A Question About Rank

[Max-U52]

Wow, Shaun, they sure make it complicated. The US system seems a little easier, and rank for enlisted men goes from E-1 to E-9, the bottom three being privates, then E-4 is Corporal, E-5 Buck Sergeant, E-6 Staff Sergeant, E-7 Sergeant First Class, both Master Sergeant and First Sergeant are E-8 and both Sergeant Major and Command Sergeant Major are E-9. Then you have Sergeant Major of the Army, but he doesn't have an E number. Then there are O numbers for Officers but I don't know nuttin' bout dat. Like I said, I work for a living!! Hmmm, maybe it's not really any easier after all.

[ALPHA]

Wow, Shaun, they sure make it complicated. The US system seems a little easier, and rank for enlisted men goes from E-1 to E-9, the bottom three being privates, then E-4 is Corporal, E-5 Buck Sergeant, E-6 Staff Sergeant, E-7 Sergeant First Class, both Master Sergeant and First Sergeant are E-8 and both Sergeant Major and Command Sergeant Major are E-9. Then you have Sergeant Major of the Army, but he doesn't have an E number. Then there are O numbers for Officers but I don't know nuttin' bout dat. Like I said, I work for a living!! Hmmm, maybe it's not really any easier after all.

Nothing said Explains the highest rank of FIELD MARSHAL ...I'm not German...so to me it's a glorified yard man ...or Referee


ALPHA

[Markocaster]

I am here daily reading along and learning (is that lurking ? I don't post a ton as I am usually on my phone and hate typing with the old thumbs! I REALLY like this board. RC universe is cool and lots of good info. But I really prefer it here:)

I should have been more clear on the term Lurkers.....there are Lurkers ....those who have a sense of humor and adventure...and there are LURKERS...who are pretty much more like trolls


ALPHA

[Ecam]

I would argue.....

Rommel was probably the great leader in the tank lore....

I can see it as the leading rank on the forum.

[jarndice]

I just love adding to the confusion,
After the last unpleasentness the British Army was reduced in size, and the appointment of Field Marshal would if continued have an extraordinarily top heavy effect on the command structure,
The military rank of Field Marshal is a rare appointment, now usually granted upon retirement of the most senior officer's although there are two serving Field Marshals.
Gary how I laughed at your roll call of United States Army ranks, AND YOU THINK BRITISH ARMY RANKS ARE CONFUSING, Trust me to an outsider looking in, your military appointments are on a par with anything we can come up with, and we have been doing this since Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army of the 17th Century.
Shaun.

[ALPHA]

I would argue.....

Rommel was probably the great leader in the tank lore....

I can see it as the leading rank on the forum.

I see your point Ecam....Back in the Day Rommel was the Soldier's Soldier...and was an outstanding tactician...So cunning he was able to outfox his desert opponents....................HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM..... DESERT FOX............ ....Never mind...I think I could live with the association now


ALPHA

[jarndice]

I smile when people say how Field Marshall Rommel was one of the few German senior officers with clean hands,
Prior to the start of WW 2 Herr Rommel was the commanding officer of Mr Hitler's bodyguard and for many years in so far as Mr Hitler had any, one of his closest friends,
Which does not detract in any way from his brilliant tactical use of armour as evidenced in his speedy conquest of Belgium and northern France in 1940 when his use of a vastly inferior armoured force never the less ran rings around the mainly Professional soldiers of the British armoured divisions as well as destroying the French Char B which outgunned all but Colonel Rommel's Czech built 38Ts.
Whatever taint there may be because of his association with Mr Hitler he was truly a soldiers soldier, and certainly by the time of his passing a man of Honour.
Shaun.

[billpe]

Manstein was far more proficient than Rommel in armoured warfare. So much so that NATO based thier cold war strategy against the Warsaw Pact on his theories. Even today he is mandatory reading.

[ausf]

I'd make the argument for Guderian over both of them in terms of armor usage in the opening days of the War.

[jarndice]

BILL I agree with you whole heartedly about Manstein,
But I would make a couple of points, Rommel was THE German tactician in the West and in the Western desert for the FIRST TWO YEARS of the war,
Manstein was fighting an initially ill prepared and poorly equipped adversary which soon became well equipped with the T34 and troop training in the Soviet armed forces also rapidly improved helped by a once in a blue moon truly vicious Winter so even with Guderian's insight into armoured warfare the sheer mass of Soviet forces meant any advances by the German armed forces were not to last, and so the German Army under Manstein in the East became the most able Army anywhere in Rearguard actions. And as you say those lessons were intergrated into NATO policy post War.
Shaun.