I’ve never been able to keep ranks straight. Like most things, the best way for me to understand them is through movies. So here, for the first time, presented without commercial interruption, a list of military ranks from the bottom up as portrayed by their counterparts on film. We’ll start with enlisted ranks in the U.S. Army.

Private E-1 (Recruit)

You start out here without an insignia and get one automatically after six months in service assuming no shenanigans. Probably the most famous one of these gets her own film named after her.

Private Judy Benjamin (on left) in Private Benjamin.

Private E-2

Congrats! You’ve got an insignia.

We can assume that Private Joker eventually got an insignia. Full Metal Jacket.

Private First Class (PFC)

12 months in service and four months as a private gets you here.

That’s Spike Jonze on the far right there as Private First Class Conrad Vig, the fourth king in Three Kings.

Specialist (SPC)

If you already have a four-year degree, you start out here. A medic, for example, is a kind of specialist (they have their own corps, actually).

Technician 4th Class Irwin Wade (back then they called specialists “technicians”) from Saving Private Ryan. Actually you can see what everyone’s rank in that movie was here.

Corporal

You’ve achieved the level of NCO (non-commissioned officer), but are paid the same as a specialist.

Everybody forgets that John Krasinski was in Jarhead. Now you will always know he was Corporal Harrigan.

Sergeant

There are many sergeants. Here is where you start.

Sergeant from Toy Story. That was his name. And possibly his rank.

Staff Sergeant

Next step up. Can be in charge of a platoon. Which brings us to…

Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes from Platoon. Not a nice man. But he can totally pull off that do-rag, right?

Sergeant First Class

The lowest ranked senior NCO. Neat, huh?

Okay, so a real film purist would have used the picture of Sergeant First Class Raymond Shaw from the original Manchurian Candidate, but in that one, they can’t seem to decide if he’s a staff sergeant or a sergeant first class, so… It’s not like this one totally sucked or anything.

Master Sergeant

The other MSG.

If anyone ever asks you what kind of sergeant Sergeant Bilko was in that movie, you can say “They made a Sergeant Bilko movie?” (He was a master sergeant on TV, too.)

First Sergeant

AKA “Top Kick” or “Top Hat.”

First Sergeant Donnelly is famous for having a thick Boston accent and getting wicked fucked up by Scorponok in Transformers.

Sergeant Major

“What does three up and three down mean to you, airman?”

That’s J.T. Walsh as Sergeant Major Dickerson giving Robin Williams the stink eye in Good Morning Vietnam.

Command Sergeant Major

You can only go one step higher in the enlisted ranks.

That’s Sam Elliot on the right there as real-life Command Sergeant Major Basil Plumley in We Were Soldiers.

Sergeant Major of the Army

As much of a spokesperson on behalf of the enlisted as anything else. The top enlisted adviser to the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.

I couldn’t actually find a movie where the SMA is actually portrayed, so we’re going to assume that Sergeant Pepper was, in fact, the Sergeant Major of the Army.