Sub-officers
Sub-Officer, or the equivalent in other languages, is a term used in many armed forces used to indicate ranks below commissioned officers. Sub-officer is equivalent to the term warrant officer in the British Commonwealth and the United States. Historically armed forces using the term sub-officer have used it to refer to more senior non-commissioned ranks, typically from sergeant upwards, but the term often covers all ranks that other forces designate non-commissioned. In navies the term is comparable to petty officer.
There is a specific rank of "sub-officer" in some armed forces, in the UK Fire and Rescue Services, and in the Irish Fire Services.
In Argentina the term sub-officer (suboficial) formerly applied only to the more senior non-commissioned ranks. Now these ranks are known as "superior sub-officers" and lower ranks as "junior sub-officers". All the Argentine armed forces use Principal Sub-Officer (suboficial principal) and Higher Sub-Officer (suboficial mayor) as the second highest and highest non-commissioned ranks. The Navy and Air Force also use other "superior sub-officer" ranks.
Argentine Superior Sub-Officer Ranks:
In all three services of the Chilean Armed Forces, in the Carabineros de Chile and in the Chilean Gendarmerie, only two Sub-officer ranks are used:
These sub-officer ranks are the same in all the military and police services.
In France a sub-officer is sergeant (or equivalent) and above as well as the rank of student sub-officer. (The equivalents to sergeant are 2nd Master in the French navy, and Maréchal-des-logis in some army units (often abbreviated to "margi"), mostly cavalry and logistics arms, and most gendarmerie units.) Lower non-commissioned ranks, such as corporal and brigadier, are not considered sub-officers. Traditionally, French sub-officers are often recruited directly as sub-officers rather than rising from more junior ranks.
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