Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within the armed forces, police, intelligence agencies, or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in the military hierarchy. It incorporates the principles of exercising power and authority into the military chain of command – the succession of superiors from subordinates through which command is exercised. The military chain of command is an important component of organized collective action.
Usually, the uniform indicates the rank of the bearer with a special insignia affixed to the uniform. Classification systems have been known throughout most of military history to be useful to military operations, particularly with regard to logistics, command, and coordination; As time passed and military operations became larger and more complex, military ranks increased and the rating systems themselves became more and more complex.
Rank is not only used to assign leadership, but to determine salary as well. As the rank increases, the salary grade tracks, as well as the amount of responsibility.
Within the modern armed forces, the use of ranks is nearly universal. Communist countries sometimes abolished the ranks (for example, the Soviet Red Army 1918-1935, Chinese People’s Liberation Army 1965-1988, Albanian People’s Army 1966-1991), but had to re-establish them after experiencing operational command and control difficulties.
Origins of modern ranks
As the end of the European and Asian Middle Ages approached, the rank structure of postclassical armies became more formal. Senior officers were known as non-commissioned officers because their rank came from a royal commission. Army commissions were usually reserved for those of high status – the aristocracy in continental Europe and the aristocracy and nobility in Great Britain.
The basic unit of the postclassical army was the company, a group of soldiers appointed (or raised) by a vassal master on behalf of his master (in later times the king himself). The lord of the company leadership was an officer with the rank of captain. Captain is derived from the Late Latin capitaneus (meaning “head man” or chief).
The officer charged with assisting the captain in commanding the company is the lieutenant. Lieutenant is derived from the French language. Alternative means ‘place’ as in position; And the tenant means “to hold” as in “to hold a position”; Thus a “lieutenant” is a person who holds a position in the absence of his superior. When he was not helping the captain, the lieutenant commanded a unit called a platoon, particularly a more specialized platoon. The word derives from the 17th century French peloton, meaning a small ball or small detachment of men, which came from pelote, a ball.
An officer carrying a company (infantry) flag was the ensign. The word ensign is derived from the Latin word ensign. In cavalry companies the equivalent rank was the trumpet. In English usage, these ranks were incorporated into the rank of second lieutenant in the nineteenth century.
Not all officers received a commission from the King. Some specialists have been given a note of certification of their expertise as craftsmen. These NCOs assisted the commissioned officers but took a higher rank than the NCOs (NCOs). They received their power from the high-ranking officers rather than the king. The first NCOs were the armed servants (armed men) of the aristocracy, tasked with leading, organizing and training militia units raised for battle. After years of commanding a squad, a warrant officer can be promoted to sergeant, the highest rank of warrant officer.
While a sergeant may have commanded a squad upon promotion, he or she usually becomes a staff officer. While the commissioned staff officers assisted their commander with personnel, intelligence, operations, and logistics, the sergeant was a jack of all trades, concerned with all aspects of management to maintain the recruits serving under his commander. Over time, sergeants were distinguished in many ranks as different levels of sergeants were used by commanders of different levels of units.
Origins of higher ranks
As the armies grew larger, consisting of several companies, one captain was given general (general) authority over the field armies by the king. (National armies were the armies of kings. Field armies were armies raised by a king to enter the field of battle in preparation for the great battles.) In French history, lieutenant du Roi was a title held by an officer dispatched with military powers to represent him. King in certain provinces.
Lieutenant du Roy was sometimes known as lieutenant general to distinguish him from lieutenants subordinate to mere captains. A sergeant serving as a staff officer for the commanding general was known as a sergeant major. This was eventually shortened to brigade, while captain general began to take it, depending on the military branch, as general of infantry, cavalry brigade or artillery brigade, and over time these were reduced to mere general. . That is why the rank of major general is superior to that of lieutenant general, but the rank of major general is superior to that of major general.
In the modern era, recruits who attend basic training, also referred to as boot camp by some branches, are oriented in the hierarchical structure of the military rank. Many enlisted civilians find it difficult to understand the rank structure of the General Staff as previously stated, it becomes somewhat difficult to understand when the rationale is applied.
As armies grew, heraldry and determining unity remained primarily a matter of the regiment. The battalions led by the brigadier were the units that Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus II invented as a tactical unit (“Gustav II Adolf”, killed in the Battle of Lützen 1632). It was introduced to overcome the structure of the ordinary army, consisting of regiments. The so-called “Brigada” was a mixed unit, usually composed of infantry, cavalry and artillery, assigned to a special mission. The size of this brigada was a booster company up to two regiments. Brigada was a form of modern “task force” in the 17th century. In some armies, “brigadier” has been shortened to “brigadier”.
Around the end of the 16th century, companies were grouped into cohorts. The officers in charge of commanding these regiments were called “coulds” (non-commissioned officers). They were first appointed in Spain by King Ferdinand II of Aragon where they were also known as “Coronellos” since they were appointed by the Crown. Thus, the English pronunciation of the word colonel