Military Reference

Military Reference#

Reference of military identifiers an operator commonly meets: NATO phonetic alphabet, time + date conventions, rank-equivalent mappings across major armed forces, organizational hierarchies, and standard map / doctrine vocabulary.

For weapons, see weapons.rst (forthcoming). For aviation / maritime identifiers, see Aviation & Maritime. For intelligence disciplines, see Intelligence Disciplines.

NATO phonetic / numeric#

Letter / digit

NATO codeword

A

Alfa

B

Bravo

C

Charlie

D

Delta

E

Echo

F

Foxtrot

G

Golf

H

Hotel

I

India

J

Juliett

K

Kilo

L

Lima

M

Mike

N

November

O

Oscar

P

Papa

Q

Quebec

R

Romeo

S

Sierra

T

Tango

U

Uniform

V

Victor

W

Whiskey

X

X-ray

Y

Yankee

Z

Zulu

0

Zero

1

One (Wun)

2

Two

3

Three (Tree)

4

Four (Fower)

5

Five (Fife)

6

Six

7

Seven

8

Eight (Ait)

9

Niner

Time and date conventions#

Convention

Notes

DTG

Date-Time Group: 041830ZJUN26 = 04 Jun 2026 18:30 UTC.

Zulu

UTC.

Local

operator’s local time.

24-hour

always; “1830” not “6:30 PM”.

Months

JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC.

Day-month-year

DDMMMYY, 04JUN26.

Time zones

single-letter codes: A=+1, B=+2, …, M=+12; N=-1, O=-2, …, Y=-12; Z=UTC.

Rank equivalents (NATO / select armed forces)#

The OF-/OR- coding (NATO STANAG 2116) maps every armed force’s ranks to a common scale. OF-1 through OF-10 cover commissioned officers; OR-1 through OR-9 cover enlisted.

Officer (Army equivalents)#

NATO code

US Army

UK Army

French Army

German Army

Russian Army

OF-10

Gen. Army

Field Marsh

. Marshal

Generalfm.

Marshal

OF-9

Gen.

General

Général ar

  1. Generalob

st Gen. Army

OF-8

Lt. Gen.

Lt. Gen.

Gén. corps

Generaltbm.

Col. Gen.

OF-7

Maj. Gen.

Maj. Gen.

Gén. div.

Generalmaj.

Lt. Gen.

OF-6

Brig. Gen.

Brigadier

Gén. brig.

Brigadegen.

Maj. Gen.

OF-5

Colonel

Colonel

Colonel

Oberst

Colonel

OF-4

Lt. Colonel

Lt. Colonel

Lt. colonel

Oberstltn.

Lt. Colonel

OF-3

Major

Major

Commandant

Major

Major

OF-2

Captain

Captain

Capitaine

Hauptmann

Captain

OF-1

1st / 2nd L

  1. Lt.

Lieutenant

Leutnant

Lieutenant

OF(D) cadet

Cadet

Officer Cad

et Aspirant

Fahnenj.

Cadet

Enlisted (Army equivalents)#

NATO code

US Army

UK Army

French Army

German Army

OR-9

Sgt. Maj.

WO1 / RSM

Maj. Gn. d

‘A. Oberstabsfw.

OR-8

MSgt / 1SG

WO2

Adj. chef

Hauptfeldw.

OR-7

Sgt. 1st Cl

. Staff Sgt.

Adjudant

Oberfeldw.

OR-6

Staff Sgt.

Sergeant

Sgt. chef

Feldwebel

OR-5

Sergeant

Lance Sgt.

Sergent

Stabsuffz.

OR-4

Corporal

Corporal

Caporal-ch

ef Unteroffiz.

OR-3

—

Lance Cpl.

Caporal

Stabsgefr.

OR-2

Private E2

Private

1ère cl.

Gefreiter

OR-1

Private E1

Recruit

2nde cl.

Schütze

Unit hierarchy (army-typical)#

Echelon

Personnel

Notes

Fire team / crew

3-5

smallest tactical unit.

Squad / section

8-13

led by an NCO.

Platoon Company / battery /

20-50

led by a junior officer (LT).

troop

80-250

commanded by a captain / major.

Battalion / squadro

n 300-1,000

commanded by a Lt. Colonel.

Brigade / regiment

3,000-5,000

commanded by a Colonel / Brigadier.

Division

10,000-20,000

commanded by a Maj. Gen.

Corps

20,000-50,000

commanded by a Lt. Gen.

Field army

80,000-250,000

commanded by a General.

Army group

400,000+

theater-level.

Military symbols (APP-6 / 2525)#

Convention

Notes

APP-6

NATO standard for joint military symbology.

MIL-STD-2525

US DoD standard; supersedes 2525B / C / D into 2525E.

Affiliation

rectangle = friend / blue, diamond = hostile / red, quatrefoil = neutral / green, square = unknown / yellow.

Symbol composition

affiliation frame + branch icon + amplifier glyphs (size, role, mobility).

Doctrine / planning vocabulary#

Term

Notes

OPORD

Operations Order; the formal mission directive.

FRAGO

Fragmentary Order; modifies an OPORD in-stream.

WARNO

Warning Order; pre-OPORD heads-up.

CONOP

Concept of Operations.

OPLAN

Operations Plan; pre-deployment plan.

ROE

Rules of Engagement.

SOP

Standard Operating Procedures.

TTP

Tactics, Techniques, Procedures.

COA

Course of Action.

COP

Common Operating Picture.

SITREP

Situation Report.

OPSUM

Operational Summary.

INTSUM

Intelligence Summary.

SPOTREP

Spot Report (immediate).

9-LINE MEDEVAC

casevac request format.

9-LINE UXO

unexploded ordnance.

5-LINE

CAS request format.

SALUTE

Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time, Equipment (recon report format).

PMESII-PT

Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical environment, Time (operational environment framework).

DIME / DIMEFIL

Diplomatic, Informational, Military, Economic (+ Financial, Intelligence, Law-enforcement).

METT-TC

Mission, Enemy, Terrain & weather, Troops & support, Time available, Civil considerations.

OAKOC

Observation, Avenues of approach, Key terrain, Obstacles, Cover & concealment.

BATTLE DRILLS

pre-rehearsed reactions to common contact situations.

Coordinate / map systems#

System

Notes

MGRS

Military Grid Reference System; built on UTM; alphanumeric (e.g. 18TWL8042311083).

UTM

Universal Transverse Mercator; 60 zones.

USNG

US National Grid; civilian variant of MGRS.

Lat/Long DD

decimal degrees, WGS-84.

Lat/Long DMS

degrees-minutes-seconds.

Plus Codes (OLC)

Google’s open location codes; “8FVC9G8F+5W”.

What3Words

3-word geocoding; commercial.

Geohash

base-32 hierarchical encoding.

H3 / S2

hex / quad cell IDs (Uber / Google).

Maidenhead

ham-radio 6-character grid.

References#

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