Unteroffizier

Unteroffizier
Heer and Luftwaffe shoulder insignia
Rank insignia	German NCO rank
Introduction	1957
Rank group	Non-commissioned officers
Army / Air Force	Unteroffizier
Navy	Maat
NATO equivalent	OR-5b
US	Army: Sergeant Air force: Staff sergeant
UK	Army: no equivalent Air force: Sergeant

Unteroffizier is a military rank of the Bundeswehr and of former German-speaking armed forces (Heer and Luftwaffe). The equivalent in anglophone armed forces is sergeant or staff sergeant. However, Unteroffizier is also the collective name for all non-commissioned officers.

In Germany, Unteroffizier ("subordinate officer") is both a specific military rank as well as a generic term for any non-commissioned officer (NCO), which has existed since the 17th century.

During the Nazi era, unteroffizier was a specific, junior NCO rank of both the Luftwaffe and sometimes also the Heer (army), equivalent to a Corporal in the English-speaking world.

The term continues to be used by the German Bundeswehr.

There are two classes of non-commissioned officers:

Informally, the non-commissioned officers "mit Portepee" are often called "Feldwebel ranks", which creates confusion as the collective term Unteroffizier already exists. The word Unteroffizier, in turn, is getting a third meaning, namely: non-commissioned officer ohne Portepee, as opposed to "Feldwebel ranks".

Unteroffizier translates as "subordinate-officer" and, when meaning the specific rank, is in modern-day usage considered the equivalent to sergeant under the NATO rank scale. Historically the Unteroffizier rank was considered a corporal and thus similar in duties to a British Army corporal. In peacetime an Unteroffizier was a career soldier who trained conscripts or led squads and platoons. He could rise through the ranks to become an Unteroffizier mit Portepee, i.e. a Feldwebel, which was the highest rank a career soldier could reach. Since the German officer corps was immensely class conscious a rise through the ranks from a NCO to become an officer was hardly possible except in times of war.

The Unteroffizierskorps was made up of professional soldiers which formed the backbone of German armies. This tradition has not been changed by the Bundeswehr where all ranks of Unteroffizier and up consist only of professional soldiers who sign up for a period extending conscription.