Lieutenant Colonel (United States)

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIE : Lieutenant Colonel (United States)

Please see "Lieutenant Colonel" for other countries which use this rank

Lieutenant Colonel is a rank of the United States armed forces which is currently used by the United States Army, United States Air Force and United States Marine Corps. The United States Navy equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel is the rank of Commander. The insignia for a Lieutenant Colonel is a silver oak leaf, although there are subtle design differences between the Army/Air Force version and the insignia used by the Marine Corps.

History

During the 19th century, Lieutenant Colonel was often a terminal rank for many officers, since the rank of "full Colonel" was considered extremely prestigious reserved only for the most successful of officers. Upon the outbreak of the American Civil War, the rank of Lieutenant Colonel became much more common and was used as a "stepping stone" for officers who commanded small regiments or battalions and were expected, by default, to be promoted to full Colonel once the manpower of a regiment grew in strength. Such was the case of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain who commanded a Maine Regiment as both a Lieutenant Colonel and later as a Colonel.

After the Civil War ended, those officers remaining in the United States armed forces found Lieutenant Colonel to again be a permanent terminal rank while many Lieutenant Colonels were raised to higher positions in a brevet status. Such was the case with George Armstrong Custer who was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Regular Army but held the brevet rank of Major General.

The 20th century saw Lieutenant Colonel in its present day status although, during the 1930s, many officers again found the rank to be terminal as the rank of Colonel was reserved for only a select few officers. Such was not the case during World War II, when Lieutenant Colonel became one of the most commonly held officer ranks in the Army of the United States.

Modern usage

In the U.S. Army, a Lieutenant Colonel typically commands a battalion-sized unit (300 to 1,000 soldiers), with a Command Sergeant Major as principal non-commissioned officer assistant. A Lieutenant Colonel may also serve as a brigade or task force Executive Officer.

The rank of Lieutenant Colonel is usually gained in the 21st century U.S. military after 14-16 years of service as an officer. It is the most common rank at which career officers retire.

Famous American Lieutenant Colonels

• Robert Cole (US Army)
• Gus Grissom (US Air Force)
• Jay Fawcett (US Air Force)
• Oliver North (US Marines)
• Ronald Speirs (US Army)
• Earl Woods (US Army)

U.S. commissioned officer ranks

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.