Venezuelan Military Ranks - Officer Ranks

Officer Ranks

For the Army, National Guard, Air Force and the new Bolivarian National Militia, these are the ranks:

• General en Jefe (General-in-Chief): Military top officer, usually Ministry of Defense and from 2010, Chief of Operations Staff of the National Armed Forces
• Mayor General (Major General): Military forces commander and strategic commander.
• General de Division (Divisional General)
• General de Brigada (Brigade General/Brigadier General/Brigadier)
• Coronel (Colonel)
• Teniente Coronel (Lieutenant Colonel)
• Mayor (Major)
• Capitan (Captain)
• Primer Teniente (1st Lieutenant)
• Teniente (2nd Lieutenant/Lieutenant/Sub-lieutenant)

Army and National Guard officers' rank insignia are in shoulder epaulette boards similar to the German Army in the full dress and ceremonial uniform, especially its Prussian predecessor, in the following manner:

• Lieutenants, First Lieutenants and Captains wear epaulettes constructed by wrapping two side-by-side lengths of braid around the buttonhole and back, giving the appearance of eight parallel cords; the whole was sewn to an underlay of the badge-cloth in the epaulette. Rank is shown in one to three white stars.
• Epaulettes of Majors, Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels are made by plaiting together double widths of Russia braid and looping them to form a buttonhole, sewn to an underlay on the epaulette; rank again is displayed by one to three gold stars.
• Generals' shoulder boards (for Brigade Generals, Divisional Generals, Major Generals and Generals-in-Chief) are constructed similarly to those of field-grade officers, but comprise a length of silver Russia braid between two braided cords of gold bullion or Celleon. Since the resulting combination's wider, generals' boards are plaited in four 'loops' rather than five. Their buttons are gilt, their underway is scarlet, and rank is indicated by one to four mythical golden suns. Moreover, the President of Venezuela in his constitutional duty as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces wears a different insignia in the same shoulder board type.

Since 2009 there are also technical officers who graduate and are commissioned from the Military Technical Academy, and hold the same ranks with the addition of the tecnico (technician) title from Lieutenants to Colonels. They wear the same rank pattern epaulettes on the full dress uniform.

For the Navy, these are the ranks for officers (note that the Venezuelan Marine Corps uses naval ranks instead of army-style ranks as a nod to its naval origins):

• Almirante en Jefe (Admiral of the Fleet)
• Almirante (Admiral)
• Vicealmirante (Vice Admiral)
• Contralmirantê (Rear Admiral)
• Capitan de Navio (Captain)
• Capitan de Fragata (Commander)
• Capitan de Corbeta (Lieutenant Commander)
• Teniente de Navío (Lieutenant)
• Teniente de Fragata (Lieutenant (junior grade)/Sub-lieutenant)
• Alferez de Navío (Ensign)

The Venezuelan Navy's basic officer rank is that of an Ensign, similar to the United States Navy. All officer rank insignia (save for Admirals) use the Executive curl similar to those used in the Commonwealth and some other countries both on the shoulder boards of the dress white uniform and on the sleeves of the dress blue uniform, using the same rank system as the US Navy and the Royal Navy. Ranks are also worn on the collars of the service dress khaki uniform but in gold or silver depending on rank, and on the green duty uniform. Admirals' rank insignia are in gold epaulettes on the dress uniforms with the foul anchor and wreaths with one to four mythical suns indicating officer rank. Naval technical service officers from 2009 onward use the tecnico title from Ensigns up to Captains after commissioning and use the same rank insignia on the shoulders, collars and sleeves depending on the uniform type being worn by the bearer.