What is a Register Number?

The Register Number is often incorrectly referred to as the Lineal Number.

The confusion of terms is a natural one since the vast majority of Reserve officers served on active duty. Simply, an Active Duty List officer, regular or reserve, has a LINEAL number to establish relative seniority among officers regardless of designator. A Reserve officer, on the Reserve Active-status List has an equivalent number called a REGISTER number. Within the Reserve community the terms register number and precedence number are used interchangeably.

What are the uses of the 8 digit register number? The register number is used for:

• Establishing relative seniority among officers.
• Defining the senior and junior “in-zone” officers for promotion zones on the zone ALNAV.

Can you equate a register number to a lineal number? No, each has its own numbering system. The Reserve register number system for O-6 and below is segmented by grade as follows:

Grade First Digit Begins With

O-6 1XXXXX-XX
O-5 2XXXXX-XX
O-4 3XXXXX-XX
O-3 4XXXXX-XX
O-2 5XXXXX-XX
O-1 Not Assigned
All CWOs 9XXXXX-XX