Military ranks of the Swiss Armed Forces


The military ranks of the Swiss Armed Forces have changed little over the centuries, except for the introduction, in 2004, of a new set of warrant officers. The rank insignia for all personnel are worn on shoulder boards with the appropriate background colour. The exception is that, in all services, rank insignia is not worn by recruits; it is however worn by privates once they have finished recruit school. Designations are given here in German, French, Italian and Romansh, with an English translation which is used during overseas missions. In the chart below, NATO codes are used for comparison purposes only; Switzerland is not a member of NATO, and the rank structure in the senior officer region can be seen to diverge significantly from other armies'.

Enlisted ranks

Enlisted men

Non-commissioned officers (NCO)

Higher NCOs

Officers

Subaltern officers and Hauptleute (captains)

Staff officers, specialist

Higher staff officers

Higher staff officers wear black lampasses on the outside seam of dress uniform trousers.

Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces

Throughout Swiss history, there have only been 4 officers formally designated as General:
Rescue corpsLogistic corpsTerritorial serviceMilitary policeSpecial forces commandArmed Forces Legal ServicePeace Support Operation