Talk:Private (rank)

Subscript text

Germany
Soldat is not a rank. Gefreiter is the equivalent to private. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.231.226.181 (talk) 13:37, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Soldat is (at least popularized as) a general collective rank of those below the rank of Gefreiter. They have ranks of equal rank but a couple of names, such as Schütze, Grenadier, Jäger, Matrose, Flieger and so on.--93.135.119.17 (talk) 14:20, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

The etymological equivalent to the anglophone "private" is the german Gefreiter! a &times; p de Hello!  15:09, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Netherlands Section
I have expanded the Netherlands section based on the Dutch equivalent page. Should anyone wish to edit this, feel free, and should someone believe that the notice should now be removed, it is up to them.

PV1 and PV2
Is there actually any (current) source for the use of PV1? This question has led to a bit of an edit war here. -- rimshots talk 14:19, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Here's a 2000 document that uses PV1


 * This 2001 style document discusses the abbrviation of army ranks
 * This 2007 document informs soldiers of how much housing support they will recieve.
 * Jecowa 15:24, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thank you, good reply. -- rimshots talk 21:28, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

"Buck private"
In the US military, what does the apparently colloqial term "buck private" mean? I've seen and heard it in literature and fiction, where I understood it to mean the lowest rank, but it seems the Army has the two ranks, PV1 and PV2. Is this term completely obsolete now? Is it appropriate to add a synonymous mention of the term, like so: "The lowest rank (officially known as Private E-1 (PV1) and sometimes referred to as recruit or buck private..." to the entry? Sjb0926 (talk) 18:17, 19 September 2008 (UTC)


 * See buck private. —Michael Z. 2008-09-19 19:10 z 

The wiktionary definition referenced is not remotely accurate to my understanding. A buck private is the absolute lowest rank in the US Army. Enlisted soldiers in the US military who are court martialed are typically reduced in rank to buck private until they finish their sentence, at which point they are dishonorably discharged. I think recruits are buck privates until they complete training, but don't hold me to that. Normal private rank, to my understanding, is something higher than buck private. 168.61.48.142 (talk) 20:32, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Canadian Privates
I deleted the references to corporals and higher ranks since this page is about privates, not corporals, the former rank of lance corporals, or master corporals.

Also, it's been a while since I left the CF, but when I was in it took 2 1/2 years and QL4 qualification to become a Pte (T). Has this changed? The description as it stands now sounds more like the reserve requirement when I was in. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.47.218.54 (talk) 06:34, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

UCMJ, not just Article 15
I propose to change Article 15 to Uniform Code of Military Justice. Article 15 (non-judicial punishment) is just one of almost 150 Articles, listed under XII Subchapters, of the UCMJ. Though Article 15 is the most frequent means of punishment, US Service Members can be reduced in rank to E-1 (PVT) through most of the Articles. Bullmoosebell (talk) 21:18, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

"Parlance"?
From the lead paragraph:


 * In modern military parlance, 'private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom...

As far as I know, "parlance" refers to the way people speak, not to how they write—and certainly not to how they abbreviate things. Would this be better?:


 * In written form, 'private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom...

Feel free to delete this if you make the change. – AndyFielding (talk) 09:52, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

Definition of Buck Private
The definition of a "Buck Private" is one who has shown up for Initial Entry Training (IET), also known as Basic Training, but has not graduated from IET. Once a person graduates from IET they are a Private (PV1), Private (PV2), Private First Class (PFC) or Specialist (SPC) in the Army depending on previous college attended or degrees earned, an Eagle Scout, signed up with another member and are in the "Buddy Program" or other defining criteria. 140.194.40.62 (talk) 06:21, 29 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Sure, blow it at the moon 99.196.178.153 (talk) 23:39, 31 October 2023 (UTC)

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Origin of term "private"
"The term derives from the medieval term 'private soldiers' (a term still used in the British Army), contrasting mercenary soldiers and denoting individuals who were either exclusively hired, conscripted, or mustered into service by a feudal nobleman commanding a battle group of an army."

Who else was there? That sounds like everyone who was not a knight or an officer of some sort. My understanding was always that the term arose during the Thirty Years War, which saw the use of vast mercenary armies, and was at first used only to refer to mercenaries, since they were privately hired. It would therefore not have been used to refer to conscripts or men mustered from one's own territory, since such men were fulfilling a civic duty, rather than fighting purely for pay. Can anyone shed any light on that? Beetfarm Louie (talk) 18:53, 21 February 2023 (UTC)