References and notes
- ^ The Royal Marines insignia is similar, but not identical, to the British Army insignia.
- ^ The US Marine Corps insignia for Captain is slightly different from the USA / USAF insignia depicted above in that it lacks beveled edges and the cross-bars are further towards the ends. See collar insignia for US Navy Lieutenant.
