For one of my novels, the characters are all in the military. Does anyone know the military ranks, from most powerful to least? Also, what happens if a platoon has two soldiers of the same position, say general? If each of the generals are telling the soldiers to do two different things, who do they listen to? Or do they just explode? Thanks!
Which country, and which branch of the military? As for your other question, the answer lies in the chain of command. Within that soldier's reporting hierarchy, there should be no ambiguity about whose orders take precedence. Outside that reporting hierarchy, the answer is to defer to the soldier's command hierarchy. I would suggest google.
First of all, a platoon will never have a general commanding it; generals aren't even allowed on the field. A colonel is the highest rank that's able to be in the battle. Secondly, you don't really need to memorize all, but these are the most important ones, from lowest to highest: Recruit (fresh from boot camp), private, (lance) corporal, sergeant (Sergeants are usually the ones commanding squads of 4-8 people as far as I know), lieutenant, captain, colonel, various generals. Note that I have never served in the military, and this is a very quick sketch of the chain of command with tons of ranks left out, but if your audience target isn't military die-hards, these are the most important ones. As for who commands if there are two of the same rank? That depends, but the situation is very often averted: Only one person can issue commands to his squad in action, and if he dies, an assigned second-in-command assumes his role.
that does not apply to all countries, nor all branches of military service, delta... i have to ditto cog and advise the op to be more specific and to google for the info specific to that country/military branch...
I'm pretty sure this chain of command works for most countries. The only rank that isn't universal is the Lance-corporal, which is used in the UK but not the USA. Besides, she was talking about a platoon, so I figured she was talking about the Army Branch. But yes, I agree, a simple google gave me extensive results. Wikipedia is useful, but there's also tons of sites made by veterans in ther spare time.
Okay, I got my answer. Thanks to everyone who answered. I was curious about the US military, by the way. Thanks again! :]
would've helped if you'd said so from the get-go... be more specific from now on and you'll save yourself and helpful others time and trouble...
My apologies if that wasn't directed at me...but, USMC= United States Marine Corps. I was just pointing out that the rank lance corporal is in use by the US.
This covers the ranks from lowest to highest for all U.S. Military branches of service. http://www.combatcasting.com/RankStructure.html FYI: you will see the 011 rank at the bottom of this link. These positions are only enacted in time of war to establish a supreme commander of all armed forces. The last time this rank was used was during WWII. And there are General's in the field. They are generally responsible for Division or Higher level assets. Their roles are different. Colonel's generally own operational assets such as Brigades or Regiments. At the Platoon level it's usually a LT and at the Company level it's usually a Captain. Majors typically hold executive officer or staff positions. If you have two guys the same rank in the same unit then the responsibility of command goes to the person who has the higher duty position. For example, if you have two Lieutenants at the Company command level. One of the LT's would be the Company commander and the other could be the Company executive officer. The Company Commander has overriding authority over the other LT even though they are the same rank. If you have a specific example you need explained, please give it and I can break it down for you
