Colonel

In the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, colonel is a senior officer, with the pay grade of O-6. Colonel ranks above lieutenant colonel and below brigadier general. Colonel is equivalent to a captain in the other uniformed services. The insignia for a colonel is a silver eagle with a U.S. shield superimposed on its chest and holding an olive branch and bundle of arrows in its talons. The arrows represent war while the olive branch represents peace. It is interesting to note that the eagle is always facing towards the olive branch, i.e., it symbolizes the armed forces advocating peace rather than war. The eagle led to the informal term "full-bird colonel". The United States rank of Colonel is a direct successor to the same rank in the British Army. The first Colonels in America were appointed from Colonial militia maintained as reserves to the British Army in the American colonies. Upon the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War,... full article at wikipedia