In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corresponds to commanding a section or squad of soldiers.

National Gendarmerie and Coast Guard junior NCOs ranks are similar to those in the Army and Navy, respectively.

Corporal is the second lowest of the non-commissioned officer ranks in the Australian Army, falling between lance-corporal and sergeant.

A corporal is usually appointed as a section commander, and is in charge of 7–14 soldiers of private rank.

The Byelorussian Home Defence (23 February 1944 – 28 April 1945) used the kapral (Belarusian: капрал), in the meaning of Corporal as enlisted grade, equivalent to Obergefreiter, Hauptgefreiter or Stabsgefreiter of the German Wehrmacht (1933–1945).

The rank insignia of a corporal is a two-bar chevron, point down, worn in gold thread on both upper sleeves of the service dress jacket; in rifle green (army) or dark blue (air force) thread on CADPAT slip-ons for operational dress; in old gold thread on blue slip-ons on other air force uniforms; and in gold metal and green enamel miniature pins on the collars of the army dress shirt and outerwear coats.

On army ceremonial uniforms, it is usually rendered in gold braid (black for rifle regiments), on either both sleeves, or just the right, depending on unit custom.

Another effect of Unification was to delete the appointments of lance-corporal and lance-sergeant (a corporal holding the acting rank of sergeant).

Corporal or Korporal was the most junior NCO grade in many German partial states of Deutscher Bund, before the term was replaced by the word Unteroffizier in the middle of the 19th century.

In September 2021, the Bundeswehr reimplemented the grade of Korporal, but this time as a senior enlisted rank below NCO level.

In the Indian Air Force, a corporal is a rank given to an airman who is senior to leading aircraftman but junior to a sergeant.

The New Zealand Defence Force awards the corporal rank to soldiers or airmen after 6 or 7 years of service.

Basically, this power means that any airman or private disobeying or ignoring an order from a corporal will be subject to military arrest by that individual.

Most commonly the rank is held by a NCO commanding an infantry squad, tank or gun crew, or a similar unit.

Historically, the rank was first introduced in Poland in the 17th century, together with mercenary troops of Italian origin.

In foreign troops on the royal payroll, a kapral commanded four ranks of musketeers or part of a company of pikemen.

In the 20th century, between the world wars, the rank of corporal was held by both conscripted NCOs and professional soldiers alike.

The insignia of kapral (worn on shoulder straps or badge above breast pocket) are two bars.

Soviet and modern Russian armies have the rank of "yefreytor" (derived from the German Gefreiter) as the highest rank of enlisted personnel, below lance (or junior) sergeant (Russian: младший сержант) which are assigned as squad leaders.

Prior to 1992, the SAF followed the British model where corporals were non-commissioned officers often holding the appointment of section leader.

Since 2015, the Corporal (Ukrainian: капрал, romanized: kapral), was introduced in the National Police of Ukraine, that is a special rank of junior quarterdeck.

Corporal is the lowest NCO rank in the Royal Air Force (aside from the RAF Regiment who have lance-corporals), coming between junior technician or Senior aircraftman technician and sergeant in the technical trades, or senior aircraftman and sergeant in the non-technical trades.

Each company in the Continental Army was divided into four squads, with the enlisted contingent of each comprising a sergeant, a corporal, and nineteen privates.

[18] After the Civil War, U.S. Army infantry strategy increasingly focused on units below the company level.

"[21] After the Korean War, squad leaders were further promoted to sergeant first class (E-7), and the "once-honored rank of corporal sank into oblivion.

[22] No change in pay is involved, but corporals are expected to lead, teach, and mentor their teams.

Marine infantry corporals generally serve as "fire-team leaders", leading a four-man team or weapons crew of similar size (e.g., assault weapons squad, medium machine gun team, or LWCMS mortar squad).

Due to its emphasis on small-unit tactics, its infantry-centric ethos, and its tradition of empowering junior NCOs to exercise first-level leadership, the U.S. Marine Corps' Tables of Organization (TOs) usually places corporals (as well as sergeants and staff sergeants) in billets where other services would normally have higher ranking NCOs in authority.

[citation needed] The history of the rank of corporal in the USMC roughly parallels that of the U.S. Army until 1942.

In 1942, as the Army modified its triangular division infantry organization to best fight in the European/North African/Middle Eastern Theatre the Marine Corps began modifying the triangular division plan to best employ its amphibious warfare doctrine in the Pacific Theatre.