Standard-bearer (Eastern Europe)

Standard-bearer (Polish: Chorąży [xɔˈrɔ̃ʐɨ]; Russian and Ukrainian: хорунжий, khorunzhiy; Lithuanian: chorunžis; Belarusian: харунжы, romanized: kharunzhy) is a military rank in Poland, Ukraine and some neighboring countries.

A chorąży was once a knight who bore an ensign, the emblem of an armed troops, a voivodship, a land, a duchy, or a kingdom.

At the time of the introduction of this corps, professional soldiers who are its members should hold a secondary education matriculation.

The decision of the politicians who are motivated in their conduct by a lack of warrant officers in the armies of both NATO and others, the warrant officers corps was liquidated, dropping them to the NCO corps.

Result was a marked change in the ratio between officers and NCOs standard-bearers.