Quartermasters
| Quartermaster | |
|---|---|
Rating insignia
|
|
| Issued by | United States Navy |
| Type | Enlisted rating |
| Abbreviation | QM |
| Specialty | Operations/Navigation |
Quartermaster is a military or naval term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service.
In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores and distributes supplies and .
In many navies, quartermaster is a non-commissioned officer (petty officer) rank. In some navies, it is not a rank but a role related to navigation.
The term appears to derive from the title of a German royal official, the Quartiermeister. This term meant "master of quarters" (where "quarters" means lodging/accommodation). Or it could have been derived from "master of the quarterdeck" where the helmsman and Captain controlled the ship. The term was then adopted by some European armies and navies. The first use in English was as a naval term, entering English via the equivalent French and Dutch naval titles quartier-maître and kwartier-meester in the fifteenth century. The term began to refer to army officers in English around 1600.
For land armies, the term was first coined in Germany as Quartiermeister and initially denoted a court official with the duty of preparing the monarch's sleeping quarters. In the 17th century, it started to be used in various militaries in the sense of organizing supplies.
In the British Army, the Quartermaster (QM) is the officer in a battalion or regiment responsible for supply. By longstanding tradition, he or she is always commissioned from the ranks and holds the rank of captain or major. Some units also have a Technical Quartermaster, who is in charge of technical stores. The Quartermaster is assisted by the Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS) and a staff of storemen. The QM, RQMS and storemen are drawn from the regiment or corps in which they work, not from the Royal Logistic Corps, which is responsible for issuing and transporting supplies to them. Units which specialize in supply are known as "supply" units, not "quartermaster" units, and their personnel as "log specs" (logistics specialists).
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