Soldier ranks?

[JGregory]

I need a bit of help. I'm working on a romance set in the US, and my MMC is a soldier...and that's as far as I've gotten. I have 99% of the story plotted out, but I need a ranking. I'm not American and there are so many different types of levels of soldiers and so much information involving ranking. I've thought about having him as a marine because there's a common idea of what a marine looks like, but any other suggestions would help. He's in his mid-to-late 20s and the story is contemporary.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CMBright]

Officer or enlisted?
Several levels of private, sargent. It's been long enough I don't remember if there is another enlisted level.
Captain, Major, Luetenent the generals.
Be my little general.
Brigideer (I think) General
Major General
Luetenent General
General

Other branches hand out the same E-1 up but different names for ranks.

 

[Gramps]

Is your MMC a go-getter or a slacker? Did they enlist after college or right after high school? mid twenties after college is a newbie. Mid twenties after high school is 7 years. It would make a difference as would eagerness to serve or just there for teh benefits.

Someone selected for officer cadet school could achieve an officer's rank fairly early.

 

[Charles Bates]

Enlisted ranks for all branches

Officer ranks for all branches

 

[Brigid Barry]

I need a bit of help. I'm working on a romance set in the US, and my MMC is a soldier...and that's as far as I've gotten. I have 99% of the story plotted out, but I need a ranking. I'm not American and there are so many different types of levels of soldiers and so much information involving ranking. I've thought about having him as a marine because there's a common idea of what a marine looks like, but any other suggestions would help. He's in his mid-to-late 20s and the story is contemporary.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FYI, Soldier is Army, Airman is Air Force, Seaman is Navy and Marine is Marine. Make sure you don't mix that up.

Enlisted: Air Force and Army have similar rank structures because Air Force came out of the Army Air corps in 1947.
Navy is all over the place, I presume because they were our first military service while we were still a colony and it's probably based on the British.
Marines is somewhere in between.

Officer: Mostly the same between branches.

Ranks with insignia here.

While it's possible to enlist for the first time up to the age of 27, I'd say most people enlist right after high school at 18. There's an expectation of when someone will be moving up the ranks, so you want to make sure you work out where the MMC is in his career, years wise, and what rank he is based on when he joined. It's not quite a schedule, but if my very rusty memory serves and my antique information isn't completely out of date, there comes a point in your career that if you don't move up to the next rank, you're out.

I am dying to know what a Marine looks like, because an 18 year old who just finished training is going to look a lot different from a full bird colonel who has been in for a couple of decades. Also an FYI, the Marines are the elite fighting force and the smallest service. You have to have high scores on your test and be fit to even get in, then to make it through basic you have to be very physically fit and also have a lot of mental fortitude.

Any particular reason you wanted the MMC to be a member of the military?

 

[Mutive]

I am dying to know what a Marine looks like, because an 18 year old who just finished training is going to look a lot different from a full bird colonel who has been in for a couple of decades. Also an FYI, the Marines are the elite fighting force and the smallest service. You have to have high scores on your test and be fit to even get in, then to make it through basic you have to be very physically fit and also have a lot of mental fortitude.

Would the areas they're tested into matter? I know very little about the armed forces, but from the little I've picked up, it seems like at least in the US, they do fairly extensive aptitude tests then direct people to areas that they're expected to excel in. I'm wondering if the particular specialty would impact how fast they moved up the ranks + whether there was as much emphasis on "up or out".

(At the very least, it would seem kind of silly to me to lose a skilled linguist or cyber espionage specialist just because they were pretty content just doing their thing for a few decades until they could retire. But, again, I'm as far from an armed forces career as I think it's possible to be.)

 

[Brigid Barry]

Would the areas they're tested into matter? I know very little about the armed forces, but from the little I've picked up, it seems like at least in the US, they do fairly extensive aptitude tests then direct people to areas that they're expected to excel in. I'm wondering if the particular specialty would impact how fast they moved up the ranks + whether there was as much emphasis on "up or out".

(At the very least, it would seem kind of silly to me to lose a skilled linguist or cyber espionage specialist just because they were pretty content just doing their thing for a few decades until they could retire. But, again, I'm as far from an armed forces career as I think it's possible to be.)

To get in you have to take what's known as the ASVAB test and it's basically a comprehensive aptitude test. There's an overall score (you have to have over X for Air Force or over Y for Marine Corps) and then how you break out in certain fields is how they place you for a job. I scored very high on my mechanical so they took me in as "open mechanical" and then I got to choose which mechanical fields I wanted. Some people know exactly what their job will be. One of the women in my Basic flight was going to be a meteorologist. No idea how they pick who is going to hand out volleyballs at the gym.

I don't recall that the ability to move up in rank was tied to the job. There are tests for moving up past certain ranks, but this part of my memory looked like the foggy scene at the end of Gone with the Wind.

Again, bad memory and possibly outdated information (which may or may not have been rumor), if you took the linguist test and you passed, that's it, you're a linguist. I assume there are other fields that are very specialized and difficult to fill spots so if someone has the ability to do the job, that's the job that they do.

