Military position or rank
This article is about the military officer. For the bird, see
Leptoptilos
.
C. G. E. Mannerheim
as
regent
of
Finland
(sitting) and his adjutants (from the left) Lt.Col.
Kasimir Lilius
, Cap. Heikki Kekoni, Lt.
Akseli Gallen-Kallela
, Ensign
John Rosenbroijer
Look up
adjutant
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Adjutant
is a military appointment given to an
officer
who assists the
commanding officer
with unit administration, mostly the management of
human resources
in an army unit. The term
adjudant
is used in French-speaking armed forces as a
non-commissioned officer
rank similar to a
staff sergeant
or
warrant officer
but is not equivalent to the role or appointment of an adjutant.
An
adjutant general
is commander of an army's administrative services.
President of Austria
Rudolf Kirchschlager
and commander
Karl von Wohlgemuth
; the president's adjutant is in the background
Etymology
[
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]
Adjutant comes from the
Latin
adiut?ns
, present participle of the verb
adi?t?re
, frequentative form of
adiuv?re
'to help'; the Romans actually used
adi?tor
for the noun.
Military appointment
[
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]
In various uniformed hierarchies, the term is used for a number of functions, but generally as a principal aide to a commanding officer.
A
regimental adjutant
,
garrison adjutant
etc. is a staff officer who assists the
commanding officer
of a
regiment
,
battalion
or
garrison
in the details of regimental, garrison or similar duty. In
United States Army
squadrons
, the adjutant is often the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the administrative platoon.
UK and other Commonwealth countries
[
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]
In the
British Army
, an adjutant (
adj
; sometimes actually referred to as this) is usually a senior
captain
, and sometimes a
major
. As the colonel's personal staff officer, he was once in charge of all the organisation, administration and discipline for a
battalion
or
regiment
, although now the bulk of administrative work is carried out by the
regimental administrative officer
(RAO). Until the 1970s the adjutant was also the regimental operations officer, although this job is now filled by a separate officer. In the British Army, adjutants are given
field rank
and as such are senior by appointment to all other captains, ranking just behind the majors. Unlike the RAO (who is an officer of the
Adjutant General's Corps
), the adjutant is a member of the
corps
or regiment of which their unit is a part.
The adjutant's job is not solely a 'backroom' one, since he usually accompanies the colonel?Captain David Wood, the adjutant of
2 Para
, was killed in action at the
Battle of Goose Green
, for example. Normally, in a British Infantry battalion, the adjutant controls the battle whilst the CO commands it. As such, the adjutant is usually a person of significant influence within their battalion. In the
Foot Guards
, the adjutant of the unit in charge of
Trooping the Colour
is one of three officers on horseback.
In many
Commonwealth
armies, the adjutant performs much the same role as in the British Army. There is no RAO position within the Australian or Canadian armies, where an adjutant performs the administrative role with the assistance of a Chief Clerk, who usually has a rank of Warrant Officer Class Two.
[1]
Canada
[
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]
In the
Canadian Armed Forces
, the term adjutant is used in common with other English-speaking armies, and the corresponding French term is
Capitaine-adjudant
.
Bangladesh
[
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]
The
Bangladesh Army
has the appointment of adjutant which is similar to that in old British system. Though the authorization is of captain rank, often a lieutenant can be appointed as adjutant, although a Lieutenant posted as adjutant will not receive the staff pay as a captain with same appointment.
Resaldar Adjutant
(
RA
) or
Warrant Officer Adjutant
(
WOA
) is a position unique to the Bangladesh Army. He is a
warrant officer
who acts as deputy to the adjutant. In spite of this, the WOA or RA does not have any authority in official correspondences. His main role is the transmission and the execution of the adjutant's orders in all companies. On all formal parades, the standard procedure is for the
Squadron/Company Sergeant Major
to first report to the RA/WOA, and the RA/WOA in turn to report to the Adjutant.
India
[
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]
The
Indian Army
has the position of adjutant, which is based on the old British system. The adjutants in most cases are captains but in some cases hold the rank of
major
(especially in Regimental Centres).
Subedar adjutant
(
SA
) is a position unique to the Bangladesh Army and Indian Army. He is a
subedar
who acts as deputy to the adjutant. On all formal parades, the standard procedure is for the
company havildar major
to first report to the subedar adjutant, and the subedar adjutant in turn to report to the adjutant. In the
British Indian Army
, the equivalent position was the
jemadar adjutant
, who held the lower rank of
jemadar
.
