Military rank

efreysson said:

I'm putting together a space opera setting, and while that does leave me free to make up my own version of a lot of things

The setting is a large multi system realm with a unified military. One of the protagonists is the general at the top. The story starts with a coup and the general hurriedly gathers his forces on board a warship and speeds off to join up with other corps to organize a resistance. I'm wondering what rank his immediate staff would be, who he would interact directly with to issue orders, who would have the job of delivering status updates to him, and so on.

Thanks.

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Broadly, he has staff officers and they would often be identified with a bit of fancy extra braid. It can be a mixture of a planning team of various ranks and also an aide-de-camp who is probably a captain and acts in the role of executive assistant, with a staff working for him (corporals, sergeants).
Others will know more than me.

What are you basing your military rank upon, land or naval forces? American tradition or some other tradition?

One thing to get straight is rank is not the same as billet. The Commander (billet) can be any rank, but in your example it is a general. The aid-de-camp is a billet, but can be any rank (from a boot junior office to an officer of equal rank).

efreysson said:

I'm going with land, if only because I feel "space as an ocean" is a bit overdone. As for the tradition, I really haven't decided on a particular one to copy yet.



I guess those are the kinds of things you don't know when you grow up in a country with no military.

So it can be just anyone who has the right qualifications?

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Rank system for most nations can easily be found on Wikipedia. The American tradition is the default standard, with the British was the "exotic" evil default. Sometimes people use Roman tradition if they want a fantasy theme.


Yes, anyone can do it as long as they have the right qualifications. For example, the aid-de-camp for your general could be a senior Colonel who is close to promotion, or a new Lieutenant that has the family connection.

If you want a more detailed breakdown of command structure just let me know and I can type something up for ya.

Here's a good overview of the typical staff designations in the Continental military staff system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staff_(military)#Continental_staff_system

If your protagonist is "the general at the top," and this is a large military, then he would undoubtedly have other generals immediately under him. For example, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a 4-star flag-officer (admiral or general). Then each branch of the military has a representative, who are also 4-star flag-officers. Then you have the Vice-Chairman of the JCS, who is also a 4-star. Each one of the 4-stars has a large staff underneath, including other flag-officers, (1, 2, or 3 stars).
Then there's the Joint Staff, itself, such as the J-1, J-2, J-3, etc. Those are usually 2 or 3-star flag officers. And there are other flag officers underneath them as well.

Confused yet? Ah, modern military bureaucracy!

Anyway, I wouldn't adopt that model, at least not person-for-person. Just know that a top general will have a staff of senior officers serving under him. You wouldn't have a lowly 0-3 (Army Captain) doing much more than escorting the general to the right conference room or tracking mundane paperwork. If your general needs updated information, he's going to turn to his J-2 (Intelligence), who would be a flag-officer or his J-3 (operations) another flag officer.

But, you can have some fun with this. You say there's been a coup? Might there be divided loyalty in the military? You could have some of those flag officers go to the other side.

Sounds like quite a space opera you're weaving!

culmo80 said:

If your protagonist is "the general at the top," and this is a large military, then he would undoubtedly have other generals immediately under him. For example, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is a 4-star flag-officer (admiral or general). Then each branch of the military has a representative, who are also 4-star flag-officers. Then you have the Vice-Chairman of the JCS, who is also a 4-star. Each one of the 4-stars has a large staff underneath, including other flag-officers, (1, 2, or 3 stars).
Then there's the Joint Staff, itself, such as the J-1, J-2, J-3, etc. Those are usually 2 or 3-star flag officers. And there are other flag officers underneath them as well.

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You're confusing billet with rank. JCS is a billet that is currently being held by a 4-star general. The "J" shops, "G" shops and "S" shops are again all billets. It is an important distinction. Theoretically a billet can be held by any rank.

Rank is a reflection of experience and training, a billet is a reflection of expected job duties.

Example, while a Captain (rank) in the Marines is typically the Commanding officer (billet) of a company of Marines. However, when he is on a convey and the Convey Commander (billet) is a Staff Sergeant (lower rank) then he does what the Convey Commander tells him to.

As a general rule, billet trumps rank in most situations.

efreysson said:

I'm putting together a space opera setting, and while that does leave me free to make up my own version of a lot of things

The setting is a large multi system realm with a unified military. One of the protagonists is the general at the top. The story starts with a coup and the general hurriedly gathers his forces on board a warship and speeds off to join up with other corps to organize a resistance. I'm wondering what rank his immediate staff would be, who he would interact directly with to issue orders, who would have the job of delivering status updates to him, and so on.

Thanks.

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You're getting a lot of mundane technical details about ranks and billets, which you'll need if you want to write detailed military SF. If you just want to use plausible names, though, and you are using Army/Air Force rather than naval ranks (implied by "general" - and of course, the distinction between services is another thing that might not exist in your space opera setting) -

