Quartermaster sergeant (QMS) is a class of rank or appointment in some armed forces, especially those of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and formerly also in the United States.
Quartermaster sergeant appointments in the Irish Defence Forces include:
A quartermaster sergeant in the British Army and Royal Marines is usually a non-commissioned officer or warrant officer who is responsible for supplies or stores. However, in the Army this definition is extended to almost any warrant officer class 2 who does not hold a sergeant major appointment, as well as a number of staff sergeant and colour sergeant appointments. In the British Army, quartermaster sergeants are frequently addressed and referred to as "Q". However, infantry company quartermaster sergeants are always addressed by their rank, as "Colour Sergeant" or "Colour", and not their appointment.
Examples of staff sergeant quartermaster sergeant appointments include:
Examples of warrant officer class 2 quartermaster sergeant appointments include:
In the Household Cavalry, which does not use the term "sergeant", the designation is replaced with quartermaster corporal (QMC), as in squadron quartermaster corporal and regimental quartermaster corporal.
In the Royal Marines, quartermaster sergeant was an actual rank between colour sergeant and regimental sergeant major (and equivalent to warrant officer class II in the Army) until the Royal Marines themselves re-adopted the ranks of warrant officer class I and II in 1973 (although the term continued to be used interchangeably for warrant officers class II until at least 1981). Quartermaster sergeants could also hold the appointments of company sergeant major and staff bandmaster.