Ranks

[Lanshark]

DH and I have been watching a lot of the commentators who are retired military and it always states their rank with their name. I know this is a stupid question but what is the order of the ranks. In other words I know Private is lowest and General is highest but what is inbetween. Is there a difference between a Private and a Private First Class? Also I know you have one, two.... five star generals but I don't know what they're called. I was just watching Olie North's report and he is a LT COL. That started the conversation with DH.

 

[bsnyder]

Lanshark,

Try this link: http://www.morehead-st.edu/colleges/education/military/rank.html

It details enlisted, warrant officer and officer ranks for the Army,

 

[Lanshark]

bsnyder

Thanks. That's exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Geoff_M]

Cool link... What's a "Warrant Officer"???

 

[bsnyder]

"An officer appointed by warrant by the Secretary of the Army, based upon a sound level of technical and tactical competence. The warrant officer is the highly specialized expert and trainer who, by gaining progressive levels of expertise and leadership, operates, maintains, administers, and manages the Army’s equipment, support activities, or technical systems for an entire career."

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I found a couple of other websites that list the different ranks of the different branches of the military.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004604.html

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/almanac/almanac/people/insignias/

And this one shows a comparison between the US and the UK military ranks.

http://www.av8.org/av8fst-uk/ranks.html

 

[Lanshark]

Thanks Obi-Wan

 

[Galahad]

Within the services, they often refer to themselves/each other by the grade classification (E-5, O-3, etc). since they are consistant across branches of the service even though the "name" of the rank may be different. Like a Captain in the Army/Air Force is the same as a Lieutenant in the Navy.