Bombardier (rank) - Citizendia

For other uses, see Bombardier (disambiguation).

Bombardier is a rank used in artillery units in the armies of Commonwealth countries instead of Corporal. Artillery (from French artillerie) is a military Combat Arm which employs any apparātus machine An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and also by some police forces or other uniformed organizations Lance-Bombardier is used instead of Lance-Corporal.

Bombardier (Bdr) and Lance-Bombardier (LBdr or L/Bdr) are used by the British Army in the Royal Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. The Royal Artillery, is the common name for the Royal Regiment of Artillery, is an Arm of the British Army. The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA is a regiment in the British Army. The same applies to the Royal Australian Artillery and the Royal New Zealand Artillery. The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, normally referred to as the Royal Australian Artillery (RAA is descended from the original colonial artillery units prior The Royal New Zealand Artillery forms the Artillery section of the New Zealand Army. In the Canadian Forces, the Artillery Branch uses the ranks of Master Bombardier and Bombardier instead of Master Corporal and Corporal. The Canadian Forces (CF ( French: Forces canadiennes) are the unified Armed forces of Canada, governed by the National Defence The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery ( Fr: le Régiment royal de l'Artillerie canadienne is the Artillery Personnel branch of the Canadian Master Corporal ( MCpl) ( French: caporal-chef or cplc) in the Canadian Forces

Originally, the Royal Artillery had Corporals (but not Lance-Corporals) and a Bombardier was junior to a Corporal and wore a single chevron. A chevron (also spelled cheveron, especially in older documents is a V-shaped pattern Unlike a Lance-Corporal, a Bombardier held full non-commissioned rank and not an acting appointment. The rank was equivalent to Second Corporal in the Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps. Second Corporal was a rank in the Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps of the British Army. The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers ( RE) and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps ( RAOC) was a former Corps of the British Army.

In 1920, Corporals were abolished in the Royal Artillery and Bombardiers became the equivalent and acquired the normal two chevrons.

The rank of Lance Bombardier originated as Acting Bombardier, an appointment similar to Lance-Corporal which was also indicated by a single chevron. The appointment was renamed Lance-Bombardier in February 1918 and became a full rank, as did Lance-Corporal, in 1961.

"Bomb" is widely used as an abbreviated form of address for both full Bombardiers and Lance-Bombardiers. They may also be referred to as a "Full Screw" (Bombardier) or a "Lance Jack" (Lance-Bombardier), in common with Corporals and Lance-Corporals. As with other common military abbreviations, such as "Sarge", these terms are not used on formal occasions.

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