Hi Sheepers, Can anyone help me with this; I now have a name to search for (I think it is the right one) so I can now request military records from NARA for my father. One of the questions on their request form I don't understand because I have no military knowledge. The question is whether he was an officer or enlisted? I don't know what he was because I don't understand the terms 'officer' and 'enlisted'. I tried to find help at NARA site but didn't find any. Any ideas anyone? I suppose you are all sleeping sheepies right now so I'll have to wait till you all wake up. Thanks, Lucind.

-- Officers are those who have a COMMISSION in the Military, Usualy they are college educated, andhave attended the Officer candidate school, fr their branch, or one of the four Service academys, (counting Coast Guard). The term enlisted is more correctly referenced as the 'ranked" personnel . In the Airmy they would be Privates, Corporals, specialists, and Sergeants. Once a rank, usually e-4 or e-5 is attained the lower enlisted grades are supplemented by Non-Commissioned Officers, or non-coms. These would be Sergeants (Varies by branch) Liuetenants and above ( Captaian, Major, Liuetenant Colonel, Colonel, and Generals)(Navy has different titles for the same ranks). are OFFICERS. There is a tird class, with nuch fewer of them around, and that is WARRANT OFFICERS, Warrrant officers are appointed from teh lower ranks, or directly appointed to fill some positons, OFFICERS are referred to as "Sir" or "Ma'am", and Warrent Officers are referred to as the same or as "Mister" depending on branch. What rank was your father? Jeffery Scism, http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/ International Blacksheep Society of Genealogists Links to my Homepages: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~scismfam/ Genealogy is the art of the living haunting the dead.... Heritage is the anchor in the sea of life, holding us steady, giving us a standard to live up to or beyond, a compass for our course, and a place to call home.