First sergeant

File:USMC-1st-sgt.png

USMC first sergeant insignia patch.

First sergeant is an enlisted military rank. A traditional army grade, first sergeant is the senior noncommissioned officer of a designated group of people with many other sergeants (possibly of the same grade) reporting to him/her. First sergeants are senior to all sergeant grades but subordinate to a sergeant major, who is the first sergeant of first sergeants. In comparison to naval rate systems, a first sergeant is equivalent to a grade of senior chief petty officer, while sergeant major is equivilent to master chief petty officer.

This rank was used by the United States armed forces, represented as a uniform insignia by a three chevrons, with three rockers beneath, and a diamond-shaped lozenge insignia within.

In the USAF a first sergeant is the senior enlisted man of a squadron and can hold the grade of Master Segeant, Senior Master Sergeant, or Chief Master Sergeant. A Command Chief Master Sergeant, which is roughly equvilent to a sergeant major and/or command sergeant major, is the senior enlisted man of a group or wing.

A US Marine 1st Sgt. assigned to aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was one of the troops involved in the hunt for intruding time traveler Pavel Chekov in 1986. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

The USMC 1st Sgt. was played by Joseph Naradzay, an actual Marine.

This chart shows only general equivalencies based on the ranks used by many governments on Earth, as well as the rest of the galaxy.