Ranks
The NZCF uses a military rank structure based off those found in the Royal New Zealand Navy, New Zealand Army, and Royal New Zealand Air Force.
A rank structure allows for sailors (or cadets) to be distinguished based on their experience, position and responsibility. Promotions for cadets are based on merit, however it may be necessary to consider other attributes such as experience, NCO course qualifications, attendance at unit activities or general attitudes.
Objective: Recall the equivalent ranks of the NZCF
Need: Working with other cadet units requires an understanding of their equivalent rank structure in order to easily identify NCOs and Officers
Scope:
Navy Cadet Ranks
Army Cadet Ranks
Air Cadet Ranks
Last revision: 28 Feb 21
Who do I salute?
Military ranks can be broken into two broad groups - Commissioned Officers (Officers) and Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs or ratings). Only Commissioned Officers are saluted, not NCOs. The custom of saluting an officer is to prove that a soldier was not carrying any hidden weapons that could be used to harm the officer. Traditionally weapons were always held in the right hand - hence why we salute with our right hand.
The Navy and Sea Cadets salute with their palm facing down instead of outwards. This is to hide their palms which would become dirty from working on a ship - saluting a superior with dirty hands was considered by some to be disrespectful!
The Sea Cadet Corps have black rankslides with gold embroidery. All officer ranks have the post-nominal 'NZCF', while all cadet ranks are suffixed 'Cadet' to help distinguish sea cadets from the Navy.
The New Zealand Army use green-on-green rank slides while the Army Cadets use red-on-green rank slides, which allows for easy distinction of soldiers and cadets. All officer ranks contain the post-nominal 'NZCF', while all cadet ranks are prefixed 'Cadet' for the same reason.
The Air Training Corps cadets and NCOs have navy blue rankslides with pale blue embroidery for both their shirts and jerseys. ATC officers wear pale blue rankslides with navy embroidery on their shirts whereas their jerseys have the navy blue rankslides. All officer ranks contain the post-nominal 'NZCF', while all cadet ranks are prefixed 'Cadet' for the same reason.