Czech Republic - Rank Insignia

The Czech Armed Forces personnel are divided into six rank categories.

1. Trainees & Troops This category consists of soldiers in basic training and at elementary positions in military units who carry out all manual activities, as ordered by their superiors.

2. Non/Commissioned Officers This is the fundamental rank category in the armed forces and inter-stage between the categories of recruits and warrant officers in a career path. It includes soldiers assigned to military positions in weapon systems and other equipment, logistic and other positions, primarily requiring manual skills. The key mission of this category of personnel lies in commanding activities at the lowest organizational level (flight, station, crew, system, workshop, squad) and executing their training duties if assigned to a basic instructor’s position. Their role is irreplaceable mainly in an operational deployment of the armed forces.

3. Warrant Officers The category of warrant officers is the career peak for military personnel other than officers. Warrant officers implement middle-level management in units, staffs and logistic facilities and act as specialists on weapon, communication and other systems. The key missions accomplished by personnel of this category are middle-level command and leadership (deputy platoon leaders, Company Sergeants or Command Sergeants Major) and training if assigned to a higher instructor’s position. Warrant officers may be appointed to posts at higher-level staffs. Independence, initiative, applying learned knowledge and lessons, and responsibility are the main attributes in their activities.

4. Junior Officers As an elementary part of the two categories of officers, junior officers, together with warrant officers, execute middle-level management in units, staffs and logistic facilities. However, in contrast with warrant officers, this category is not built on the principle of seniority, but on the foundations of personality and proficiency development that are needed for a potentiality of being selected for the category of senior officers. Junior officers are responsible for accepting competent decisions having an influence on activities of units at a company level and their equivalents.

5. Senior Officers These personnel are selected from the category of junior officers and represent a higher level of management. Both as commanders responsible for designated areas and officials at higher-level staffs, they make decisions on issues that have an impact on military units and facilities, their groups or entire segments of the armed forces within the MoD’s scope of authorities. The best captains, who have already proven the required abilities to occupy a senior officer position, are selected for this category. A special position among senior officers is held by soldiers in the rank of colonel who always assume the highest commanding posts within those segments of the armed forces that are subordinate to the Chief of General Staff, Minister of Defence and President of the Czech Republic.

6. Generals Generals belong to military establishment and they are a part of the elite of the Czech Republic and are responsible for making strategic and operational decisions having an infl uence on the entire or a part of the Czech Armed Forces. Mature personalities who have proven their eligibility by achieving outstanding results are selected for this category. At the same time, they are soldiers who are able to gain, through their moral qualities, educational background and a broad social horizon, the public trust, and thus help the armed forces build a good reputation.

Pursuant to effective rules and regulations as stipulated for each rank category, soldiers perform their military service in the interest of the Czech Republic’s defence in the homeland and abroad with the understanding that their active duty status is limited in time. Time periods for staying at each rank are limited as well.

A commanding career is the cornerstone in the armed forces and is characterised by a career path to which an individual not only alternately occupies command, staff and pedagogical jobs, but is also engaged in various activities abroad and deployed on military operations. Career management of soldiers in scarce specialised positions or special branches or services, primarily in the rank category of warrant offi cers, the main career path is adjusted to their specific features.

Career progress of senior offi cers and generals is expected regardless of their original specialty. In addition to their professional education, these individuals must also display corresponding managerial and personality qualifi cations.

Soldiers may be assigned to a position of the same or higher military rank within the framework of their career’s progress. Appointing soldiers during their active service to a systemized position of a lower military rank is impermissible, even if based on voluntary consent. In case a systemised position specifi es a higher rank, assigning a soldier to such a position is tied with their promotion to the corresponding military rank.