Military ranks of Menghe

The military ranks of Menghe follow a basic structure which is shared between the Army, the Navy, and certain organs of the Ministry of Internal Security. Menghe lacks an administratively independent air force branch, but personnel of Army Aviation and Naval Aviation wear slightly different insignia from their surface counterparts.

All rank insignia are worn on shoulder straps, with rigid shoulder boards for dress uniforms and slip-on rank slides for field uniforms. Collar and lapel insignia differ by grade, but not by individual rank, with different markers for enlisted personnel, NCOs, junior officers, field officers, generals, and marshals.

Army ranks

General-grade ranks

Ranks OF-6 through OF-13 in the Menghean Army are known as general-grade ranks, or sometimes in Anglian as flag officer ranks, though it is not standard practice in the Menghean Army to fly a special flag over a General's position so the translation is only conceptual. Personnel in these ranks are entitled to more privileges than the commissioned officers below them, and wear a different dress uniform.

The Menghean Army is noteworthy for its large number of general-grade ranks, running all the way to OF-13. This is partly due to a forced distinction between generals, who are assigned to command positions, and marshals, who are assigned to administrative positions. The five-star sangjang rank designates the commander of an Army Group, and currently five individuals hold this position. Vice Marshals are tasked with leading specific departments and services, resulting in a Vice Marshal for the Artillery Forces, a Vice Marshal for Aviation, and so on. Marshal is the highest rank in the Menghean Army proper, given to the Supreme Commander of the Army and all retired persons who have held this position.

Supreme Marshal (Dae Wŏnsu) is a rank which Choe Sŭng-min created following his self-coup of March 1st 1988, to more firmly establish his authority over the higher-ranking officers in the Armed Forces. Until then, he had held the rank of Major General. Supreme Marshal is an all-branch rank, meaning that it concurrently represents the highest post in the Navy officer hierarchy, and it is associated with Choe's administrative post as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. No other person has held this rank, and it is considered largely symbolic, a formal guarantee of Choe's status as commander in chief.

Since 2007, all general-grade ranks have used a stitched, patterned gold background, with gold stars outlined in red. Marshal-grade ranks use an Army star without oak leaves for the Vice Marshal, an Army star with oak leaves (as on the flag of the Menghean Army for the Marshal, and the national emblem for Supreme Marshal, all in a red-and-gold color scheme. When a general or marshal is visiting the front lines in a field uniform, a low-visibility version mimicking the former "stars and bars" General insignia may be used.

Level	Marshal-grade officers			General-grade officers
Standard rank code	OF-13	OF-12	OF-11	OF-10	OF-9	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6
Menghean name	大元帥 대원수	元帥 원수	次帥 차수	上將 상장	大將 대장	中將 중장	少將 소장	準將 준장
Transliteration	Dae Wŏnsu	Wŏnsu	Chasu	Sangjang	Daejang	Jungjang	Sojang	Junjang
Official translation	Supreme Marshal	Marshal	Vice Marshal	High General	General	Lieutenant General	Major General	Brigadier General

Commissioned ranks

The Menghean Army distinguishes between General-grade officers and regular commissioned ranks, which consist of field-grade and junior-grade officers. Officer cadets are also included in this category. The international equivalent ranks run from OF(D) to OF-5. Commissioned officers in this rank wear different dress uniforms from general-grade officers and enjoy more limited privileges.

All non-flying commissioned officers in the Menghean Army are volunteers or re-enlisting conscripts, and all undergo four years of training at the Menghean National Defense Academy, a large training and instruction complex located in Donggyŏng. At the MNDA, all cadets bear the rank of sagwan huboasaeng. The rank of sagwan haksaeng is given to cadets in the Gundae Hakgyo system. Not all GH students enroll in the MNDA, and not all MNDA entrants are GH graduates, so some sources consider sagwan haksaeng to be a largely symbolic rank functionally separate from the Menghean Army's formal rank system, even though Menghean Army uniform and saluting regulations cover it.

