Lieutenant

A Lieutenant is a military, paramilitary or police officer.

Duties and rankings

Originally, this was generally applied to what we today call just plain Lieutenant, who was taking the place of the Captain, who was the officer who actually raised the company of soldiers. The Lieutenant's job was to lead the soldiers into battle so that the Captain would not have to.

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Conventionally, armies and other services or branches which use army-style rank titles (e.g., Marines, Miltary Health Service, etc.) have two grades of Lieutenant:

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• Commonwealth countries: Lieutenant; United States: First Lieutenant; Germany: Oberleutnant; Russia: Starshiy Leytenant; Israel: ??? (Segen); Persia: ستوان یكم (Sotwan yekom).
• Second Lieutenant (Germany: Leutnant; Israel: ??? ???? (Segen mishne); Persia: ستوان دوم (Sotwan dowom)).

Sometimes the rank of Third Lieutenant is used, typically as a cadet or temporary rank indicating that the holder is a commissioned officer in the chain of command—barely.

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