The Armed Forces Officer Part 4

Self-study is a lifetime job. A great many engineers didn't realize that they were born to make nuclear fission possible until there was a three-way wedding between science, industry and the military in 1940. Many officers who have had a late blooming as experts in the field of electronics and supersonic speeds had lived out successful careers before these subjects first saw daylight.

As Elbert Hubbard said of it, the only way to get away from opportunity is to lie down and die.

CHAPTER FIVE

RANK AND PRECEDENCE

The regulations that govern precedence among officers of the same service and among the services in relation to each other have a very real utility not only in determining succession to command and as reminders of the authority to which all persons in the Armed Services are subject but in providing precedent for all official or ceremonial occasions in which officers or organizations of the several services may find themselves cooperating. It is easy to imagine the confusion that would result without such rules, especially if a junior commander of a senior service had to defend the right of his organization to occupy the place of honor ahead of a very senior commander with a detachment from a junior service. These regulations are also the arbiter in disputes arising between officers of equal rank who aspire to command of the same unit.

The legislation which separated the Air Force from the Army again raised the question of precedence in parades and ceremonies. Since the Air Force is the junior service, as to date of recognition, the change indicated the following parade order: (Reference, _Federal Register_, Volume 14, Number 160, August 19, 1949, page 5203)

1. Cadets, United States Military Academy.

2. Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy.

3. Cadets, United States Coast Guard Academy.

4. United States Army.

5. United States Marines.

6. United States Navy.

7. United States Air Force.

8. United States Coast Guard.

9. National Guard of the United States.

10. Organized Reserve Corps of the Army.

11. Marine Corps Reserve.

12. Naval Reserve.

13. Air Force National Guard of the United States.

14. United States Air Force Reserve.

15. Coast Guard Reserve.

16. Other training organizations of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, in that order, respectively.

During any period when the United States Coast Guard shall operate as a part of the United States Navy, the Cadets, United States Coast Guard Academy, the United States Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard Reserve, shall take precedence, respectively, next after the Midshipmen, United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy, and the Naval Reserve.

In any ceremony in which any or all of these components act together, the table of precedence in appropriate regulations determines their location in the column.

The ranks and insignia in the Armed Services have been substantially the same since 1883. During World War II there were newly established the five star ranks of general of the army and fleet admiral. After the first World War the rank of general-of-the-armies was created to honor General Pershing, who was permitted to choose the number of stars he would wear. He chose four. After the Spanish-American War the rank of admiral-of-the-navy was established for Admiral Dewey. No one has held this rank since.

On November 15, 1776, Congress established the ranks of admiral, vice-admiral, rear admiral and commodore corresponding to general, lieutenant general, major general, and brigadier general. It also established three grades of naval captains--captain of a 40-gun ship and upward to rank with colonel, captain of a 20 to 40-gun ship to rank with lieutenant colonel, captain of a 10 to 20-gun ship to rank with major, and lieutenant to rank with captain in the Army.

Although the top naval ranks were provided, the only two officers ever to attain a higher rank than captain prior to 1862 were Ezekiel Hopkins, whom Congress on December 22, 1775, commissioned with the rank of _C-in-C of the Fleet_, and Charles Stewart who was commissioned _Senior Flag Officer_ by Congress in 1859. Hopkins and Stewart were called "commodore" as was any other captain who commanded more than one ship.

During our War of Independence, the Army had the rank of ensign and the Navy did not. The several Army ranks were then distinguishable by the color of the c.o.c.kade, green for lieutenant, buff for captain, and pink or red for a field officer. As early as 1780 major generals wore two stars on their epaulettes and brigadier generals one. During our quasi-war with France, toward the end of the eighteenth century, Washington was commissioned lieutenant general, our first, and three stars were prescribed to be worn by him.

In the Army Register for 1813 the rank of ensign had disappeared but there were third lieutenants (as in the Soviet Army today) and coronets. In 1832 the eagle was adopted as the insignia of colonel in the Army and in 1857 the lieutenant colonel, captain, and first lieutenant wore the same insignia as today. These insignia were adopted some time in the interval between 1847 and 1857. The gold bar, insigne of the second lieutenant, was authorized just prior to World War I.

The Navy has used the same shoulder insignia as the Army since the Civil War. However, shoulder insignia on blues were discontinued by the Navy in 1911 but the insignia were still prescribed on epaulettes.

The Navy adopted the eagle for captain in 1852, twenty years after it had been approved by the Army for colonels.

In the first half of the last century the Navy List contained officers of four grades only. A captain wore three stripes, a master commandant, two (master commandant, established in 1806, was changed to commander in 1837;) and a lieutenant, one. A master had no stripe but three b.u.t.tons instead. There were midshipmen too, but they were warrant officers and _aspirants_ for commissioned rank as the present French term designates them.

Our first full general was U. S. Grant and our first full admiral, David D. Porter; both won their rank in the Civil War. In that war there was a large increase in the Navy and more naval ranks were established. In 1862 ensign was provided in the Navy to correspond to second lieutenant; and the term lieutenant commanding became lieutenant commander. An ensign wore one stripe as now; an additional stripe was added for each rank till the rear admiral had eight. Since 1869 the senior officers have worn the same stripes as now prescribed.

In 1883 the rank "master" was changed to lieutenant, junior grade.

