Update the ranking system!

[Mos Deaf]

Hello all!

Name's MosDeaf. I've recently just joined, and I'm pretty excited to be here. In the last 18 hours, this community has proved to be more entertaining and awesome than my last one. And that's pretty, well, awesome! Anyway, one of the things that irk'd me so far is the odd ranking system. It's apparently a mix between Marine and Army ranks. Which, you know, isn't bad. It's worked for the last 7 or so years. Congrats!

However, what if I were to suggest that we change it? Make it more appropriate, in the sense that it's based on actual military forces as well as Halo's lore? The UNSCDF (United Nations Space Command Defense Force) has all 4 branches that the current modern (21st century) US military does; Air Force, Army, Marine, Navy.^[1] This serves as a joint air, land, and space force. Meaning that the Marines and Navy work together. (In case that wasn't clear).

When you experience the Halo universe, you're mostly fighting with the Navy or Marines. It turns out the UNSCDF Army is typically a garrison force, and primarily present on very populated human worlds.^[2] Otherwise, a lot of the combat falls on the shoulders of the Navy and Marines. (To clarify, the Marines are the land-based expeditionary force, meaning they are pretty much everywhere as reinforcements).^[3]

---

Now that you know that, wouldn't it make sense for the REDD and BLUE forces to be Navy/Marine forces as well? We're having this gigantic war that spans a dozen or so planets, and who's going to be at each one? That's right, some mysterious Spartan that'll soon be KIA.^[4] Also, the Navy & Marines.

So here's my suggestion. We revise our ranking system to match that of a Navy/Marine mix. I also referred to Halo: Reach's rankings, as they are of a similar fashion (mixing Navy & Marine, then words that have important meaning in the Halo lore).

The table below is what I'm proposing. It downscales the current 25 to 20 positions, mostly by removing fancy titles. Rest in peace, "Sergeant Major of the Army" and Warrant Officers.

EDIT: Updated this table's abbreviations to match the the three-character limit, also added pretty colors

Pay Grade	Title	Abbreviation
n/a	Recruit	Rct
Enlisted-1	Private	Pvt
E-2	Private First Class	PFC
E-3	Lance Corporal	LCp
E-4	Corporal	Cpl
E-5	Sergeant	Sgt
E-6	Staff Sergeant	SSg
E-7	Chief Petty Officer	CPO
E-8	Master Sergeant	MSg
E-9	Master Chief Petty Officer	MCP
Officer-1	Second Lieutenant	2Lt
O-2	First Lieutenant	1Lt
O-3	Captain	Cpt
O-4	Lieutenant Commander	LCd
O-5	Commander	Cdr
O-6	Colonel	Col
O-7	Brigadier General	BGn
O-8	Major General	MGn
O-9	Vice Admiral	VAd
O-10	General	Gen
Special	Fleet Marshal	FM

For those interested in my first-pass suggestion on reassigning ranks from the current structure to this one, please see this table:

Current Rank Structure	Proposed Rank Structure
Recruit (RCT)	Recruit (Rct)
Private (PVT)	Private (Pvt)
Private First Class (PFC)	Private First Class (PFC)
Specialist (SPC)	Lance Corporal (LCp)
Lance Corporal (LCP)	Lance Corporal (LCp)
Corporal (CPL)	Corporal (Cpl)
Sergeant (SGT)	Sergeant (Sgt)
Staff Sergeant (SSG)	Staff Sergeant (SSg)
Gunnery Sergeant (GSG)	Chief Petty Officer (CPO)
Master Sergeant (MSG)	Master Sergeant (MSg)
Sergeant Major (SGM)	Master Chief Petty Officer (MCP)
Sergeant Major of the Army (SMA)	-
Warrant Officer (WO)	Second Lieutenant (2Lt)
Chief Warrant Officer (CWO)	First Lieutenant (1Lt)
Second Lieutenant (2LT)	Captain (Cpt)
First Lieutenant (1LT)	-
Captain (CPT)	Lieutenant Commander (LCd)
Major (MAJ)	Commander (Cdr)
Lieutenant Colonel (LTC)	-
Colonel (COL)	Colonel (Col)
Brigadier General (BRG)	Brigadier General (BGn)
Major General (MJG)	Major General (MGn)
Lieutenant General (LTG)	Vice Admiral (VAd)
General (GEN)	General (Gen)
Field Marshal (FM)	Fleet Marshal (FM)

[5] UNSC Rank Structure

---

If you want suggest an alternative mix, solely stick with either Navy or Marine, stay with the current system, or just feedback, I'm all ears! (Not literally, as I have a hearing loss that's rather profound).