Generals (various flavors, usually denoted by stars) are strategic-level commanders. They command armies. Naval equivalent is Admiral, who commands fleets.
Colonels are senior officers, often in charge of fairly major projects in their own right, and assistants to generals. A colonel is a senior military veteran of some weight, but transcending the barrier to flag officer (general) requires not just military but political acumen, as generals are very political positions. They command Divisions or Brigades. Naval equivalent is Captain, who commands flagships, aircraft carriers and the like.
Lieutenant Colonels are career officers who are either in line to become colonels, or have stalled (Lt. Colonel is a "terminal rank" for the almost-but-not-quite good enough). They'll be assistants to colonels (or lesser assistants to generals) and can command Battalions or Brigades. Naval equivalent is Commander, who commands major warships.
Majors are officers with some experience, usually still early or mid-career. They are just starting to be given major responsibilities, and can command Companies or Battalions. Naval equivalent is Lieutenant Commander.
Captains (don't be confused here - an Army Captain is an O-3, while a Naval Captain is an O-6, the equivalent of an Army Colonel) are no longer "junior" officers, but still early career. They command Companies, and are usually being given commands to give them some experience to see how they do. Naval equivalent is Lieutenant, who will have some major area of responsibility on board a warship, or be in command of a small ship or boat.
1st Lieutenants (again, don't be confused, because a Naval Lieutenant is an O-3, or equivalent of an Army Captain) is still a junior officer, but no longer fresh out of the academy. He might be allowed to fetch coffee for Colonels and Generals, and given some minor responsibilities. They can command a Company or a squad. Naval equivalent is an Ensign.
2nd Lieutenants ("butterbars") are completely useless, know nothing, and will be thoroughly abused by NCOs who call them "sir" while ignoring them when not trying to teach them something. If they aren't incompetent, they'll be given something to do and eventually promoted. Naval equivalent is Ensign, j.g. (junior grade).

I often wonder, if a setting is consciously not based in any real culture, whether it's better to come up with exotic ranks (or days of the week, or measurements, or ice cream flavours), or just to use the 'standard' generals, lieutenants, etc. with the implicit understanding that the terms are loose translations.

Albedo said:

I often wonder, if a setting is consciously not based in any real culture, whether it's better to come up with exotic ranks (or days of the week, or measurements, or ice cream flavours), or just to use the 'standard' generals, lieutenants, etc. with the implicit understanding that the terms are loose translations.

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I think you don't have to follow the precise rank structure of any real-world military, but if you're calling your Generals "Akdarths" and your Captains "Sub-Lorgans" and your Lieutenants "Kvodd-Leaders," you're just calling a rabbit a Smeerp.

Amadan said:

I think you don't have to follow the precise rank structure of any real-world military, but if you're calling your Generals "Akdarths" and your Captains "Sub-Lorgans" and your Lieutenants "Kvodd-Leaders," you're just calling a rabbit a Smeerp.

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Well, a sub-Lorgan obviously answers to a Lorgan.

I do like Asimov's disclaimer when he wrote Nightfall: yeah these are aliens, for convenience I'm using English words for their everything. Deal with it.

I don't understand your point.
Billet and rank often go hand-in-hand. Other than when its absolutely necessary, you're not going to have anyone other than an 0-3 command a company. The exceptions are during battle when/if that 0-3 were to be wounded or killed.
And a lot of billets DO require a certain rank, so it's more than simply a reflection of experience and training.
And when you get to general-officer, yes, rank and billet are absolutely tied together. There are a lot of billets within DoD that are for a 2-star or a 3-star FO.

I get your point about when a lower-ranking person has a special duty, such as commander of an aircraft. Of course, a higher ranking person will follow the aircraft commander's commands, but that's only while the two of them are in that exact situation. As soon as they exit that aircraft, that junior officer is expected to listen to the senior officer ... within reason of course.

culmo80 said:

I don't understand your point.
Billet and rank often go hand-in-hand. Other than when its absolutely necessary, you're not going to have anyone other than an 0-3 command a company. The exceptions are during battle when/if that 0-3 were to be wounded or killed.
And a lot of billets DO require a certain rank, so it's more than simply a reflection of experience and training.
And when you get to general-officer, yes, rank and billet are absolutely tied together. There are a lot of billets within DoD that are for a 2-star or a 3-star FO.

I get your point about when a lower-ranking person has a special duty, such as commander of an aircraft. Of course, a higher ranking person will follow the aircraft commander's commands, but that's only while the two of them are in that exact situation. As soon as they exit that aircraft, that junior officer is expected to listen to the senior officer ... within reason of course.

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I'll give you a real world example:

When I was deployed to Africa, we were classified as a SPMAGTF-AF. We were a company size unit, ~150 people, but had a Lieutenant Colonel as the commanding officer and a Lieutenant Colonel as the executive officer. Both were formerly in command of a battalion, typically ~450 people. Our team leader was an O-4 Major in charge of ~20 people, where you would typically have a 2nd Lieutenant if not a senior NCO.

Each of the typically billets were filled with people of higher than normal rank because of the type of work we were doing, cooperation with the State department and multiple foreign governments and militaries, but also the desire for more experienced personnel.

badwolf.usmc said:

I'll give you a real world example:

When I was deployed to Africa, we were classified as a SPMAGTF-AF. We were a company size unit, ~150 people, but had a Lieutenant Colonel as the commanding officer and a Lieutenant Colonel as the executive officer. Both were formerly in command of a battalion, typically ~450 people. Our team leader was an O-4 Major in charge of ~20 people, where you would typically have a 2nd Lieutenant if not a senior NCO.

Each of the typically billets were filled with people of higher than normal rank because of the type of work we were doing, cooperation with the State department and multiple foreign governments and militaries, but also the desire for more experienced personnel.

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The point both of you are making is that "jobs" (billets) in the military map loosely to ranks, but depending on circumstances, a billet normally held by a certain rank might be occupied by someone of lower or higher rank.