German Army rank insignia

The German Heer (as the German Luftwaffe) distinguishes three career paths: officers ("Offiziere"), NCOs ("Unteroffiziere") and enlisted men ("Mannschaften").

Rank insignia are worn on both shoulders.

Officers

Enlisted personnel are largely made up of conscripts serving their nine months of mandatory service. Starting as "Schütze" or trooper a promotion to "Gefreiter" is mandatory after basic training (first three months of service). After an additional three months of service (usually consisting of special training required for their branch of service) any soldier is promoted to "Obergefreiter" unless they fail even most basic requirements. Conscripts leaving the army after nine months of service may be promoted to "Hauptgefreiter der Reserve" (lance-corporal in reserve) effective the day of their discharge to award outstanding performance. Longer serving enlisted soldiers will receive their "Hauptgefreiter" promotion after nine months to award outstanding performance or after twelve months of service.

To be promoted "Stabsgefreiter" a soldier requires at least four years of enlisted service and has to be a soldier since three years. Soldiers may opt to sign long-term contracts as enlisted soldiers, but most enlisted soldiers serving long terms in fact applied for NCO careers but failed their training requirements and opted rather to serve their term as enlisted soldiers than being released from service immediately.

To be promoted to "Oberstabsgefreiter" a soldier requires at least six years of enlisted service and has to be a soldier for five years.

The most important distinction between NCOs and enlisted men is that the latter cannot give any order even to lower-ranking soldiers unless specific circumstances apply (e.g. while on guard duty or to soldiers ordered to do so by their regular chain of command).

The rank "Soldat" is replaced by ranks specific to their "Waffengattung" (branch of service):
* Funker (Fu) "Signaller"
* Jäger (Jg) "Infantry"
* Kanonier (Kan) "artillery gunner"
* Pionier (Pi) "Sapper"
* Panzerfunker (PzFu) "Armoured-Signaller"
* Panzergrenadier (PzGren) Armoured Infantry
* Panzerjäger (PzJg) Tank Destroyer
* Panzerkanonier (PzKan) "Armoured-Gunner"
* Panzerpionier (PzPi) Armoured Engineer
* Panzerschütze (PzSchtz) Tanker
* Sanitätssoldat (SanSdt) "Medic"
* Schütze "Rifleman"