''Oberstabsfeldwebel'' (OStFw or OSF, {{literally, Senior staff field
usher){{Citation needed, date=December 2024 is the highest
Non-commissioned officer
A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...
(NCO) rank in
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
and
German Air Force. It is grouped as OR-9 in
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
, equivalent to a
sergeant major
Sergeant major is a senior Non-commissioned officer, non-commissioned Military rank, rank or appointment in many militaries around the world.
History
In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's ...
in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
and a
Warrant Officer Class 1 in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
. Attainment of this rank requires at least sixteen years since promotion to
feldwebel and at least six years since promotion to
hauptfeldwebel[{{cite web , url=https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/slv_2002/__18.html , title=SLV - Einzelnorm , website=www.gesetze-im-internet.de , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406205927/http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/slv_2002/__18.html , archive-date=2016-04-06 ]
In army/ air force context NCOs of this rank were formally addressed as ''Herr Oberstabsfeldwebel'' also informally / short ''Oberstaber''.
The rank was introduced in the German ''Heer'' equivalent to the
Marine grade ''Oberstabsbootsmann'' in 1955, and belongs to the grad group
Unteroffiziere mit Portepee
, also Portepeeunteroffizier(e) (), is the designation for German senior non-commissioned officers in the armed forces of Germany. The title derives from the French ''porte-épée'' ("sword bearer"), as senior enlisted men would historically ca ...
.
History
The rank is a comparatively new rank, and had not been used by any German military prior to in 1955. The
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...
, did however have a {{ill, Stabsoberfeldwebel, de, used from 1939 to 1945.
Rank sequence
The sequence of ranks (top-down approach) in that particular group (''
Senior NCOs with portepee'') is as follows:
*OR-9: ''Oberstabsfeldwebel'' / ''
Oberstabsbootsmann''
*OR-8: ''
Stabsfeldwebel'' / ''
Stabsbootsmann
'' Stabsbootsmann '' (StBtsm or SB) is the second highest Non-commissioned officer (NCO) rank in the German Navy. It is grouped as OR8 in Ranks and insignia of NATO navies enlisted, NATO, equivalent to First Sergeant, Master Sergeant, or Senior ...
''
*OR-7: ''
Hauptfeldwebel'' / ''
Hauptbootsmann''
*OR-6a: ''
Oberfeldwebel'' / ''
Oberbootsmann''
*OR-6b: ''
Feldwebel'' / ''
Bootsmann''
References
{{reflist
Sources
*BROCKHAUS, Die Enzyklopädie in 24 Bänden (1796–2001), Band 5: 3-7653-3665-3, S. 487, Definition: ''Oberstabsfeldwebel''
*BROCKHAUS, Die Enzyklopädie in 24 Bänden (1796–2001), Band 7: 3-7653-3676-9, S. 185, ''Oberstabsfeldwebel''
{{German military ranks
Military ranks of Germany