The rank of commodore, which had been abolished, was temporarily revived during World War II. The rank of pa.s.sed-midshipman was abolished about 1910; thereafter graduates of the Naval Academy were commissioned ensign. The rank of ensign had previously been attained by pa.s.sed-midshipmen after 2 years at sea and a successful examination at the end of that cruise. The only permanent change in recent years was the addition of aviation cadet to both the Air Force and Navy listings. The warrant rank of flight officer in the Air Force, which was created during the war, has now been abandoned, all the flight officers then holding warrants either being commissioned second lieutenants or separated. The naval rank of commodore was likewise dropped, and brigadier generals of the Army and Air Force now rank with admirals of the lower half.

The following are the present corresponding ranks in the Armed Services:

-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- NAVY | MARINE | ARMY | AIR FORCE | COAST | CORPS | | | GUARD -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Fleet Admiral| |General of |General of | | |the Army |the Air | | | |Force | -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Admiral |General |General |General |Admiral -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Vice Admiral |Lieutenant |Lieutenant |Lieutenant |Vice Admiral |General |General |General | -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Rear Admiral |Major |Major |Major |Rear Admiral (upper half) |General |General |General |(upper half) -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Rear Admiral |Brigadier |Brigadier |Brigadier |Rear Admiral (lower half) |General |General |General |(lower half) and | | | |and Commodore | | | |Commodore -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Captain |Colonel |Colonel |Colonel |Captain -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Commander |Lieutenant |Lieutenant |Lieutenant |Commander |Colonel |Colonel |Colonel | -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Lieutenant |Major |Major |Major |Lieutenant Commander | | | |Commander -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Lieutenant |Captain |Captain |Captain |Lieutenant -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Lieutenant |First |First |First |Lieutenant (Junior |Lieutenant |Lieutenant |Lieutenant |(Junior Grade) | | | |Grade) -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Ensign |Second |Second |Second |Ensign |Lieutenant |Lieutenant |Lieutenant | -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Commissioned |Commissioned |Chief Warrant|Chief Warrant|Commissioned Warrant |Warrant |Officer |Officer |Warrant Officer |Officer | | |Officer -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Midshipman | |Cadet |Cadet |Cadet -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Warrant |Warrant |Warrant |Warrant |Warrant Officer |Officer |Officer |Officer |Officer | |Junior Grade |Junior Grade | -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------- Aviation | | |Aviation | Cadet | | |Cadet | -------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------

Officers of all the fighting service, whether regular or reserve, take precedence among themselves according to their dates of rank. Officers take command in their respective services in accordance with their dates of rank in the line, the senior, unless otherwise ordered, taking command, whether regular or reserve. The command of a task force or group composed of commands from two or more services devolves upon the senior commanding officer present in the force or group unless otherwise designated by the appropriate common senior, acting for the President.

The obvious exceptions to this are that officers outside the line (that is, commissioned in specialized branches or corps) cannot command line organizations. They may, however, in the Army and Air Force, command organizations within the structure of their own corps.

Non-rated officers in the Air Force and Navy are not eligible to command tactical flying units. As a specialized case of command, the a.s.signed first pilot and airplane commander of any aircraft continues in command even though a pilot senior in rank may be aboard.

Retired officers of the Army rank at the foot of active officers of the same grade; those of the Navy according to date of rank.

Changing personnel policies have been reflected by frequent revisions of the scale and grade given noncommissioned leadership. This subject should therefore be checked against current regulations. But as a rough guide, the following can be taken as the corresponding noncommissioned grades and rates in the services:

-----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- PAY | NAVY AND | ARMY | AIR | MARINE GRADE| COAST GUARD | | FORCE | CORPS -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- E-7 |Chief Petty |Master |Master |Master |Officer |Sergeant |Sergeant |Sergeant -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- E-6 |Petty Officer |Sergeant |Technical |Technical |First Cla.s.s |First Cla.s.s |Sergeant |Sergeant -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- E-5 |Petty Officer |Sergeant |Staff |Staff |Second Cla.s.s | |Sergeant |Sergeant -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- E-4 |Petty Officer |Corporal |Sergeant |Sergeant |Third Cla.s.s | | | -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- E-3 |[A]Airman |Private |Corporal |Corporal |[A]Constructionman|First Cla.s.s | | |[A]Dentalman | | | |Fireman | | | |Hospitalman | | | |Seaman | | | |Stewardsman | | | -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- E-2 |Apprentice |Private |Private |Private | | |First Cla.s.s |First Cla.s.s -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- E-1 |Recruit |Recruit |Private |Private -----+------------------+-------------+-------------+-------------

[A] Does not apply to Coast Guard.

Enlisted insignia of rank are of cloth, sewn on the sleeve of the outer garment. Army chevrons are worn on both sleeves with the point up, and special devices may be incorporated within the chevron to indicate specialties. Chevrons for combat soldiers are blue on a gold background, and all others are gold on a blue background. Naval chevrons are worn point down. Air Force chevrons have no point, but are a compound reverse curve with the deepest part of the curve worn down; over this is imposed a star within a circle. Marine Corps chevrons are worn on both sleeves with the point up and are gold on a crimson background for the dress blue uniform, green on a red background for the forest green uniform, green on a khaki background for the khaki uniform, and for combat uniforms the chevrons are stenciled on the sleeves in black ink.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARMY AND MARINE CORPS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NAVY AND COAST GUARD]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AIR FORCE]

All military and naval personnel are addressed in official correspondence by their full t.i.tles. Off duty in conversations and in unofficial correspondence, officers are addressed as follows: