Cadet Officer Ranks
| Pay grade** | C/O-6 | C/O-5 | C/O-4 | C/O-3 | C/O-2 | C/O-1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army JROTC & MCJROTC |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Cadet Colonel (Army JROTC: C/COL) (MCJROTC: C/Col) | Cadet Lieutenant Colonel (Army JROTC: C/LTC) (MCJROTC: C/LtCol) | Cadet Major (Army JROTC: C/MAJ) (MCJROTC: C/Maj) | Cadet Captain (Army JROTC: C/CPT) (MCJROTC: C/Capt) | Cadet First Lieutenant (Army JROTC: C/1LT) (MCJROTC: C/1stLt) | Cadet Second Lieutenant (Army JROTC: C/2LT) (MCJROTC: C/2ndLt) | |
| NJROTC & CGJROTC |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Cadet Captain* (C/CAPT) | Cadet Commander (C/CDR) | Cadet Lieutenant Commander (C/LCDR) | Cadet Lieutenant (C/LT) | Cadet Lieutenant Junior Grade (C/LTJG) | Cadet Ensign (C/ENS) | |
| AFJROTC & SFJROTC |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Cadet Colonel (C/Col) | Cadet Lieutenant Colonel (C/Lt Col) | Cadet Major (C/Maj) | Cadet Captain (C/Capt) | Cadet First Lieutenant (C/1st Lt) | Cadet Second Lieutenant (C/2d Lt) | |
| Pay grade** | C/O-6 | C/O-5 | C/O-4 | C/O-3 | C/O-2 | C/O-1 |
| * Cadet captain is the rank that the leader of a NJROTC unit holds if the unit has reached the cadet enrollment requirements to be rated as a regiment. It is a relatively rare rank. As of June 2013, there are only 5 regimental-sized units out of the 584 NJROTC units worldwide. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] | ||||||
| ** Although the positions and titles of rank match those of the Armed Forces' pay grades, JROTC cadets are not serving members of the military, and receive no pay, and only receive benefits or privileges based upon the situation of the time (staying in military quarters, and using base exchanges, commissaries, dining facilities, and MWR facilities while on training trips, etc.) This is in direct contrast to Cadets/Midshipmen of the Senior (University Level) ROTC programs, in which those students can receive pay/stipends, benefits, and privileges, depending upon their contract status. | ||||||
| *** In most standard JROTC programs, cadet officer ranks stop at the top “unit” ranks (for example, Cadet Colonel in many Army and Air Force JROTC units), and you normally do not see cadet “general officer” ranks as part of the regular, service-standard cadet rank ladder. Chicago is a weird exception because Chicago Public Schools runs a districtwide, joint-services JROTC structure called the City Corps Staff, which is separate from any one school’s unit chain of command. CPS’s JROTC site describes City Corps Staff as a unique joint-services cadet chain of command, and its posted City Corps Staff chain-of-command page shows senior cadets using Cdt BG (Cadet Brigadier General) for the City Corps Commander and Deputy Commander. In other words, what people call “cadet generals” in Chicago is typically a CPS City Corps Staff designation (often Cdt BG), not the normal everyday rank structure you would expect inside a single JROTC unit. | ||||||
