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Official CAP Grade Abbreviations
As posted on the CAP-PAO listserve in 1999.
We often see Army grade abbreviations (1LT, CPT, LTC, etc.) and home-grown abbreviations (2nd Lt, LtC, etc.) used in CAP correspondence and on CAP-related web sites. The following should help us to standardize our abbreviations.
Cadets
from "Cadet Programs Today" Volume 4 Issue 11, Nov 1998
The Cadet Programs office receives mail with varying degrees of nonconformity to the published USAF standards for abbreviating the different grades. Our directorate is also guilty of sending out materials without using the official abbreviations found in AFH 37-137, The Tongue and Quill. These official grade abbreviations are included below in the hope that they will be used consistently across all cadet programs correspondence.
 | Cadet Airman Basic (C/AB) |
| Cadet Airman (C/Amn) |
| Cadet Airman First Class (C/A1C) |
| Cadet Senior Airman (C/SrA) |
| Cadet Staff Sergeant (C/SSgt) |
| Cadet Technical Sergeant (C/TSgt) |
| Cadet Master Sergeant (C/MSgt) |
| Cadet Senior Master Sergeant (C/SMSgt) |
| Cadet Chief Master Sergeant (C/CMSgt) |
| Cadet Second Lieutenant (C/2d Lt) |
| Cadet First Lieutenant (C/1st Lt) |
| Cadet Captain (C/Capt) |
| Cadet Major (C/Maj) |
| Cadet Lieutenant Colonel (C/Lt Col) |
| Cadet Colonel (C/Col) |
Seniors
from The Tongue and Quill, page 260 (page 266 if viewed on the web at
http://level2.cap.gov/visitors/member_services/publications/other_publications.cfm
)
| Senior Member (there is no official abbreviation; common ones include SM, S/M, and Sr Mbr) | ||||||||||
| NCO grades (available to current and former NCOs only)
| ||||||||||
| Second Lieutenant (2d Lt) [see note] | ||||||||||
| First Lieutenant (1st Lt) [see note] | ||||||||||
| Captain (Capt) | ||||||||||
| Major (Maj) | ||||||||||
| Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) | ||||||||||
| Colonel (Col) | ||||||||||
| Brigadier General (Brig Gen) | ||||||||||
| Major General (Maj Gen) |
Note: For First and Second Lieutenant, the old version of CAPR 35-5 (dated 1 May 96) contained erroneous information. It showed "1Lt" and "2Lt". When CAPR 35-5 was revised in fall 2001, it was corrected to show 2d Lt and 1st Lt, in agreement with all other references (CAPR 52-16, the CP policy memo, and The Tongue And Quill).
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