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Lance corporal is amilitary rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank ofcorporal.
The presumed origin of the rank of lance corporal derives from an amalgamation of "corporal" from the Italian phrasecapo corporale ("head of the body") with the now-archaiclancepesade, which in turn derives from the Italianlancia spezzata, which literally means "broken lance" or "broken spear", formerly a non-commissioned officer of the lowest rank. It can be translated as "one who has broken a lance in combat", and is therefore a leader.[1][2] Other sources claim that it referred to a knight who had broken his lance and lost his horse, and thus had to join a foot company temporarily;[3][4] or togendarmerie who could no longer afford to fight on horseback and formed a foot unit.[5]
"Lance" or "lances fournies" was also a term used in medieval Europe to denote a unit of soldiers (usually three[6] or six[7] men).
In Commonwealth forces, a lance corporal is usually thesecond-in-command of asection. Lance corporals are commonly addressed as "corporal", with "lance jack" or "half-screw" (with corporals being "full screws") being common colloquialisms for the rank. Much like the use of bombardier instead of corporal inartillery units, lance corporals are known aslance bombardiers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.[8] The badge of rank is a singlechevron worn on both sleeves or on an epaulette.
Lance corporal is the lowest of the non-commissioned officer ranks in theAustralian Army andNew Zealand Army, falling betweenprivate and corporal. It is the only appointed rank, and thus demotion is easier than with other ranks. A commanding officer can demote a lance corporal, whereas other ranks require acourt martial for demotion. A lance corporal is usually the second in command of a section, and is in control of the gun group in an infantry section. There is no equivalent rank within the Royal Australian or New Zealand Air Force or Navy.
Second corporal was also formerly used in Australia in the same way that it was used in the British Army.
In theBangladesh Army, the rank of lance corporal is above the rank ofsainik (সৈনিক) and below the rank of corporal.[9]
TheCanadian Armed Forces abolished theCanadian Army rank of lance corporal on theircreation as a unified force in 1968.
| Lance corporal | |
|---|---|
  .svg) Army, marine and RAF insignia | |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Service branch | |
| Abbreviation | LCpl |
| Rank group | Non-commissioned officer |
| NATOrank code | OR-3 |
| Next higher rank | Corporal |
| Next lower rank | Private (orequivalent) |
| Equivalent ranks | Lance bombardier |
Lance corporal (LCpl or formerly L/Cpl) is the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer in theBritish Army andRoyal Marines, between private and corporal.Although officially they have a NATO grade of OR3, they are often treated as OR5s when working with U.S. forces as they have the same battlefield role of fire team commander as a sergeant in the U.S. Army.[citation needed]
The badge of rank is a single point-down chevron worn on both sleeves, or on an epaulette on the front of the Combat Soldier 95 dress standard. However, lance corporals in theFoot Guards,Honourable Artillery Company,1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards andThe Queen's Royal Hussars wear two chevrons and lance corporals in theHousehold Cavalry wear two chevrons surmounted by a gilt crown. TheRoyal Artillery uses the rank oflance bombardier instead.
The date of introduction of lance corporals to the British Army is unclear, but the rank is mentioned in late-18th century military essays such as Major William Young's "An essay on the Command of Small Detachments" (1766) and John Williamson's "The Elements of Military Arrangement" (1781):
"When from sickness or other causes there are not in a company a sufficient number of non-commission officers to do the duty, the captain can appoint corporals to do the duty of serjeants, who are called lance serjeants, and private men to do the duty of corporals, who are called lance corporals."[10]
The designation "chosen man", used during theNapoleonic Wars, was possibly a precursor to the rank.[11][12] The first mention of a lance corporal inThe Times is in 1819,[13] although the first mention in theLondon Gazette is not until 1831.[14] The first mention in theLondon Gazette of a lance corporal in the Royal Marines is in 1838.[15]
Until 1 September 1961, lance corporal and lance bombardier were only appointments rather than substantive ranks, given to privates (or equivalent) who were acting NCOs, and could be taken away by the soldier's commanding officer (whereas a full corporal or bombardier could only be demoted bycourt martial).[16] Until 1920, theRoyal Engineers andArmy Ordnance Corps also used the similar rank ofsecond corporal, which was a substantive rank (also wearing one chevron). Until 1920,bombardiers in the Royal Artillery were equivalent to second corporals and until 1918 (when the rank of lance bombardier replaced it), acting bombardiers were equivalent to lance corporals (both wearing one chevron).
In theinfantry, a lance corporal usually serves as second-in-command of a section and commander of its deltafire team. It is also a rank commonly held by specialists such as clerks, drivers, signallers, machine-gunners, and mortarmen. In theIntelligence Corps andRoyal Military Police, all other ranks are promoted to lance corporal on completion of their training.
