Re: Force sizes-Confusing US ranks

At 12:29 PM -0500 3/22/02, Scott Case wrote:
>LOL! Now that is what you get when the Federal Government lays down 
>a standard and the Armed Forces throw in a good dose of tradition.
>
>The O and E structure is uniform through out the US military, with O 
>standing for Officer and E standing for Enlisted. You can also throw 
>in a set of WO for warrent officer, a rank no one really seems to 
>understand other than they out rank enlisted types, and in turn are 
>out ranked by 'real' officers. Guess it gives them most of the 
>authority of an officer without the pay. You gotta love congress! :P

The advantage of this system is that sometimes people identify 
themselves as being an E-X or O-X. That allows you to understand 
their general level (4th level soldier, vs 4th level soldier officer 
to use gaming terms) in the grand scheme. It also helps folks in 
different services understand who out ranks who.

For example a Captain in the army is out ranked by a captain in the 
Navy by several degrees. iirc, an Army captain is something like the 
following:
navy	army/airforce/marines
ensign	2nd lt
LT JG	1st lt
LT	Captain
Lt Cdr	Major
Cdr	Lt Col
Capt	Col

Throw British ranks in and it gets really complex.

Some ranks in the army are lance corporal, others are Fusilier, 
others are Trooper, and still others are private or corporal....all 
around the same rank area. Much is due to the long tradition and 
history.
-- 
--
Ryan Gill			  rmgill@mindspring.com
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