i've been watching LoGH subtitled (my japanese just *isn't* that good!)
and noticed that that yang wen-li is addressed sometimes an admiral, other
times as a general. i was wondering, though, if anyone knew what the
different grades in the alliance and the empire actually are?
in the subtitles of the first series that i have, yang is a "brigadier
general" at astarte and promoted to "rear admiral" when he takes command of
XIII fleet. naturally, i'm a little confused. i hope that anyone with
more knowledge into the organization of the alliance army will follow up.
in the US army/navy officer ranks (which i've listed here merely as an
example), there are some officer titles that mean very different things in
the different services' commissioned ranking structures (by equivalents)...
ARMY NAVY
General Officers Flag Officers
General Admiral
Lieutenant General Vice Admiral
Major General Rear Admiral (upper half)
Brigadier General Rear Admiral (lower half) / Commodore
Field Grade Officers Command Officers
Colonel Captain **
Lieutenant Colonel Commander
Major Lieutenant Commander
Company Grade Officers Junior Officer
Captain ** Lieutenant *
1st Lieutenant * Lieutenant (Junior Grade) *
2nd Lieutenant * Ensign
Officer Candidates
Cadet Midshipman
of course, there's no reason that either the alliance or the empire must
follow these models. but i was curious if the addresses i was seeing were
a whim of the translator or an actual reflection of the way that their
military forces are organized.
organization is a big factor in the evolution of rank structures. in
armies around the world, the cellular unit has been the `captain' and his
`company'. and in the navies, traditionally this has been the `captain'
and his ship/crew (or ship's `company'). but armies got much bigger, and
most of the new ranks introduced were above captain. in the navies OTOH,
it was the ships/crews that got much bigger, rather than just the fleets.
i mention this because it's interesting that the sheer size of both the
alliance and imperial fleets would naturally tend to foster the army-style
evolution of officer grades. if someone knows how the alliance and
imperial army ranks are actually organized/translated, i'd really
appreciate some clarification. thanks in advance.
we now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
-- Wayne H. Yin why@mail.utexas.edu