Fanjunkare

Fanjunkare (previously "Styckjunkare" in the Artillery), is a Swedish military rank above Förste Sergeant and below Förvaltare.

The word 'Fanjunkare' is derived from German 'Fahnenjunker', and denotes a standard-bearer, hence 'Colour Sergeant'. 'Styckjunkare' comes from German 'Stückjunker', and denotes a gentleman of ordnance, hence 'Master Gunner'.

1806
Established as a brevet rank for non-commissioned officers.

1833
Became the highest non-commissioned rank in the Swedish allotment army.

1837
Became the highest non-commissioned rank in the Swedish enlisted army.

1925
Fanjunkare was given relative rank above Fänrik (Second Lieutenant) and below Löjtnant (Lieutenant) but remained in the NCO Corps.

1960
The rise of the status of the professional rank: Holders of the rank served as platoon and company leaders in the war-time organization and as deputy 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 caused a great deal of confusion.

Change of personnel structure 1972
Prior to 1972, military personnel were divided into three categories Underbefäl (non-commissioned officers), Underofficerare (warrant officers) and Officerare (commissioned officers).

The Underbefäl category was split into two categories
 * gruppbefäl, for national servicemen:
 * korpral - former vicekorpral
 * furir - former korpral
 * överfurir - former furir
 * plutonsofficerare, for professional NCO's:
 * sergeant - former överfurir
 * fanjunkare - former elderly överfurir and rustmästare

The Underofficer category was renamed kompaniofficerare:
 * 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:
 * 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

Change of personnel structure 1983
All three corps were merged into one professional officer corps with the lowest rank set to fänrik. Furir, överfurir, sergeant and fanjunkare were removed as a professional ranks. Fanjunkare were given the rank of löjtnant, and sergeant fänrik.

New two-career-path system 2009
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 Britain 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.