Equestrian Military Ranks. · 8:56am Mar 16th, 2016
I don't know much regarding military ranks, and have been pretty much dodging around them in this story. However, I've come to the point where I needed to look up military ranks and how they function. I didn't need to know everything regarding them, just the ranks from lowest (Private) to highest (General of the Army, or Five Star General). See, the idea was to do some world building around Equestria's military.
Here's the rankings.
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Enlisted
Private – Entry level enlisted soldier rank. Soldiers starting basic training are Privates and progress to Private 2. Privates do not have an insignia.
Private First Class – After one year of service the Private 2 can be promoted to Private First Class.
Specialist – After two years and additional training, the Private First Class can become a Specialist and command Privates.
Corporal – The Corporal is the first level of team leader.
Sergeant – Sergeants command squads of 9 to 10 soldiers. They oversee the younger soldiers (mostly Privates) daily.
Staff Sergeant – After experience as a Sergeant the solder may be promoted to Staff Sergeant and take on more duties.
Sergeant First Class – Platoon leaders rely on the Sergeant First Class for assistance. The Sergeant First Class normally has served in the Army for 15 to 18 years.
Master Sergeant – The Master Sergeant is the primary non-commissioned officer for a battalion.
First Sergeant – The First Sergeant instructs the other, younger Sergeants
Sergeant Major – Primary Sergeant for a battalion of 300 to 1,000 soldiers.
Command Sergeant Major – Works at the brigade level assisting the other Sergeants on managing the enlisted personnel.
Sergeant Major of The Army – There is one Sergeant Major of The Army and this is the highest enlisted rank. The Sergeant Major of The Army works for the Army Chief of Staff.
Commissioned Officers
Second Lieutenant – Commissioned Officer entry level rank. Second Lieutenant’s lead a platoon consisting of 16 to 44 soldiers (enlisted).
First Lieutenant – After 18 to 24 months of service a Second Lieutenant may be promoted to a First Lieutenant. The First Lieutenant will command specialized weapons platoons and may be an executive officer of a company assisting the Captain of the company.
Captain – The Captain will command a company of soldiers consisting of 62 to 190 soldiers. Captains also serve as instructors and battalion staff officers.
Major – The primary staff officer for a brigade and typically heading personnel, logistical and operational duties.
Lieutenant Colonel – Battalion commander for 300 to 1,000 soldiers.
Colonel – Commands brigades of 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers.
Brigadier General – A one star General that handles Army divisions and assists in mission planning.
Major General – Two star General commanding a division of soldiers which consists of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers.
Lieutenant General – Three star General commanding a corps of soldiers – 20,000 to 45,000 soldiers.
General or 4 star General – An officer with about 30 years Army service who commands all operations in a geographic area. The General is the highest normal officer rank.
General of the Army – In war time a General of the Army (five star General) may be appointed to serve as the highest ranking officer when working with foreign militaries. There has not been a General of the Army appointed since World War II.
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However, I only got so far as Captain when I realized my idea can't work with the standard ranking system. So that leaves me with two choices.
Choice A: I go back and edit the chapters making any mentions of Shining Armor's rank, likely forcing me to restructure a good bit of some of said chapters, as well as throw me further into the Alternate Universe tag.
Or...
Choice B: I make a custom ranking system that adheres to what I already have, basically flips off every soldier who reads my story, and all around makes the writers of MLP look bad.
I don't mind pissing off the MLP writers (I'm looking at you, Larsen!), but I do mind pissing off the people protecting my home and country. So... anybody got ideas? Because I already did one big edit a few days ago, and I would really rather not do that again so soon.
Solved! Thanks Judoon_Warrior!
A potential solution is to keep the ranking system as is and make 'Captain of the Guard' a position (eg Sargent at arms). The Sargent at arms is a good example of this as while the position has Sargent in its name it is a role done by an officer not a Sargent. This allows you to choose an appropriate rank for Shing and his dad without having to change the existing story to much or having to alter the existing rank system.
3810708 So... keep the ranking as they are, but change the names around a little?
3810712
Kind of. So for example Shining Armour might hold the rank of Colonal but his role in the army is the Captain of the guard as he is in charge of the Canterlot unit. You could make it as a hold over tile from before the modern army was made at the captain was the highest rank.
3810715
That. That right there. It just sparked an idea. I'm gonna branch the Equestrian Military. There will be one main "body", and Captain level and below get segmented into areas of influence, such as Trottingham, Appleoosa, and Ponyville. For example, I'll make the Captain rank one only one person in each area of influence can have, as they'll be the leaders of the military in those areas. Above captain are the ranks belonging to the main body of the military, which is mainly stationed in Canterlot.
You know... looking at your comment again, I get the feeling I just regurgitated what you suggested. Regardless, do you think it'll work?
3810728
Yeah
3810731 Sweet. Thanks for the help!