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As I understand it the rank of Colour Sergeant was invented by the Duke of Wellington and was the senior Staff Sergeant in a company who carried the colours.

The RM uses Colour Sergeant in place of Staff Sergeant. Is it simply a different name for what the Army calls a Staff Sergeant or does it have some distinguishing feature(s)?

What is the modern definition of the Army's Colour Sergeant, how does it differ from garden variety Staff Sergeants?

On a related note, I noticed that Army WO2s has two different badges - one is simply a crown, the other a wreathed crown. How are these two badges used? Do they distinguish seniority among WO2s? Do they indicate a type of job? Worn on different uniforms? Worn by different units?

C/Sjts as in light infantry is spelt Serjents as a result of a battle and also Infantry c/sjts ware their red sashes from left to right rather then right to left also so the wreathed crown is the rank RQMS and is the right hand man of the RSM , hope this helps

All Army WO11 Tradesman wears a crown with a wreath the same as the RQMS. That was the rank I reached.

[quote="J. Prowd"]As I understand it the rank of Colour Sergeant was invented by the Duke of Wellington and was the senior Staff Sergeant in a company who carried the colours.

The RM uses Colour Sergeant in place of Staff Sergeant. Is it simply a different name for what the Army calls a Staff Sergeant or does it have some distinguishing feature(s)?

What is the modern definition of the Army's Colour Sergeant, how does it differ from garden variety Staff Sergeants?

On a related note, I noticed that Army WO2s has two different badges - one is simply a crown, the other a wreathed crown. How are these two badges used? Do they distinguish seniority among WO2s? Do they indicate a type of job? Worn on different uniforms? Worn by different units?[/quo

As I was always led to understand it....
the infantry has colour sergeant, and all other regiments/corps has a staffie.

The two differing badges for WO II?
A plain crown is CSM etc
crown and wreath, a 'technical' appointment [cqms, qmsi etc].
Sorted?

Colour Sergeant for RM and Infantry Regts. Staff Sergeant for other army units. Was originally designated to reward long-serving sergeants.

Per the above mention of WOII, etc. Ranks are frequently confused with "appointments". While WOII might be the rank, CSM, RQMS, QMSI, etc., are all appointments. In an infantry unit, RQMS wears the laurals around the crown, as do QMSIs. Similarly, WO1 is the rank for RSM, RCM, and SMI, etc. To distinguish between a, RSM and an "other" WO1 appointment, RSMs will frequently be addressed in writing as "WO1 (RSM)". In an infantry unit, the RQMS is the senior WOII and often next in line (or at least destined) for RSM.

The word "sergeant" being derived from the Latin serviens, meaning "to serve" did not sit well with the donkey whollapers, who deemed even their lowest cavelryman to be above that of foot soldiers, hence no cavalryman is every called a sergeant and to this day the Household Cavalry have Corporal of Horse (for Sgt), Staff Corporal for (for SSgt) and appointments like Squadron Quartermaster Corporal and Regimental Corporal Major. Hell of a mouthfull, but "corporal" derives from the ancient term meaning "leader of a body of men", hence the cavalry's preferred useage.

As an asside, here in the Canadian Forces, there are three grades of Warrant Officer... Chief Warrant Officer being the rank of an RSM, etc., Master Warrant Officer being the rank of a CSM, QMSI, etc., and Warrant Officer being the rank of CQMS, SQMS, and Platoon 2i/cs. Here, the rank of sergeant has been downgraded to section-level leadership (similar to the Brit' Guards' L/Sgt), with the old Lance-Corporal being replaced with "Master Corporal", wearing two chevrons topped with a maple leaf. Corporals here are glorified privates and it is really just a pay grade. They may or may nor have yet received leadership training.

Anglo..... This is another thread that 'misdameanor' has raised from the grave.......... Original query from Jan 2002!

Oh, good grief. Sorry 'bout that. Didn't even notice. Isn't that annoying?!

He's not the only one that has been doing that of late, I see. Prong!

Well done Billy, I was just about to tell A-S that as well.

Misdameaner, can you please stop dredging up 5 year old threads. You
only joined here 2 days ago & so you're interested in discussion, that's understandable.


BUT please read the dates of creation on threads. And please consider those of us who have been here a while, who often forget to read creation dates, and don't expect 5 year old threads to be resuscitated on a daily basis.

Or you're simply doing it as a wind-up. In which case, stop it!

No need for me to stick my oar in here then.......

Sorry mod, didn't mean to step on any toes

Once a cop always a cop I guess

Wholley wrote:No need for me to stick my oar in here then.......

"Need" has never been an issue before.

"Incoming!!"