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Military ranks of Brazil explained

This article presents the insignia and ranks of the Brazilian military. These ranks originate from those adopted upon Brazil's independence from Portugal in 1822. Nowadays they are defined by Act no. 6880 of December 9, 1980.[1] The following ranks show Brazil's military insignia and its corresponding NATO codes.
It should be noted that Air Force ranks date from 1941, when the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira) was organized as a merger of the Navy's Aeronaval Force and the Army's Aviation.[2]

Rank table

In the images below, the shoulder pads from Navy and Air Force indicate both rank and speciality branch. For example, the Air Force's Brigadier pad belongs to a Brigadier from the corps of engineers, whereas the Air Force Colonel is a chaplain. Army shoulder pads do not represent branch, as this is indicated elsewhere in the uniform.

Officers

Brazilian NavyBrazilian ArmyBrazilian Air Force
General Officers

Admiral
(Almirante)
OF-10[3]
Marshal
(Marechal)
OF-10[4]
Marshal of the Air
(Marechal-do-ar)
OF-10[5]

Fleet Admiral
(Almirante-de-esquadra)
OF-9
Army General
(General-de-exército)
OF-9
Lieutenant-Brigadier
(Tenente-Brigadeiro-do-Ar)
OF-9

Vice Admiral
(Vice-almirante)
OF-8
Divisional General
(General-de-divisão)
OF-8
Major-Brigadier
(Major-Brigadeiro)
OF-8

Rear Admiral
(Contra-almirante)
OF-7
Brigade General
(General-de-brigada)
OF-7
Brigadier
(Brigadeiro)
OF-7
Senior Officers

Captain of Sea and War
(Capitão-de-mar-e-guerra)
OF-6
Colonel
(Coronel)
OF-6
Colonel
(Coronel)
OF-6

Frigate Captain
(Capitão-de-fragata)
OF-5
Lieutenant Colonel
(Tenente-coronel)
OF-5
Lieutenant Colonel
(Tenente-coronel)
OF-5

Corvette Captain
(Capitão-de-corveta)
OF-4
Major
(Major)
OF-4
Major
(Major)
OF-4
Intermediary Officers

Captain Lieutenant
(Capitão-tenente)
OF-3
Captain
(Capitão)
OF-3
Captain
(Capitão)
OF-3
Subaltern Officers

First Lieutenant
(Primeiro-tenente)
OF-2
First Lieutenant
(Primeiro-tenente)
OF-2
First Lieutenant
(Primeiro-tenente)
OF-2

Second Lieutenant
(Segundo-tenente)
OF-1
Second Lieutenant
(Segundo-tenente)
OF-1
Second Lieutenant
(Segundo-tenente)
OF-1
Special non-commissioned officers[6]

Midshipman
(Guarda-marinha)
OF-D
Aspirant
(Aspirante-a-oficial)
OF-D
Aspirant
(Aspirante)
OF-D

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Act no. 6880 of December 9, 1980.
  2. Instituto Histórico e Cultural da Aeronáutica, História geral da aeronáutica brasileira, v. 3
  3. Wartime use only
  4. Wartime use only
  5. Wartime use only
  6. As treated by Act 6880/1980, the "special non-commissioned officers" listed here are non-commissioned officers that are on their way to become full-fledged commissioned officers. As such, in most instances they are treated the same as subaltern officers and take on basically the same tasks. As a rule, however, special non-commissioned officers do not take on command jobs.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Military ranks of Brazil".

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