Uniform Insignia Forum

I would like to ask everyone who thinks about hypothetical rank structure this question.
How many NCO grades should there be? please elaborate if you would like to.

Depend on what is the units sub-story. Royal militaries have one structure, the resistance fighters have another. The rule of thumb could be just Private (Volunteer), Corporal -- the skilled private, Sergeant -- as a Squad commander, and Senior Sergeant (Sergeant Major) -- as officer's (Lieutenant) XO, or trainer for recruits, rest pretty much fillers. Officers only like 4 ranks: Lieutenant -- Platoon or special force Squad commander, or company XO to a Captain; Captain -- Company commander or special force Platoon commander as well as XO for Major; Major -- Battalion or special forces Company commander, and XO to a Colonel, or General; Colonel -- Regiment/Battle Group Commander, or for spec ops Battalion Commander, note that Colonels usually are not any XO's. Also, after the Colonel little bit murky, there ether Commanding Colonel, Senior Colonel, or Colonel-Commandant could in charge of the forces, or right away, Generals. In simple structure there usually ether one or two General ranks, where several Junior Generals and one Command. So, this is my take on army structure, furthermore, in a simple structure no such bird as Warrant Officer which is not in a chain of command rank, usually corresponds with some sort of specific skill/task. Also, the opinions might be varies, so somebody will offer something else.

Zibster, !

NJSMITTY wrote:I would like to ask everyone who thinks about hypothetical rank structure this question.
How many NCO grades should there be? please elaborate if you would like to.

Well, I'd say it depends on how the people/institutions who define the system look upon it. As you surely know, the Soviet/Russian system emphasised the role of the officers, with few NCO roles. The Western approach is the opposite. Also, one should take into account the amount of scientific training required to hold a certain position. Today even a junior infantry NCO would have to learn significantly more than an officer say 50 years ago. Therefore I think it's really dificult to come up with some standard, unless you qualify it.