Company sergeant major

They also oversee the distribution of other supplies, such as water or food, although that responsibility is mainly that of the company quartermaster sergeant (CQMS), and evacuating the wounded and collecting prisoners of war.

First sergeant and Kompaniefeldwebel (formerly Hauptfeldwebel in the Wehrmacht and Nationale Volksarmee) are the United States Army and German Heer equivalents respectively.

The CSM is often respectfully addressed by all as "Encik", Malay for "Mister", but the permission for junior enlisted men to do so should not be taken for granted.

He is in charge of the welfare and discipline of the specialists and enlisted men within, and usually has the company commander's ear.

As an experienced senior specialist, the CSM is expected to be an expert in the weapons and equipment employed by the company, and will assist in instruction where necessary.

If necessary, he can be tasked to lead a detachment composed of recoilless rifles and machine guns (known in Singapore military doctrine as a "company block force"), to protect the rifle company from flanking attacks by enemy light armoured vehicles along a contested axis.

The most famous fictional examples are perhaps Battery Sergeant Major Tudor Bryn 'Shut Up' Williams, portrayed by Windsor Davies in the 1970s' sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum; and Company Sergeant Major Percival Bullimore and Company Sergeant Major Claude Snudge, played by William Hartnell and Bill Fraser, respectively, in the 1958–63 Granada television comedy series The Army Game.

Two Royal Bermuda Regiment warrant officers, class two. A Territorial Army company has two WO2s. On the left is a permanent staff instructor . On the right with a pace-stick, is a company sergeant major.