Förvaltare

Förvaltare is a Swedish military rank above Fanjunkare and below Regementsförvaltare in the army and Flottiljförvaltare in the Air force and is translated to Sergeant Major. Holders of the rank may serve as senior specialist and/or as assistant platoon leader or platoon leader. The original military meaning of the word 'Förvaltare' was the same as 'Conductor', as in a Warrant Officer Conductor of Ordnance Stores or Quartermaster Stores.

1960
The rise of the status of the professional rank: Holders of the rank served as platoon leaders and company commanders in the war-time organization and as assistant platoon leaders or leaders of conscript training platoons during peace time, thus having the same positions as company grade officers. However other non-professional holders of the rank kept their much lower positions as company sergeant majors, etc. This major discrepancy cased a great deal of confusion.

Reform 1972 - Rank inflation phase I
Prior to 1972, military personnel were divided into three categories Underbefäl (non-commissioned officers), Underofficerare (warrant officers) and Officerare (commissioned officers). The reform established a four-career-path system with four categories as described below and carried out major promotions of most personnel below the rank Överstelöjtnant.

The Underbefäl category was split into two categories
 * gruppbefäl to include
 * korpral - former vicekorpral
 * furir - former korpral
 * överfurir - former furir
 * plutonsofficerare to include
 * sergeant - former överfurir
 * fanjunkare - former elderly överfurir and rustmästare

The Underofficer category was renamed kompaniofficerare to include
 * fänrik - former sergeant and fanjunkare with less than 3 years of service
 * löjtnant - former sergeant and fanjunkare with 3-7 years of service
 * kapten - former sergeant, fanjunkare with a minimum of 7 years of serviceand and förvaltare

The Officer category was renamed regementsofficerare to include
 * löjtnant - Löjtnant with less than 3 years of service and former fänrik
 * kapten - kapten with less than 11 years of service and former Löjtnant with 3-11 years of service
 * major - former kapten and löjtnant with a minimum of 11 years of service
 * överstelöjtnant - överstelöjtnant and former major
 * higher ranks

Reform 1983 - Rank inflation phase II
All categories were merged into one professional officer category with the lowest rank set to fänrik. Furir, överfurir, sergeant and fanjunkare were removed as a professional ranks. Holders of the rank fanjunkare were promoted to löjtnant and the rest to fänrik.

New two-career-path system
After the implementation of two-career-paths systems for officers 2008, this rank may again become a professional rank within the newly created “specialist officer” category. The intention of the new system is to better align Swedish military forces with that of Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Britton as well as increasing the skills of leaders of team, squad, platoon level units. It is a partly rollback to the system that existed prior the implementation of the one career path system 1983.