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Glite Dictionary
gunnery sergeant

gunnery sergeant

3 7.4
A senior Marine who trains and cares for junior Marines in the US Marine Corps
  • noun
  • /ˈɡʌnəri ˈsɜrdʒənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sargento de artillería
  • As a gunnery sergeant, he played a crucial role in training the soldiers.
  • Marine gunnery sergeant
  • retired gunnery sergeant
  • rank of gunnery sergeant

And it was going to be a, a mounted truck hit team with one of my gunnery sergeants that I was very close with.

Examples

  • The five platoon leaders included four men who had fought as enlisted men in the Second World War—two as Marine gunnery sergeants—and one recent college graduate.

    Academic text (1995)

  • By all means, master gunnery sergeant.

    Sniper 2 (2002)

  • Yes, we do, master gunnery sergeant.

    Sniper 2 (2002)

  • Gunnery sergeant Beckett, do you wanna be taken out of the field permanently?

    Sniper: Ghost Shooter (2016)

  • Gunnery sergeant Brandon Beckett, sir.

    Sniper: Ghost Shooter (2016)

  • He spent five years in the Pacific, first in the Battle of New Georgia and finally in the Battle for Balete Pass, serving with the Tropical Lightning Division as a gunnery sergeant.

    Blog text (11)

  • Gunnery Sergeant Martin L. RACKIN salutes as he passes, followed by Sgt. Breen, Corporal Horman, and Sgt. Delmar.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The gunnery sergeant briefed the new recruits on their upcoming mission.

  • During the ceremony, the gunnery sergeant received an award for his service.

Surface Forms

gunnery sergeant singular
gunnery sergeants plural

Morphology

gunnery + sergeant

The compound is largely compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'gunnery' (weapons/firing) and 'sergeant' (an NCO) can infer this denotes a sergeant responsible for gunnery or weapons. However, the exact institutional rank placement and specific duties within the US Marine Corps are specialized knowledge not predictable from the words alone, so the expression is not fully transparent.

Etymology

Gunnery sergeant comes from old military life when a sergeant was the person who looked after a unit's guns; gunnery means 'guns' and sergeant is a rank. That's why today a gunnery sergeant is a senior Marine who looks after weapons, trains junior Marines, and leads them.