United States
In the U.S. Army, Private (PVT) is used for the two lowest enlisted ranks, just below Private First Class. It is the lowest rank (officially known as Private E-1 (PV1) and sometimes referred to as Recruit, but also held by some soldiers after punishment through the Uniform Code of Military Justice or prisoners after conviction until they are dishonorably discharged). A PVT wears no uniform insignia; since the advent of the Army Combat Uniform, the term "fuzzy" has come into vogue, referring to the blank velcro patch on the ACU where the rank would normally be placed. The second rank, Private E-2 (PV2), wears a single chevron, known colloquially as "mosquito wings". Advancement to the higher rank is automatic after six months time in service, but may get shortened to four months if given a waiver.
In the U.S. Marine Corps, private (PVT) only refers to the lowest enlisted rank, just below Private First Class. A Marine Corps Private wears no uniform insignia and is sometimes described as having a "slick sleeve" for this reason. Most new, non-officer Marines begin their military career as a private. In the Marine Corps, Privates First Class are not referred to as "Privates"; It is more appropriate to use either "Private First Class" or "PFC".
Read more about this topic: Private (rank)
Famous quotes related to united states:
“The white American man makes the white American woman maybe not superfluous but just a little kind of decoration. Not really important to turning around the wheels of the state. Well the black American woman has never been able to feel that way. No black American man at any time in our history in the United States has been able to feel that he didn’t need that black woman right against him, shoulder to shoulder—in that cotton field, on the auction block, in the ghetto, wherever.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“God knows that any man who would seek the presidency of the United States is a fool for his pains. The burden is all but intolerable, and the things that I have to do are just as much as the human spirit can carry.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“The United States is a republic, and a republic is a state in which the people are the boss. That means us. And if the big shots in Washington don’t do like we vote, we don’t vote for them, by golly, no more.”
—Willis Goldbeck (1900–1979)
“Ethnic life in the United States has become a sort of contest like baseball in which the blacks are always the Chicago Cubs.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Places where he might live and die and never hear of the United States, which make such a noise in the world,—never hear of America, so called from the name of a European gentleman.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)