 

[Mutive]

How interesting. It seems slightly weird to me that, unlike in the civilian world, job function isn't (maybe?) intricately tied to rank. (e.g. even though I'm an "individual contributor" at my job, I'm paid more than many managers due having to a fairly unusual and highly desirable skill set)

Although maybe it is, just not explicitly?

Now I want to hunt down whoever is in charge of the ASVAB test and figure out the military's employment sorting process...

 

[Brigid Barry]

How interesting. It seems slightly weird to me that, unlike in the civilian world, job function isn't (maybe?) intricately tied to rank. (e.g. even though I'm an "individual contributor" at my job, I'm paid more than many managers due having to a fairly unusual and highly desirable skill set)

Although maybe it is, just not explicitly?

Now I want to hunt down whoever is in charge of the ASVAB test and figure out the military's employment sorting process...

My sister's ex-husband was in the Navy and kept failing out of different jobs. By the time he bombed out of the third one, they'd spent so much time and money on him that he got classed into KP. Aka, his military job was doing dishes.

 

[Farnham]

How interesting. It seems slightly weird to me that, unlike in the civilian world, job function isn't (maybe?) intricately tied to rank. (e.g. even though I'm an "individual contributor" at my job, I'm paid more than many managers due having to a fairly unusual and highly desirable skill set)

Although maybe it is, just not explicitly?

Now I want to hunt down whoever is in charge of the ASVAB test and figure out the military's employment sorting process...

If you're a pilot, you're an officer (but don't hold me to that). Best I recall, ASVAB was fill-in-the-ovals standardized test, but that was in the 1970s. They were likely run through a reader to score it. Mostly computerized, even then.

Does the story need to go into that detail? Characters are in the military doing such-and-such job. Is how they got to that point necessary for the story?

 

[Farnham]

I am dying to know what a Marine looks like, because an 18 year old who just finished training is going to look a lot different from a full bird colonel who has been in for a couple of decades. Also an FYI, the Marines are the elite fighting force and the smallest service. You have to have high scores on your test and be fit to even get in, then to make it through basic you have to be very physically fit and also have a lot of mental fortitude.

In book camp, there's the uniformly short haircut. If you have hair clippers that use snap-on combs, it's about a "1." After boot camp, I think it's "1" on the sides and "2" on the top. Enlisted family members maintained physical fitness standards during their careers.

 

[Unimportant]

In book camp, there's the uniformly short haircut. If you have hair clippers that use snap-on combs, it's about a "1." After boot camp, I think it's "1" on the sides and "2" on the top. Enlisted family members maintained physical fitness standards during their careers.

The OP stated that their character was male, but this discussion seems to have devolved to generics. So, just for the record, the 'uniformly short haircut' etc doesn't necessarily apply to females, of which whom there are many in the military.

 

[CMBright]

In the 80s, in mixed units in Basic, the Drill Sargents swore less than one might expect. I can confirm that female recruits did not shave in basic, male recruits got the buzzcut [even] if they had gotten one before they came. BC (birth control) glasses for any who wore glasses. Man, those frames were hideous.

Edit to clarify.

 

[lexxi]

The backstory I'm working with for my male main character is that he enlisted in the US army right after high school (would have turned 18 during boot camp), then became a motor vehicle specialist. He was good at that job and reached the first level of sergeant at 24-25. Then he left the service about a year later after surviving a bridge explosion, because of injuries (which he could recover from) and crippling PTSD (which he could not, or not quickly enough to be functional).

Anything else I should keep in mind?

 

[Brigid Barry]

To be extraordinarily sensitive depicting a veteran with PTSD and do all of the research, especially if you are neither a veteran nor have personal experience with PTSD.

Sincerely, Brigid, Air Force vet with complex PTSD.

 

[CMBright]

FYI:
While soldiers get the most recognition, they are not the only career path that can experience PTSD, It ranges from interferring with normal life to cripling attacks.

Mom to being unable to help during the Murrah Bombing in April of 1995. The response team judged it was too dangerous for volunteers in medical professions to approach closer than an intersection a mile away.

I can trace PTSD symptoms to the May Third tornado in 1999, I was a college student at the time.

 

[lexxi]

To be extraordinarily sensitive depicting a veteran with PTSD and do all of the research, especially if you are neither a veteran nor have personal experience with PTSD.

Sincerely, Brigid, Air Force vet with complex PTSD.

I am researching as much as I can reading online resources, books, documentaries. Anything else you can offer would be welcome.

FYI:
While soldiers get the most recognition, they are not the only career path that can experience PTSD, It ranges from interferring with normal life to cripling attacks.

Although the military is not absolutely essential to my story, the bridge explosion is, and it would need to have been somewhere away from his Maine island home. So military makes the most sense for why he was there and works with the character being a mechanic.