On their dress uniforms, commissioned officers and officer candidates wear dark red shoulder boards with rank insignia in gold. On field uniforms, the same insignia are stitched in dull gold on a drab background and worn in removable sleeves on the uniform's shoulder straps. Low-visibility shoulder insignia for commissioned officers were among the earliest changes made in the 2005 Menghean military reforms.

Level	Field-grade officers			Junior-grade officers			Officer cadets
Standard rank code	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1a	OF-1b	OF(D)a	OF(D)b
Menghean name	大領 대령	中領 중령	少領 소령	大尉 대위	中尉 중위	少尉 소위	士官候補生 사관 후보생	士官學生 사관 학생
Transliteration	Daeryŏng	Jungryŏng	Soryŏng	Daewi	Jungwi	Sowi	Sagwan Hubosaeng	Sagwan Haksaeng
Official translation	Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Major	Captain	Senior Lieutenant	Junior Lieutenant	Officer Candidate	Student Officer

Enlisted ranks

Enlisted ranks are divided into two groups: "non-commissioned officer" and "enlisted without commission." When the enlisted rank system was created in 1901, there were three NCO ranks ending in sa (士/사) and three regular enlisted ranks ending in byŏng (兵/병). Byŏngjang (sergeant) was created in 1910 and originally had a four-bar rank insignia; this was changed to a star in 1919, when it was reclassified as an NCO position. Tŭkmusangsa (sergeant major), created in 1990, is a position for the division's highest NCO, who carries the divisional standard in parades. Regular enlisted personnel can be either conscripts or volunteers, but as a rule, since 2005 all NCOs have been volunteers or re-enlisting conscripts and all have completed a special NCO training course.

Recruits in training are given the rank of hunryŏnbyŏng, or "trainee." The two-bar rank of idŭngbyŏng has also been translated as Specialist and Efreiter, and normally denotes a soldier trained on a special weapon system, such as a sharpshooter, ATGM operator, or tank gunner. Conscripts who re-enlist as volunteers after completing their two-year mandatory term are automatically granted the rank of idŭngbyŏng, even if assigned as a rifleman, though direct volunteers must still serve two years as an ildŭngbyŏng, unless trained as a specialist.

The rank of sangdŭngbyŏng (literally, "upper-level soldier") originally denoted the most senior enlisted soldier in the squad, and was not a command position. In the 1930s, it became standard practice for the sergeant to assign a group of riflemen to act as a separate maneuver unit under the direction of the sangdŭngbyŏng, making the position similar in function to a corporal, but personnel in this rank did not receive additional officer training and were not treated as NCOs. Promotion was often done at the sergeant's discretion. This practice persisted up to 2005, when as part of Menghe's military restructuring the rank was officially granted NCO status with a special fireteam-leader training course. The suffix rank name and three-bar insignia were both retained, even though it was no longer part of the regular enlisted rank series.

Sangdŭngbyŏng, ildŭngbyŏng, and idŭngbyŏng are regularly shortened to sangbyŏng, ilbyŏng, and ibyŏng in conversation, and tŭkmusangsa is regularly shortened to tŭksa. Current regulations state that the long form must be used on written documents but the short form must be used when addressing a soldier vocally.

All enlisted rank insignia use red insignia on the base color of the uniform. On dress uniforms, they are stitched directly onto the olive drab shoulder strap, while on field uniforms they are worn on removable sleeves that fit onto the shoulder strap.

Level	Non-commissioned officers						Enlisted personnel without commission
Standard rank code	OR-9	OR-8	OR-7	OR-6	OR-5	OR-4	OR-3	OR-2	OR-1
Menghean name	特務上士 특무상사	上士 상사	中士 중사	下士 하사	兵長 병장	上等兵 상등병	一等兵 일등병	二等兵 이등병	訓鍊兵 훈련병
Transliteration	Tŭkmusangsa	Sangsa	Jungsa	Hasa	Byŏngjang	Sangdŭngbyŏng	Ildŭngbyŏng	Idŭngbyŏng	Hunryŏnbyŏng
Official translation	Sergeant Major	Master Sgt.	Sgt. 1st Class	Staff Sgt.	Sergeant	Corporal	Private 1st Class	Private	Recruit