The Czech military ranks are the military insignia used by the Army of the Czech Republic. The ranks are common for all its forces (Ground, Air, Special, Cyber and Information, Territorial). They are displayed on the beret or service hat, as well as on the chest of the battledress. On the display uniform, the rank insignia differs slightly in the Air Force, where it is displayed against a dark blue background, instead of the khaki background of the rest of the forces. For all the forces, the ranks have the same name.
The insignia differs in form for each rank group: The enlisted soldiers up to OR-4 wear so-called silver "pips", NCOs from OR-5 to OR-8 wear silver "rails", Seargant Majors (OR-9) wear a single silver star with silver bordering. The lower officers wear three-pointed golden stars, colloquially called "Mercedeses", higher officers wear five-pointed golden stars with a single golden bar, generals wear five-pointed stars with golden bordering. There are no variants distinguishing the type of Arms, Commanding officers, etc.
The current appearance of the rank insignia of the Czech Armed Forces has its foundation in the Czechoslovak Military of the First Czechoslovak Republic, where that form has been introduced during the 1930s.[1] During the post-war communist era, the Czechoslovak People's Army discontinued that model of insignia in 1950s in favour of the insignia adopted from the Soviet army,[2] but the original ranks' model was again re-established in the 1960s, with several modifications.[3] After a few reforms, the current form has been adopted in 2011 to put the system of ranks in accordance with the NATO countries' rank structure.[4]
The rank insignia of commissioned officers.
NATO code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | OF(D) | Student officer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Czech Land Forces[5] |
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Armádní generál | Generálporučík | Generálmajor | Brigádní generál | Plukovník | Podplukovník | Major | Kapitán | Nadporučík | Poručík |
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Czech Air Force[5] |
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Armádní generál | Generálporučík | Generálmajor | Brigádní generál | Plukovník | Podplukovník | Major | Kapitán | Nadporučík | Poručík |
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NATO code | OF-10 | OF-9 | OF-8 | OF-7 | OF-6 | OF-5 | OF-4 | OF-3 | OF-2 | OF-1 | OF(D) | Student officer |
The rank insignia of non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel.
NATO rank scale | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Czech Land Forces[5] |
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Štábní praporčík | Nadpraporčík | Praporčík | Nadrotmistr | Rotmistr | Rotný | Četař | Desátník | Svobodník | Vojín
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Czech Air Force[5] |
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Štábní praporčík | Nadpraporčík | Praporčík | Nadrotmistr | Rotmistr | Rotný | Četař | Desátník | Svobodník | Vojín | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NATO code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 |