Ranks

This list is in ascending order. It includes pay grades and abbreviations in the style used by the Marine Corps.

Enlisted:

• • E-1, Private, Pvt
  • E-2, Private First Class, PFC
  • E-3, Lance Corporal, LCpl
• Noncommissioned Officers, or NCOs:
  • E-4, Corporal, Cpl
  • E-5, Sergeant, Sgt
• Staff Noncommissioned Officers, or SNCOs:
  • E-6, Staff Sergeant, SSgt
  • E-7, Gunnery Sergeant, GySgt
  • E-8
    • Master Sergeant, MSgt
    • First Sergeant, 1stSgt
  • E-9
    • Master Gunnery Sergeant, MGySgt
    • Sergeant Major, SgtMaj
    • Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps

NOTE 1: The E-8 and E-9 levels each have two ranks per pay grade, each with different responsibilities. Gunnery Sergeants indicate on their annual evaluations, called "fitness reports," or "fitreps" for short, their preferred promotional track: Master Sergeant or First Sergeant. The First Sergeant and Sergeant Major ranks are command-oriented, with Marines of theses ranks serving as the senior enlisted Marines in a unit, charged to assist the commanding officer in matter of discipline, administration and the morale and welfare of the unit. Master Sergeants and Master Gunnery Sergeants provide technical leadership as occupational specialists in their specific MOS. First Sergeants typically serve as the senior enlisted Marine in a company, battery or other unit at similar echelon, while Sergeants Major serve the same role in battalions, squadrons or larger units.

NOTE 2: The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is the senior enlisted Marine of the entire Marine Corps, personally selected by the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Warrant Officers

• W-1, Warrant Officer 1, WO1
• W-2, Chief Warrant Officer 2, CWO2
• W-3, Chief Warrant Officer 3, CWO3
• W-4, Chief Warrant Officer 4, CWO4
• W-5, Chief Warrant Officer 5, CWO5

NOTE 3: A Chief Warrant Officer, CWO2-CWO5, serving in the MOS 0306 "Infantry Weapons Officer" is designated as a special rank: "Marine Gunner". A Marine Gunner replaces the Chief Warrant Officer insignia on the right collar with a bursting bomb insignia. Other Warrant Officers are sometimes informally also referred to as "Gunner" but this usage is not considered correct.

Commissioned officers:

• Company-grade officers
  • O-1, Second Lieutenant, 2ndLt
  • O-2, First Lieutenant, 1stLt
  • O-3, Captain, Capt
• Field-grade officers
  • O-4, Major, Maj
  • O-5, Lieutenant Colonel, LtCol
  • O-6, Colonel, Col
• Generals
  • O-7, Brigadier General, BGen
  • O-8, Major General, MajGen
  • O-9, Lieutenant General, LtGen
  • O-10, General, Gen

NOTE 4: There has never been any 0-11 "five-star" General rank thus far in the Marine Corps, though such a rank could theoretically be created at any time by act of Congress. Currently, no officer in any branch of the U.S. military holds such a grade.

Commandants

The Commandant of the Marine Corps functions as the highest-ranking officer of the Marine Corps. Even though higher-ranking Marine officers occasionally exist, the commandant is still in charge of the Marine Corps. The commandant is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and reports to the Secretary of the Navy, but not to the Chief of Naval Operations.

As of September 2004, Marine Generals Peter Pace (Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and James L. Jones (Commander in Chief of the United States European Command; NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe; and a former commandant of the Marine Corps) are senior in time in grade to the commandant. However, the commandant does not report to them.

The commandant is responsible for keeping the Marine Corps in fighting condition and does not serve as a direct battlefield commander. However, he is the symbolic and functional head of the Corps, and holds a position of very high esteem among Marines.

As of April 2005, the Commandant of the Marine Corps is General Michael W. Hagee, who became Commandant in January of 2003.

Initial training

Training for commissioned officers occurs through NROTC, the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps; OCS, Officer Candidate School, including the Platoon Leaders Course (PLC), or the United States Naval Academy. After that, all officers spend their first six months, regardless of accession route or further training requirements, at The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. The Basic School, solely for freshly commissioned second lieutenants learning the art of infantry and combined arms warfare, is an example of the unique approach the Corps takes to fostering the credo that "Every Marine is a rifleman first".

Enlisted Marines attend boot camp, at either Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island or Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. All women attend Parris Island. Men attend either, depending on whether they leave from the western or eastern part of the country.

Enlisted Marines then attend School of Infantry training at Camp Lejeune or Camp Pendleton. Infantry Marines begin their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) training immediately with the Infantry Training Battalion (ITB), while all other Marines train with the Marine Combat Training (MCT) Battalion before continuing on to their MOS schools.

In 1997, the school at Camp Lejeune expanded the MCT program to integrate female Marines. This basic infantry training for all Marines is one element of the philosophy that "Every Marine is a Rifleman."