Quartermaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quartermaster refers to two different military occupations. In land armies, it is a term referring to a military individual, or unit, who specializes in supplying and provisioning troops. In naval usage it means a navigator on a ship. The equivalent naval occupation to the land army Quartermaster is purser.
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[edit] Army
For land armies, the term was first coined in Germany as Quartiermeister and initially denoted a court official with the duty of preparing the monarch's sleeping quarters. In the 17th century, it started to be used in various militaries in the sense of organising supplies.
[edit] British Army
In the British Army, the Quartermaster (QM) is the officer in a battalion or regiment responsible for supply. By longstanding tradition, he or she is always commissioned from the ranks (and is usually a former Regimental Sergeant Major) and holds the rank of captain or major. Some units also have a Technical Quartermaster, who is in charge of technical stores. The Quartermaster is assisted by the Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS) and a staff of storemen. The QM, RQMS and storemen are drawn from the regiment or corps in which they work, not from the Royal Logistic Corps, which is responsible for issuing and transporting supplies to them. Units which specialise in supply are known as "supply" units, not "quartermaster" units, and their personnel as "suppliers".
Until 1813, the Quartermaster was the senior NCO in a British cavalry troop. In that year, the position was replaced by the new appointment of Troop Sergeant Major, the cavalry adopting commissioned, regimental Quartermasters as described above.
[edit] Canadian Army
From Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps Standing Orders:
- For many centuries – indeed perhaps as long as there have been organized military units – the appointment of quartermaster has been significant in armies. Until recent times the British Army almost invariably rewarded an outstanding RSM by appointing him quartermaster of his battalion, thus ensuring the unit an experienced officer who knew the unit thoroughly and would prove difficult to mislead or beguile. [The past tense is in fact incorrect, as the British Army still has this policy]
- As the complexities of the Army and its material increased, an officer with greater professional technical knowledge of the problems that surround stores management was required for the Quartermaster’s duties. Under authority of Canadian Army Order 201 – 16 dated 8 February 1954, the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps assumed these responsibilities and undertook to train and provide unit quartermasters and staff for all Corps of the Canadian Army (Regular) except the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and Royal Canadian Dental Corps.
In recent years, the Quartermaster has been a specially trained officer of the Logistics Branch, though CFR (Commissioned From Ranks) officers have been known to accept regimental appointments such as quartermaster.
[edit] United States Army
In the United States Army, the term is used to describe all supply personnel and units that are part of the Quartermaster Corps.
[edit] Naval forces
In naval usage, the term is derived from the phrase master of the quarterdeck as the helm was located in the quarterdeck.
[edit] French Navy
In the French Navy, Quartermaster (Quartier-maître) is a junior rank equivalent to a French Army Corporal. The French rank has nothing to do with supplies. This rank is also used by many other navies based on the French Navy. Quartermaster was similarly a junior naval rank in the German navy.
[edit] United States Navy
In the United States Navy, the term is used quite differently. The title derives from "master of the quarterdeck", the quarterdeck being the deck where the helm was situated and navigation was generally performed. The quartermaster is thus the enlisted member in charge of the watch-to-watch navigation and the maintenance, correction, and preparation of nautical charts and navigation publications. He is also responsible for navigational instruments and clocks and the training of ship's lookouts and helmsmen. He performs these duties under the control of the ship's navigator or other officer if there was no officer navigator. In the modern navy, a quartermaster is a petty officer who specializes in navigation. The rating abbreviation is QM. After 2004 the US Navy disestablished the Signalman rating (SM) who were responsible for visual communications and incorporated many of the personnel and their responsibilities in the QM rating. The US Navy rating dealing with supply and logistics is Storekeeper (SK) which would be equivalent to the Army quartermaster.
[edit] United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard, whose structure of ranks and job specialties is patterned somewhat on the that of the United States Navy, used a Quartermaster rating (also abbreviated "QM") until the early 2000s, when QM and several other ratings were combined to form the new rating of Operations Specialist (OS). The Coast Guard's Quartermasters had the same duties as the Navy's, with the exception that -- at some point after World War II -- the Coast Guard folded the duties of its Signalman rating into the Quartermaster rating. Also, in recent decades, Quartermaster was one of the only two Coast Guard ratings permitted to hold command of a cutter or small boat station (command otherwise being reserved for officers), the other "command rating" being Boatswain's Mate, a rating which has also been folded into the Operations Specialist rating.[1]
[edit] Scout movement
A Scout quartermaster within the Scout movement is responsible for maintaining all the normal camping supplies in a Scout troop. This may include, but is not limited to, camping supplies, tents, "chuck boxes" (containers holding food and cooking supplies), stoves, camp fuel (propane, Coleman Fuel, etc.), tarps, camping trailers, dining flys, etc.
Quartermaster is also the highest rank in the American Sea Scouts, an older youth (14-21) co-ed part of the BSA. Quartermaster is roughly equivalent to Eagle Scout.
