Re: Force sizes-Confusing US ranks

you know this  is pretty stupid, even for NATO.

a UK lance corporal gneral performs the task levels /responsibiities to
a US sergeant E-5.

a UK corporal usually holds  down the same TOE slots of a US staff
sergeant.

UK sergeant  holds  a position of responsibility equal to a US sergeant
first class.

staff sergeant and color  sergeant in the UK  perform at the same
levels as  US master sergeants .

UK company sergeant  majors  are WARRANT OFFICERS., NOT SENIOR	NCOS
like a US first sergeant.

a UK warrant officer, not holding  down a sergeant major slot  at
company or battalion level, as i recall is  referred to by his job
title, or MISTER.

and  a UK regimental sergeant major is a CHIEF	WARRANT OFFICER, NOT A
SENIOR	NCO like a US  sergeant major.

calling a UK sergeant major of	either type "sergeant" or "sarge" or
referring to them as NCOs, instead of their  job title," SAR'T MAJOR"
or "MISTER" would be about  as popular as going to the US MARINE CORP
BALL dressed as a hippie!

THERE IS REALLY NO US EQUIVALENT OF A UK SERGEANT MAJOR!

THIS GOD LIKE INDIVIDUAL, WITH SMART TURN OUT, PACE STICK, LEATHER
LUNGS, AND BULL DOG OR	FIGHTING COCK PERSONA IS TRULY UNIQUE! TO THE UK
MILITARY TRADITION!

this is true of all Commonwealth nation armies and marine  corps. 

too this day, i can  still hear and see in my mind  those  sarn't majors
in Germany on the grinder! 

when  their  wrath  was aroused they would seem to "SWELL" , GO WHITE
THEN RED FACED,  jab that pace stick toward the offender , and bellow
out in a GOD like voice:

"THAT MAN!"

"YOU 'ORRIBLE LITTLE MAN!"

LOL, followed by  language that  would make a USMC drill instructor
blush!

or even worse, stand  right in front of the  offender and address him in
a near whisper that made balls	shrink and blood curdle. . . .

i well remember , when i as a young  private,  walked up to this  middle
aged  soldier standing	by the grinder watching TOMMY go thrugh his
paces, and saying something like;

"HEY, SARGE! HOWZIT GOIN'? YOU GUYS  SURE LOOK SHARP!"

the reply left me  in a near catatonic	state, wondering  who my parents
really were,  when i rode  my bike to their  wedding, why i was born,
CONVINCED i knew zilch about anything,	why was even on the same  planet
as this man, and wondering just who had told me i was really a soldier!

then i got  told  everything i did not	want to know about  KING'S OWN
LOYAL ROYAL WELSH IRISH SCOTS AND ENGLISH TAP DANCING AND SINGING
INFANTRY!

AND A LECTURE ON FOREIGN  MILITARY RANKS!

all the  while standing at attention, being tapped and poked by that
pace stick, examined under an electron microscope, name taken and etc,
before	being  dismissed! 

when he  was not in whisper mode, his  mouth was open so wide i thought
i could see the dangly thing at the back of his  throat.

JEEZ-ZUSS!  

when that was over i felt like i had been worked over by the KGB! made a
lasting impression to.

DAWGIE, who later got to meet his own sergeant major and  be destroyed
verbally all over  again. . . .

--- David Brewer <davidbrewer@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> There's some misalignment between US and UK junior
> NCOs, so that a
> US Army sergeant is, I think, a UK corporal.

The Official NATO-approved rank equivelancy runs thus:

US Rank   UK Rank
Private   Private
PFC	  Lance Corporal
Corporal  Corporal
Sergeant  Sergeant
SSG	  Sergeant
SFC/MSG   Color Sergeant
1SG/SGM   WO
CSM/SMA   Whatever you call it with the lions holding
up the coat of arms and a crown on top.

I've got pictures but not titles for the UK stuff. 
It's from the KFOR Handbook and the point is really to
show who you salute and who you don't.	And even then
no one cared--I kind of startled an RRF major when I
actually knew to salute him once.

John

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