On 1 April 2010, the rank of lance corporal was introduced into theRAF Regiment, although it is not used by other branches of theRoyal Air Force.[17][18] RAF Regiment lance corporals have powers of charge overaircraftmen,leading aircraftmen andsenior aircraftmen, but notjunior technicians orsenior aircraftmen technicians, who, despite being OR2s, require a corporal or above to charge if required.[19]
The British cadet forces reflect the ranks of their parent services, so theArmy Cadet Force, the Army section of theCombined Cadet Force (CCF), and the variousmarine cadet organisations use cadet lance corporal as their lowest NCO rank. In the CCF (RAF), this rank is also used as the lowest NCO rank (it was formerly known as junior corporal before its introduction into the RAF Regiment). TheAir Training Corps and the naval cadet forces do not use the rank.
The Lance Corporal (LCP) rank in theSingapore Armed Forces (SAF) is between the rank ofPrivate (PTE) andCorporal (CPL).[20]
Lance-corporals who are appointed second-in-command/third-in-command of a section can give commands to the rest of the section.National servicemen are usually promoted to this rank after completing their respective vocational courses and within the first year of service. Servicemen who fail to pass theirIndividual physical proficiency test (IPPT) during their active service will have their rank capped at LCP regardless of vocation.
A lance-corporal wears rank insignia of a single point-down chevron with an arc above it (similar to an inverted US Army PFC rank insignia).
In theNational Cadet Corps (NCC), theNational Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) and theNational Civil Defence Cadet Corps (NCDCC), the rank of lance corporal is below the rank of corporal.[21][22][23] Generally, the rank is awarded to cadets in secondary two. NCC, NPCC and NCDCC lance corporals rarely, if not never, have the chance to command a squad.
NCC lance corporals wear the same rank insignia as that of the SAF, except that the letters 'NCC' are below the insignia so as to differentiate NCCcadets from SAF personnel. NPCC and NCDCC lance corporals wear the same rank insignia as that of an SCDF lance corporal, except that the letters 'NPCC' and 'NCDCC' are below the insignia so as to differentiate NPCC and NCDCC cadets fromSingapore Police Force andSingapore Civil Defence Force personnel respectively.
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| Lance corporal | |
|---|---|
 Lance corporal's dress blues arm chevron (USMC) | |
| Service branch |  United States Army(USA) United States Marine Corps(USMC) |
| Abbreviation | LCpl |
| Rank group | Enlisted rank |
| NATOrank code | OR-3 |
| Pay grade | E-3 |
| Formation | 1802(USA) 1830s(USMC) |
| Abolished | 1920(USA) |
| Next higher rank | Corporal |
| Next lower rank | Private first class |
| Equivalent ranks | Seaman(Navy) Airman first class(Air Force) Private first class(USA) |
Lance corporal was a title used in theUnited States Army to denote privates serving as temporary non-commissioned officers. The title of lance corporal existed in the U.S. Army from at least 1802, as the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry documents its first occurrence in an "unofficial journal" dated that year. The first official use of the title of lance corporal is documented in theGeneral Regulations for the Army, or, Military Institutes (Articles 18 and 20), authorised by an Act of Congress on 2 March 1821 and published by the War Department in July 1821 and again on 1 March 1825.
In theGeneral Regulations for the Army of the United States (Article XVI, Paragraph 64), published on 25 January 1841, and again in the 1847 edition (Article XIII, Paragraph 121; Article XIV, Paragraph 134; and Article XLIX Paragraph 818), the title of lance corporal is authorised. Again, in theRevised Army Regulations of 1861 published on 10 August 1861 and in the 1863 edition"With An Appendix Containing the Changes and Laws Affecting Army Regulations And Articles Of War To June 25, 1863" (Article 40, Paragraph 971), lance corporal is authorised. Lance corporal is again authorised inRegulations of the Army of the United States and General Orders In Force on the 17th of February 1881 (Article LV, Paragraph 812) and inRegulations of the Army of the United States 1895 (Article XXXII, Paragraph 257).
In the edition of 1901 "With Appendix Separately Indexed And Showing Changes to January 1, 1901", in the Appendix, page 331, inHeadquarters of the Army, General Orders, No. 42, June 30, 1897, Part II, the lance corporal is authorised to wear "...a chevron having one bar..." InRegulations for the Army of the United States 1904 (Article XXX, Paragraph 263), "...no company shall have more than one lance corporal at a time, unless there are noncommissioned officers absent by authority, during which absences there may be one for each absentee." This proscription appears again in Article XXX, Paragraph 272 ofRegulations for the Army of the United States 1910, and the editions of 1913, and 1917 "Corrected to April 15, 1917 (Changes, Nos. 1 to 55)".