Pakistan
[
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]
The
Pakistan Army
has the appointment of Adjutant which is similar to that in old British system. Adjutants in the Pak Army are mostly captains and sometimes lieutenants. The Pak Army also holds the rank of junior adjutant (JA) who works as an aide to the adjutant and is of the rank of
subedar
, an equivalent rank to warrant officer or sergeant in Western armies.
The Regimental Adjutant is also Commander of Regimental Provost and Assist Commanding Officer in all matters pertaining to discipline, training and operational planning.
United States
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]
In the
US Army
, historically the adjutant was generally a member of the branch or regiment of the parent unit (e.g. in an infantry battalion, the adjutant was usually an infantry officer). In 2008, as a result of the Army's transformation, the
Human Resources
community implemented the Personnel Services Delivery Redesign, which recoded the adjutant position in battalions to an officer from the
Adjutant General's Corps
.
[2]
The adjutant general at the battalion-level is generally a junior
captain
or senior
first lieutenant
and, in conjunction with the S-1 section, manages the administrative functions of the unit. The adjutant also works closely with the unit's
command sergeant major
for awards ceremonies, traditional ceremonial functions, casual events (hails and farewells), evaluation reports, and management of correspondence and other secretarial functions. Based upon the needs of the commander, an adjutant typically from the combat arms branches may still be specially appointed in modern-day to assist a brigade commander to ease his/her burden of command.
There is a
bugle call announcing the adjutant
that is still used in military ceremonies today.
In the
United States Marine Corps
, the adjutant serves as the senior administrator for their unit, and is the OIC (officer in charge) of the S-1 or admin shop.
The USMC MOS handbook says:
Adjutants coordinate administrative matters for Marine Corps staff sections and external agencies at the staff level. They ensure that every Marine in their command has administrative resources both for day-to-day tasks and long-term career progression. Adjutants supervise the execution of administrative policies. They receive and route correspondence, preparing responses to any special correspondence. They also manage their unit's legal matters and monitor fitness reports, among other administrative duties.
[3]
Military rank
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]
France
[
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]
In the
French Army
,
Air Force
and
Gendarmerie
, the ranks of
adjudant
(
premier maitre
in the navy) and
adjudant-chef
(
maitre-principal
in the navy) may be considered equivalent to Commonwealth
warrant officer
ranks. These ranks are senior to the rank of
sergeant
and junior to the rank of
major
.
[a]
Like the officers, the
adjudants
are entitled to the
mon
before their rank, as in "
mon adjudant
".
[
citation needed
]
[b]
In France, each corps has a colour (gold for most infantry units, artillery, the air force and engineers, or silver for most cavalry units, transport and materiel corps). A French adjutant wears a band, with thin red line, in the opposite colour to that of his corps. A chief adjutant wears a band, with thin red line, in the colour of his corps. In order to distinguish an
adjutant
from a
chief adjutant
it is necessary to know the arm's colour.
[
citation needed
]
In cavalry units,
adjudants
and
adjudants-chefs
are addressed by tradition as "lieutenants".
[
citation needed
]
Netherlands
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]
Within the
Netherlands Armed Forces
the seniormost
non-commissioned officer
rank across all branches is called
adjudant-
onderofficier
.
[6]
The rank is both rated OR-8 and OR-9 within the
NATO rank structure
, however, it is only after 3 years as an
adjudant-onderofficier
that there is advancement to OR-9.
[7]
Gallery
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]
Adjutant general
[
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]
An
adjutant general
is both a rank and a role that may represent the principal
staff officer
of an army; through the adjutant general, the commanding general receives communications and issues military orders.
In the
United States
, the adjutant general is the chief military officer of the
United States National Guard
units in any one of the
American states
. This use of the term reflects the early history of the United States, because of which each of the 50 states has partial sovereignty, including the right to maintain military forces; the
Army National Guard
and
Air National Guard
are state units that can be called to federal duty in case of national emergency.
See also
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References
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Informational notes
- ^
Major is the senior NCO rank in the French military, shortened from adjudant-major.
[
citation needed
]
- ^
Mon
is shortened from
monsieur
, similar to the "sir" in Anglo-Saxon military tradition.
[
citation needed
]
Citations