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".
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Famous quotes related to united states:
“I feel most at home in the United States, not because it is intrinsically a more interesting country, but because no one really belongs there any more than I do. We are all there together in its wholly excellent vacuum.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is owned.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“The popular colleges of the United States are turning out more educated people with less originality and fewer geniuses than any other country.”
—Caroline Nichols Churchill (1833–?)
“The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)