Rank Structure

In the military, there are both enlisted and officer ranks, and it's important to know their titles and insignia before you go, at least for the Marine Corps. In all branches, the officer ranks are the same, except for the Navy.

Here is the Marine Corps enlisted rank structure:

A private will have no rank on their collar. Neither will you. You will mostly likely not run into any Privates at OCS. Enlisted personnel wear "flat black" ranks. Officers wear shiny ranks in garrison, and black or brown ranks in the field. If an officer's rank is gold (2ndLt, Major), their field rank will be brown. If an officer's rank is silver, their field rank will be black.

Your instructors will most likely be a Staff Sergeant or a Gunnery Sergeant. For tactics, mostly Sergeants. Your higher-up admin personnel will mostly likely be a First Sergeant and a Sergeant Major. Quick Identification tips:

Staff Sergeant- ignore the chevrons (the points), just look immediately for one "rocker" (the curve).

Gunnery Sergeant- ignore the chevrons, just immediately count the rockers and see how many there are. TWO. It's really easy to get mixed up between Gunnery Sergeant and Master Sergeant.

If you see three or more rockers- Just immediately look at the middle.

Cross Rifles? Master Sergeant

Diamond? First Sergeant

Bursting Bomb? Master Gunnery Sergeant

Star? Sergeant Major

EGA? You won't see this. There's one Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and he's sure as hell not going to be in your squad bay.

When you check in, you will most likely also run into Private First Classes ("PFC"), Lance Corporals, and Corporals as well. Do not call a Gunnery Sergeant "Gunny" or a Master Gunnery Sergeant "Master Guns", even if you are prior service. PFC is acceptable.

When you address an enlisted person, you say:

1. The greeting of the day

2. Their rank

3. Their last name.

If there are two enlisted Marines of the same sex, you get off easy. It's either, "gentlemen, or ladies." The same goes for officers.

Good morning-before noon

Good afternoon-Noon- 1700 approximately

Good evening- 1700-late at night.

Noon is the only thing set in stone. If you wake up early, 0300, say good morning. If you stay up to 0300, say good evening. Don't stress.

Here are the officer ranks:

You probably won't see Lts that much at OCS, but they are around. You probably already know that 2ndLts wear gold bars, because that's what you want to wear. You will have Captain and Major instructors and personnel. A Colonel is the commander of TBS, and hopefully you will only see them at the beginning and end of OCS.

Addressing officers is much easier. You address female officers with the greeting of the day, plus "Ma'am" and male officers as greeting of the day plus "Sir." Do not use their rank or last name, unless you say something like, "Captain Smith is our platoon commander." More than one female officer? "Ladies." More than one male officer? "Gentlemen." One of each? " "Ma'am" and "Sir." Always use the greeting of the day.

At OCS, you're going to get yelled at sometimes no matter what you do. I was told to address the higher ranking person first, but then a female First Sergeant once yelled at me for addressing a male Sergeant Major before her, even though he was higher ranking and it was his office lol. Generals get addressed as General, but you will worry about this in the fleet.

If there is a male officer and a male enlisted person, you can say "gentlemen" but I've also heard people say, "Good morning Sir, Good morning Sergeant Ortiz."

Let's practice.

You check into OCS early in the afternoon. Sitting at the table are two Marines:

Answer: Good afternoon Gunnery Sergeant Johnson, good afternoon Corporal Herrera!

Before hitting the racks (going to bed), you walk by three Marines.

Answer- Good evening ladies, good evening Sergeant Leonard

You walk by three Marines in the hall outside your morning classroom. What do you say?

Answer- Good morning Ma'am, good morning gentlemen.

Hopefully you get the idea. Now for a bonus round. The Marine Corps does not have its own medical personnel, or a Chaplain. The medical personnel and the Chaplain will be wearing MARPATS (Marine Camis) that look identical to what your staff wears. The main difference is that the MARPATS will say "U.S. Navy" and the collar insignia will be different. (Navy personnel can also have full-sleeve tattoos, though I doubt the Chaplain will be rocking tattoos). UPDATE: Now Marines can have full-sleeves, though I don't know if you'll see many instructors with full sleeves)

Navy medical personnel will wear this insignia on their collar. It stands out:

A Navy chaplain is an officer, but is addressed as either "Chaplain" or "Chaps" IF they give you permission. ( I would not do this around instructors). It's not wrong to say "Sir" or "Ma'am" but "Chaplain" (plus last name) is more correct. All the chaplains I have encountered have been O-4. In the Marines, this would be a Major, but in the Navy, O-4 is a Lieutenant Commander. (Officers in all the branches go by the same titles, EXCEPT the Navy). You do not call a chaplain by this rank. However, a chaplain will wear what looks to be a Major rank on their one side of their collar:

But the cross insignia on their other lapel should be a dead give-away:

Don't stress about these two. You will know your corpsmen and chaplain by sight, and they are usually the only ones not yelling at you :)