Military Wiki
Military Wiki
Överstelöjtnant
Everstiluutnantti
SWE-major
Swedish Army
SWE-Airforce-major
Swedish Air force
FIN-majuri
Finnish Army
DownArrow

Kapten
Kapteeni

Major (Majuri in Finnish) is a military officers rank in Sweden and Finland, ranking above Kapten and below Överstelöjtnant. Swedish Kapten(s) are promoted to the rank after the completion of a 40 weeks course at the National Defense College.

Finnish Defence Forces rank of Majuri is comparable to Ranks of NATO armies officers as OF-3

History and related ranks[]

1600 - 1700[]

The original title was Sergeant Major, which means the most senior servant to the Överste. The "sergeant" part was later dropped. A major was typically responsible for the security of the regiment by assigning personnel from the regiment as guards. In addition, he was in charge of one of the eight companies in the regiment. When the regiment was organized in a divisioncolumn formation during battle, he was in charge of all pikers.

1743 - 1756[]

Establishment of the rank Second Major. Rank equal to Major, but salaried as Kapten.

1800[]

Establishment of the rank third Major.

Swedish Reform 1972[]

  • Holders of the rank Kapten and Löjtnant (with more than 11 years of service) were promoted to Major.
  • Holders of the rank Major were promoted to Överstelöjtnant.

Reform 1972 - Rank inflation phase I[]

Prior to 1972, military personnel were divided into three categories Underbefäl (non-commissioned officers), Underofficerare (warrant officers) and Officerare (commissioned officers). The reform established a four-career-path system with four categories as described below and carried out major promotions of most personnel below the rank Överstelöjtnant.

The Underbefäl category was split into two categories

  • gruppbefäl to include
korpral - former vicekorpral
furir - former korpral
överfurir - former furir
  • plutonsofficerare to include
sergeant - former överfurir
fanjunkare - former elderly överfurir and rustmästare

The Underofficer category was renamed kompaniofficerare to include

fänrik - former sergeant and fanjunkare with less than 3 years of service
löjtnant - former sergeant and fanjunkare with 3-7 years of service
kapten - former sergeant, fanjunkare with a minimum of 7 years of serviceand and förvaltare

The Officer category was renamed regementsofficerare to include

löjtnant - Löjtnant with less than 3 years of service and former fänrik
kapten - kapten with less than 11 years of service and former Löjtnant with 3-11 years of service
major - former kapten and löjtnant with a minimum of 11 years of service
överstelöjtnant - överstelöjtnant and former major
higher ranks

Reform 1983 - Rank inflation phase II[]

All categories were merged into one professional officer category with the lowest rank set to fänrik. Furir, överfurir, sergeant and fanjunkare were removed as a professional ranks. Holders of the rank fanjunkare were promoted to löjtnant and the rest to fänrik.

Finland[]

During peacetime, a majuri is a staff officer or battalion commander. The rank requires the completion of a senior staff officer course.[1]

It is also possible for reservists to obtain the reserve rank of majuri. This is however, quite rare and requires active participation in national defence.

See also[]

[2] [3] [4] [5]

References[]

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Major (Sweden) and the edit history here.