The full title of sergeant major fell out of use until the latter part of the 18th century, when it began to be applied to the senior non-commissioned officer of an infantry battalion or cavalry regiment.

The appointment is normally held by the senior warrant officer of an army or marine unit.

The RSM-A is the equivalent of the Royal Australian Navy's Warrant Officer of the Navy (WO-N) and the Royal Australian Air Force's Warrant Officer of the Air Force (WOFF-AF).

[4] The appointment of sergeant major is given to the senior non-commissioned member within sub-units, units and some formations of the Canadian Army.

), "Mr", or "Ms" by officers and "Sir" or "Ma'am" by subordinates with the same conventions used for regimental sergeant majors.

In some unusual cases, a chief petty officer 1st class or chief petty officer 2nd class in the Royal Canadian Navy may succeed to a sergeant major's position, especially in units with a large number of "purple trades", such as service battalions.

A regimental sergeant major may be placed in charge of a battalion, brigade, division or service level.

Up until 1 June 2008, the highest appointment (level 1), that was held by a warrant officer class 1 was the Sergeant-Major of the South African National Defence Force.

[7] Starting 1 June 2008, the warrant ranks (Army/ Navy/ Air Force) are: A company/squadron/battery sergeant major should ordinarily be a WO2.

A machinist sergeant-major (MSM) is a specialist most often found in the Corps of Royal Engineers or the Royal Army Service Corps, and was the title of one of the major characters in the book and the film based on it, Ice Cold in Alex.

In 1813, cavalry regiments introduced the troop sergeant major to replace the quartermaster as the senior NCO of a troop; this required the existing position to be explicitly redesignated the regimental sergeant major.

The Royal Marines continued to use a single rank of sergeant major, equating to warrant officer class I, until after the Second World War, when they adopted the Army system.

He was the highest ranked non-commissioned officer (French: sous-officier) in the infantry company; the equivalent in the cavalry was the maréchal-des-logis-chef.

Following the reforms of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, it became harder to ascend to the officer corps, due to primarily age restrictions.

With the addition of an adjudant (warrant officer) in each company, the sergeant-major became limited to purely administrative functions.

The rank was re-established from 1942 until 1962 between sergent-chef and adjudant as the NCO in charge of the accounting responsibility of the company.

In the U.S. Army, sergeant major (SGM) refers to both a military rank and a personnel slot, or position title.

The leadership position carries with it certain ceremonial functions such as caring for the unit's colors (flag).

SGMs and CSMs serving in nominative positions (a position rated by a general officer or a civilian on the senior executive service payscale) will wear the nominative senior enlisted leader insignia.

All other Sergeants Major serving commanders at or below Colonel wear their designated branch insignia.

While sergeant major is a rank, the official billet of marines in this position is command senior enlisted leader.

The first official U.S. use of the term was in 1776, when a sergeant major was appointed to the headquarters of each infantry battalion (or regiment, the two designations being used interchangeably) of the Continental Army.

The original insignia of rank was an epaulette, or strip, of red cloth sewn on each shoulder of the uniform coat.

Generally, these styles included either staff non-commissioned officer (SNCO) epaulettes, chevrons, or a combination of both.

In 1825, the sergeant major chevron insignia was changed to be identical to that of the adjutant, by adding an inverted arc below the chevron (very similar in design to the modern private first class insignia), although in a different color (yellow vice gold or silver) and material (worsted vice lace) than that of the officer rank.

Both armies varied the color of the stripes by assigning red for artillery, yellow for cavalry, and blue for infantry.

However, it survived as the job title of the senior NCO of a battalion and was re-introduced as a rank in 1958 when Congress authorized the E–8 and E–9 pay grades (P.L.

In that law (as amended), the authorized daily average number of enlisted members on active duty in an armed force in pay grade E–9 in a fiscal year may not be more than 1.25 percent, respectively, of the number of enlisted members of that armed force, subject to certain exceptions.