In 1920, the former lance corporal insignia of rank was assigned to the rank of private first class inWar Department Circular No. 303, dated 3 August 1920. However, the Institute of Heraldry states that some older U.S. Army Tables of Organization and Equipment still in use in 1940 continued to authorise lance corporals.
In February 1965, the US Army announced that, effective from 1 September 1965, pay grade E-3 would be redesignated as lance corporal.[24] The rank insignia was to be the pre-World War II specialist grade 6 insignia of one chevron above one arc, or "rocker". However, by September 1965 the plan was cancelled.[25] The insignia was, however, adopted for pay grade E-3, which continued to be namedprivate first class.
Lance corporal (LCpl) is the thirdenlisted rank in order of seniority in theUnited States Marine Corps, just aboveprivate first class and below corporal.[26] It is the most commonly held rank in the USMC, and the highest one that a marine can hold without being a non-commissioned officer.[27]
The USMC is the only component of the U.S. Armed Forces to currently use the rank. Promotion to lance corporal is based on time in grade, time in service, and the conduct of the marine. Further promotion to the NCO ranks (corporal and above) is competitive and takes into account the individual service record of the marine. There can only be a certain number of corporals and sergeants in eachMOS, so even with a qualifying score, promotions may be delayed due to an excessive number of corporals occupying billets in a certain MOS.
From the earliest years of the Corps, the ranks of lance corporal andlance sergeant were in common usage. The rank of lance corporal has been used in the Marine Corps since the 1830s in theIndian Wars. Marines were appointed temporarily from the next lower rank to the higher grade but were still paid at the lower rank. By 1887, this practice was widespread in the Corps. TheCommandant had later ordered that such appointments should only last one month, and that if the marine holding the appointment had failed to pass the relevant examination for the rank he was temporarily serving by the end of this one month period, his appointment was to be given to someone else. As the rank structure became more firmly defined, the rank of lance sergeant fell out of use, but the rank of lance corporal remained in unofficial use in the Corps into the 1930s, although it had officially become redundant when the rank of private first class was established in 1917. The rank of lance corporal fell out of usage prior to World War II, but was permanently re-established in the sweeping rank restructuring of 1958.[28][29]
Some law enforcement agencies, most notably theSouth Carolina Highway Patrol, use the rank for non-supervisory officers.[30]
![Lance corporal (Antigua and Barbuda Regiment)[31]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBritish_Army_OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Australian Army)[32]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAustralian_Army_OR-4.svg)
![ল্যান্স কর্পোর্যাল Lyānsa karpōrāla (Bangladesh Army)[33]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBangladesh-army-OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Barbados Regiment)[34]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBDF_OR-3_(2021).svg)
![Lance corporal (Botswana Ground Force)[35]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBotswana-Army-OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Dzongkha: འགོ་ པ །, romanized: Gopa) (Royal Bhutan Army)[36]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a01.Bhutan_Army-LCPL.svg)
![Lans koperal (Royal Brunei Land Force)[37]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a01.RBrLF-LCPL.svg)
![Lance corporal (Guyana Army)[38]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aGuyana_Defence_Force_(GDF)_Lance_Corporal_insignia.svg)
![Lance corporal (Jamaican Army)[39]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aJamaica-Army-OR-3.png)
![Lance corporal (Lesotho Army)[40]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aZimbabwe-Army-OR-3.svg)
![ލާންސް ކޯޕްރަލް Laans koapral (Maldives National Defence Force)[41]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMaldives-Army-OR-3.svg)
![Lans koperal (Malaysian Army)[42]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aMalaysia-army-OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Namibian Army)[43]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a01-Namibia_Army-LCPL.svg)
![Lance corporal (New Zealand Army)[44]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aNew_Zealand-Army-OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Nigerian Army)[45]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aKoplo_Usu_(Tanzania_Army_OR-03).png)
![Lance corporal (Saint Kitts and Nevis Regiment)[46]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSKN_Regiment_OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Seychelles Infantry Unit)[47]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSeychelles_Army_OR-03_(2018).svg)
![Lance corporal (Singapore Army)[48]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aArmy-SGP-OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Sri Lanka Army)[49]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a01._SLA-LCPL.svg)
![Lance corporal (South African Army)[50]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSAA-OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Tongan Land Component)[51]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aTonga-Army-OR-3.svg)
![Lance corporal (Trinidad and Tobago Regiment)[52]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aTaT-Army-OR-03.png)
![Lance corporal (Ugandan Land Forces)[53]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aUganda-Army-OR-3.svg)
Sweden uses the rank ofvicekorpral (previouslyvicekonstapel, or "vice constable", in the artillery and anti-aircraft artillery) between private andkorpral. It was primarily a training grade discontinued in 1972 but reinstated in 2009.
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