 

[lexxi]

duplicate -- ignore please

 

[Brigid Barry]

I am researching as much as I can reading online resources, books, documentaries. Anything else you can offer would be welcome.

There are numerous resources available to veterans, and more resources available to combat veterans. I don't know what VA.gov has publicly available as far as literature goes but they have an expansive site that you can check.

Although the military is not absolutely essential to my story, the bridge explosion is, and it would need to have been somewhere away from his Maine island home. So military makes the most sense for why he was there and works with the character being a mechanic.

There have been numerous bridge collapses that you could use if you were so inclined and wanted to stay away from military. People also have phobias of bridges (and mine is attached to my fear of heights).

Just as an FYI (because I'm assuming you aren't from Maine), if he lives on an island that's $$$ and the odds of him being enlisted instead of an officer are highly unlikely. Anyone with that kind of money probably isn't going to join the military straight out of high school. They're simultaneously also very rural and definitely seasonal.

I am making an assumption about your plot here, but

The islands of Maine aren't connected to the mainland by bridges, they're accessed by boat (which is part of the reason why rich people live on them). There are some rivers that get crossed by bridge (the Piscataquis is the main one from New Hampshire to Maine and the one that crosses the Kennebec in Augusta, and Portland has several) but the islands are accessible only by boat and are either privately owned or are part of nature preserves or land trusts.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have about Maine.

 

[frimble3]

I am researching as much as I can reading online resources, books, documentaries. Anything else you can offer would be welcome.


Although the military is not absolutely essential to my story, the bridge explosion is, and it would need to have been somewhere away from his Maine island home. So military makes the most sense for why he was there and works with the character being a mechanic.

How 'bout he's a civilian, working on a bridge under construction, or crossing a bridge to a job? The bridge collapses, people die, he almost dies, gets injured, etc.
List of bridge disasters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridge_failures

I thought of this because Vancouver had it's own: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironworkers_Memorial_Second_Narrows_Crossing

Now imagine he's driving up on the bridge, probably to fix some smaller machine, when the whole thing falls apart.
Or, if you need an explosion, he is musing about the controversial crossing when an anti-bridge terrorist sets off a home-made bomb.

This skips all the military details. If you want a military background, maybe have him think that after surviving his time overseas in the military, he's going to die like this at home.

 

[lexxi]

The premise of the story is that D grew up on an island connected to the mainland with a bridge. He had left home as a young man, experienced a bridge disaster while away (backstory, not the main story), which left him unable to function for some time. He returned home and gradually recovered enough to build a life for himself on the island by avoiding anything that tended to trigger PTSD symptoms, chiefly the island bridge. The island is where he feels safe as long as he avoids triggers. So that significantly limits his lifestyle, although buying a boat helped a lot.

The story will involve getting better (not cured, but better) instead of just avoiding, inspired by the love interest to want to reexpand his horizons, to the point that he will be able to cross the island bridge when needed at the climax.

Brigid, I'll send you a private message about Maine so as not to derail this thread too much.

 

[frimble3]

Sounds like you could do this without dragging a lot of military stuff into it.
He's got a boat for routine coming and going, then something happens where a boat won't be suitable.

 

[Stormshine]

The backstory I'm working with for my male main character is that he enlisted in the US army right after high school (would have turned 18 during boot camp), then became a motor vehicle specialist. He was good at that job and reached the first level of sergeant at 24-25. Then he left the service about a year later after surviving a bridge explosion, because of injuries (which he could recover from) and crippling PTSD (which he could not, or not quickly enough to be functional).

Anything else I should keep in mind?

Sergeant is an E-5 in the Army, so 24-25 is not particularly fast for someone to reach that rank if they enlisted right at 18. Especially if there was a combat deployment involved. But it's also not outrageously slow, either.
Bridge explosion makes sense. More common for it to happen while traveling under an overpass vs. over the bridge, if we're talking about OIF and OEF. This is where you will definitely want a sensitivity reader, however, because this is actually quite common (I have a friend who still tenses up at underpasses.) Veterans in general can get very persnickety about getting the details right, so be prepared to do a lot of detailed research about what happens following a major combat injury. A year is actually a pretty short period of time for someone to get out afterward.
"Motor vehicle specialist" isn't really an MOS. You have 88Ms (motor transport operators) who typically operate vehicles that carry heavy equipment. You also have 91Bs (wheeled vehicle mechanics) who will often operate wreckers on convoys. 12Bs (combat engineers) would be the most likely to encounter an IED in a vehicle. But really, any Soldier of any MOS could have been in a situation to be hit by an IED in a deployed environment. Even cooks have to get to where they're going. And, as someone else mentioned, so do civilians.
Editing to add: Bridges actually getting blown up (to the point of being destroyed) is not super common in a counterinsurgency environment (assuming we're talking about OIF/OEF.) Much more likely for an explosion to happen on/under a bridge that damages the roadway and specific vehicles (source: patching up those roads was a big part of my job in OIF.)

 

[Brigid Barry]

Veterans in general can get very persnickety about getting the details right

This