Lieutenant colonel (United States)

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Lieutenant colonel
Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force garrison insignia of the rank of lieutenant colonel. Style and method of wear may vary between the services.
Shoulder boards
Country United States
Service branch
AbbreviationUS Army: LTC
USMC: LtCol
USAF: Lt Col
RankLieutenant colonel
NATO rank codeOF-4
Non-NATO rankO-5
Next higher rankColonel
Next lower rankMajor
Equivalent ranks
U.S. Army insignia of the rank of lieutenant colonel for the dress blue uniform.
U.S. Marine Corps insignia of the rank of lieutenant colonel as shown on the coat of winter uniform Alpha.
U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force insignia of the rank of lieutenant colonel as shown on the coat of the dress blue uniform.

In the

field-grade officer rank, just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services
.

The

pay grade
for the rank of lieutenant colonel is O-5. In the United States armed forces, the insignia for the rank is a silver oak leaf, with slight stylized differences between the version of the Army and the Air Force and that of the Navy and the Marine Corps.

Promotion to lieutenant colonel is governed by Department of Defense policies derived from the

National Guard
). DOPMA guidelines suggest that 70 percent of majors be promoted to lieutenant colonel after serving at least three years at their present rank and after 15–17 years of cumulative commissioned service.

Orthography

The U.S. Army uses the three letter abbreviation "LTC," while the Marine Corps and Air Force use the abbreviations of "LtCol" and "Lt Col" (note the space), respectively. These abbreviation formats are also outlined in The Naval Institute Guide to Naval Writing[1] and in Air Force Handbook 33-337 (AFH 33-337), The Tongue and Quill.[2]

The

Associated Press Stylebook recommends the abbreviation "Lt. Col." for the Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force.[4]

Slang terms for the rank historically used by the U.S. military include "light colonel", "short colonel", "light bird", "half colonel", "walking colonel", "bottlecap colonel" (referring to the silver oak leaf insignia), and "telephone colonel" (from self-reference as "colonel" when using a telephone).[citation needed]

History

The rank of

lieutenant colonel has existed in the British Army since at least the 16th century and was used in both American colonial militia and colonial regular regiments.[5] The Continental Army continued the British and colonial use of the rank of lieutenant colonel,[6] as the second-in-command to a colonel commanding a regiment.[7] The lieutenant colonel was sometimes known as "lieutenant to the colonel."[citation needed
]

In British practice, regiments were commanded by their lieutenant colonels, as the colonel was a titular position[8] (with the incumbent absent from the regiment serving as a senior staff officer, a general officer, or as a member of the nobility). Since the British colonel was not a "combat" officer, beginning in May 1778 to simplify prisoner-of-war exchanges, American regiments began to eliminate colonels by attrition and replace them with lieutenant colonel commandant. The conversion was never completely effected and some regiments remained commanded by colonels throughout the war.[9] From 1784 until 1791, there was only one lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army (Josiah Harmar), who acted as the army's commanding officer.

In the Continental Army

Judge Advocate General, ranked as lieutenant colonels.[10]

During the 19th century, lieutenant colonel was often a terminal rank for many officers, since the full rank "colonel" was considered extremely prestigious and reserved only for the most successful officers. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, the rank of lieutenant colonel became much more common and was used as a "stepping stone" for officers who commanded small

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 military found lieutenant colonel to again be a terminal rank, although many lieutenant colonels were raised to higher positions in a

major general.[11][12]

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.

Modern usage

In the

Marine Logistics Group
(MLG). These staff positions include G-1 (administration and personnel), G-2 (intelligence), G-3 (operations), G-4 (logistics), G-5 (planning), G-6 (computers and communications), and G-9 (Civil Affairs). "The G-n" may mean either a specific staff section or the staff officer leading a section. Lieutenant colonels may also be junior staff at a variety of higher echelons.

In the United States Air Force, a lieutenant colonel is generally a squadron commander in the operations group, mission support group, maintenance group, or squadron commander or division chief in a medical group. The lieutenant colonel also may serve as a Director of Operations (DO) in a squadron in the operations group before assuming command of his or her own squadron (this is common for rated officers in flying units), or as a deputy commander of a squadron in the maintenance, mission-support, or medical group. Lieutenant colonels may serve also on general staff and may be the heads of some wing staff departments. Air Force lieutenant colonels in the acquisition career fields can be selected to serve as "Materiel Leaders" (Program Managers or Branch Chiefs), similar to how other Air Force lieutenant colonels are selected to serve as squadron commanders. Senior lieutenant colonels occasionally serve as group commanders, most commonly in units of the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard.

In U.S. Army

Air Force ROTC
detachments may be commanded by full colonels or lieutenant colonels, depending on the size of the detachment and the size of the associated college or university.

Insignia

Notable American lieutenant colonels

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-59114-822-7
    .
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Preliminary-cloth.indd" (PDF). Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  4. ^ Jack (21 May 2009). "AP Style Book". Apstylebook.blogspot.com. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  5. ^ "The Continental Army". U.S. Army Center of Military History. 1 May 1982. p. 13). Archived from the original on 23 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  6. ^ "History of the lieutenant colonel rank". usmilitary.about.com. 9 April 2012. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  7. ^ "The Continental Army". U.S. Army Center of Military History. 1 May 1982. p. 13 ff.). Archived from the original on 23 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  8. ^ "The Continental Army". U.S. Army Center of Military History. 1 May 1982. p. 48). Archived from the original on 23 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  9. ^ "The Continental Army". U.S. Army Center of Military History. 1 May 1982. pp. 127–128 ff.). Archived from the original on 23 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  10. ^ "The Continental Army". U.S. Army Center of Military History. 1 May 1982. pp. 128 & 145). Archived from the original on 23 July 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  11. ^ "Lieutenant-Colonel And Brevet Major-General George A. Custer, U.S.A". All-biographies.com. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  12. ^ "Brevet Rank in the Civil War". Civilwarhome.com. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  13. ^ "Aaron Burr". American Battlefield Trust.
  14. ^ "Benjamin Busch". HarperCollins Speakers Bureau.
  15. ^ "Childers Ernest "Chief"". www.uswarmemorials.org.
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