[silversleek(GEN)]

you actually cited things. i'm kind of impressed.

sergeant major of the army will probably stay, as that rank currently holds a specific purpose. however, there have been claims of their being too many ranks before. Although, those were more targeted in the 'enlisted' center than the officer corp, so i don't think warrant officer, cwo are going. unless those were made into enlisted ranks. it's been awhile since i've kept up on this sort of stuff. Either way, i like it purely on the basis that someone took the time to come up with a different system to use instead of just muttering softly to themselves about the ranks.

[Legendary Nova]

This is ridiculously amazing for only 18 hours of membership. Seriously, well done!

[RENGADE 0F FUNK]

Field Marshal will also stay because tradition, if anything did come from this.

[Ominous Solace]

I agree with the purposed changes, we in BLUE rarely use ranks such as Sergeant Major of the Army. I personally believe that having the Warrant Officer ranks a kinda pointless at this point in time. I'd like to see this change to be implemented at sometime within the Community if possible.

Again, seeing as you haven't been here long and you already are trying to help with things and shape things for the future of the community is an amazing quality. Keep up the good work!

[Lol its James]

I agree with the purposed changes, we in BLUE rarely use ranks such as Sergeant Major of the Army. I personally believe that having the Warrant Officer ranks a kinda pointless at this point in time. I'd like to see this change to be implemented at sometime within the Community if possible.

Again, seeing as you haven't been here long and you already are trying to help with things and shape things for the future of the community is an amazing quality. Keep up the good work!

So bump every executive officer to 2nd Lt? Because in redd, WO and CWO mean two different things, xo and more experienced xo. Just wanted to see where you were going with this

[NervyDestroyer]

So bump every executive officer to 2nd Lt? Because in redd, WO and CWO mean two different things, xo and more experienced xo. Just wanted to see where you were going with this

I also adopt that system with Warrant Officers. Warrant Officer = Inexperienced XO and Chief Warrant Officer = Experienced XO

The issue with redoing the ranks is it would have to be worked out what NCO ranks are, what XO ranks are, and what CO ranks are. Then new usergroups need to be made. I don't see much problem with our current system. Very well thought out though.

[NecroNocte]

Cleaning the ranks up has been proposed before, and I do believe we have actually changed the ranks up before too. I don't think the ranks need to be cleaned up, rather people need to be placed in their rank based on their job. You've come at a low activity point. This means that the rank structure looks broken. We have high level officers leading squads, etc.

[Spartanbh]

While I always am up for a more authentic/canon approach, and you did an EXCELLENT job and made great points, right now it is a bit difficult to make any kind of significant changes to our rank system. I'm not saying that as a traditionalist (because I always liked having as many ranks as possible), but realistically, we already are struggling with having too many ranks, to the point where it looks kind of sloppy on our rank rosters, because we'll have some ranks with no one in it or just one, and other ranks will be filled with people.

I could see something like this becoming much more of a possibility if we have a significant increase in dedicated soldiers as well as a resurgence of role playing and lore.

We appreciate your enthusiasm however, and we are always looking for ideas that make our community more fun and exciting and efficient!

[Ominous Solace]

So bump every executive officer to 2nd Lt? Because in redd, WO and CWO mean two different things, xo and more experienced xo. Just wanted to see where you were going with this

Well as you know James I am merely approaching the idea from the BLUE perspective. I do understand that REDD does there thing differently from us, but like I said I am coming from a different perspective.