Pulling rank....a question

I recently had the Rogue Squadron book series recomended to me and have already read the first two in less than a week. I do love them, but they brought up a question that has been a sort of problem in my writing as well.
Commander Wedge Antilles is, most clearly the man in charge of Rogue Squadron. Tycho Celchu is acting as XO (Executive Officer) and has the rank of Captian. Well, if I'm not mistaken, Captain is the higher rank, but Wedge clearly has the control. Tycho doen't get to boss him around, and is subject to Wedge's orders.
So who's really in charge?
Rank has always caused me problems, and I want it to be acurate in my stories.

 

*does a quick search of Resource threads for "rank"*

Here's a few past threads on the subject:

Ranks by Jaina_and_Jag
Question: Military ranks? by Sock_of_Darth_Vader
Military ranks in the EU by DantanaSkywalker
New Republic Military Ranks? by Jedi_Johnson
Rebel Alliance ranks by Thumper09

I'd go through them to find the most informative one, but I really, really need to be sleeping right now. Enjoy!

- lazy

 

For all intents and purposes, the ranks seem to follow US military ranks - US Navy for Fleet Command and US Air Force for Starfighter Command - with one exception. The only place Commander exists in the US military is in the Navy and Coast Guard - likened to Fleet Command. The rank of Commander, strictly following US military, shouldn't even exist in Starfighter Command. But, forsome reason, it does.

In the Fleet, it holds true that Captain outranks Commander. But not so in Starfighter Command. It's made clear in the books that there are differences in the ranks between Starfighter and Fleet, and I think this is one of those instances.

There is a site here that lists out military ranks. I always, for my writing, assume Commander to be between Captain and Major.

Hope I didn't just confuse you more

Jes

 

Generally, have a look at sites detailing US Army/Navy ranks for answers about rank.

[EDIT] - beaten to it and with more detail!

 

Alright it goes like this if you don't want to follow those links.

Star Fighter Command
Flight Officer
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Commander
General

Fleet
Ensign
Lieutenant (I'm thinking they only have one lieutenant)
Lieutenant Commander
Captain
Admiral

I know I misspelled Lieutenant, I'm used to abbreviating it LT. So yeah. Oh and I think that a SFC General can take charge of a Fleet group, like Luke does at Bakura.

Oh and Commander in SFC is like Captain in the Navy, if you're in charge of a squadron no matter your rank, you're called Commander, just like in the Navy if you're in charge of a ship you're called Captain even if you're only an LT.

 

Star Fighter Command
Flight Officer
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Commander
General

Where do you get that Commander is a higher rank than Colonel? Wedge went from Captain sometime in the OT to being Commander... doesn't make sense he'd have skipped three ranks that early on. Make more sense he'd have skipped more ranks later on, after refusing promotion so many times.

Fleet
Ensign
Lieutenant (I'm thinking they only have one lieutenant)
Lieutenant Commander
Captain
Admiral

That's how I see it, except that you left out Commander between Lt. Commander and Captain ... unless they aren't used in FC?

Oh and Commander in SFC is like Captain in the Navy, if you're in charge of a squadron no matter your rank, you're called Commander, just like in the Navy if you're in charge of a ship you're called Captain even if you're only an LT.

I don't think so... Since you have Gavin, a Colonel I believe, in charge of a squadron in NJO.

 

Woah, I knew I left something out. And you'd think I'd remember that one as the only officer I have regular contact with is a Commander.

No, I think that's where it is, because Wedge turns down a promotion to General three times. When he's a Commander. I doubt they'd let him skip ranks like that. And they refer to Gavin as Commander a couple times I think, so I really think it's interchangable. Maybe there isn't an official rank like that, it's just a hold-over from the Rebellion when they had to interchange fleet and SFC officers.

 

I doubt they'd let him skip ranks like that.

But they would have in the Rebellion?

*shrug* Probably no official word on it, anyway...

 

RogueSquadronFlygirl- Because people have already answered the issue of the rank structure, I would like to answer this portion of your post: Commander Wedge Antilles is, most clearly the man in charge of Rogue Squadron. Tycho Celchu is acting as XO (Executive Officer) and has the rank of Captian. Well, if I'm not mistaken, Captain is the higher rank, but Wedge clearly has the control. Tycho doen't get to boss him around, and is subject to Wedge's orders.
So who's really in charge?

At the time, Tycho was considered a possible spy for the Empire and therefore not trusted. Wedge had made an arguement that Tycho stay with him, thus allowing his friend to still participate. So in this case, Tycho had to follow Wedge's orders.

However, I could have sworn that later in the X-wing series, a Major was promoted to Captain in order to command a small ship.

LJS

 

No, that was a Lieutenant. It was for the ship the Wraith's commandeered. When they were in a fight or something the Captain got killed so his 2IC had to take over and she was a lieutenant.

Oh and a CO is a Commanding Officer and an XO is an Executive Officer. So no matter what even if the CO's a Lieutenant and the XO's a Colonel, the CO's going to be able to order the XO around.

 

I could have sworn she was a Major- Wedge had a whole discussion about why he couldn't have her as his XO (something along the lines of "flying comes to her naturally. She'll get frustrated when she can't teach it to the pilots"). And when the captain got killed, she'd been on board and taken command...

Or maybe I'm just making this up

LJS

 

Oh, you're thinking of the one that later became the Rogue XO. Yeah, she was a Major, and Wedge wanted her to be his XO, but since he was remaking the Rogues, he said he needed an XO that could teach pilots to fly. And no you're making the ship thing up.

 

Probably combined two characters in my mind and came out with one

Thanks for clarifying

LJS

 

Given that SFC squadrons are relatively akin to Army companies (though considerably smaller), I think it makes more sense for the Commander rank fall between Captain and Major. "Commander" might actually be one of those job-titles that float like Captain does in from time to time. A squadron CO may have another rank, but they're called "Commander" while in charge of a squadron.

That would put the SFC ranks something like:

2nd Lieutenant (or maybe Lt. JG, can't remember) - pilot
1st Lieutenant - flight leader or squadron XO
Captain - squadron XO or CO (Commander)
Major - sqaudron CO (Commander) or wing leader
Lt. Colonel - wing leader or SFC
Colonel - SFC
General

GFFA ranks are really wacky, though... and some folks seem to switch branches of the military for no apparent reason. Only the Army seems to be stable... everybody else is at the mercy of the author. Unless your name is Solo, then your rank is simply tied to the level of insanity expected of you.

 

Aren't captains in terms of Star Destroyers etc. the higher rank, but in smaller units, lower? Because Captain Needa, Captain Piett...anyway...

 

At the time, Tycho was considered a possible spy for the Empire and therefore not trusted. Wedge had made an arguement that Tycho stay with him, thus allowing his friend to still participate. So in this case, Tycho had to follow Wedge's orders.

Tycho wouldn't have been in charge of Wedge anyway; Wedge has always outranked him.

Unless your name is Solo, then your rank is simply tied to the level of insanity expected of you.

Interesting perspective...

 

Nah, squadrons are closer to Army platoons. The problem though, is that all pilots are officers, or Flight officers, so you have to remember that the CO is going to be higher up. I think normally it's a Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel in charge of a squadron, a flight leader's liable to be a Major or a Captain. And then down from there.

Now in the GFFA it's pretty much the same way.

 

Aren't captains in terms of Star Destroyers etc. the higher rank, but in smaller units, lower? Because Captain Needa, Captain Piett...anyway...


Yeah, naval captains are higher ranking than captains in other services.

 

Do we ever see a Lt. Colonel in SFC? It would make a lot of sense if Commander (which is actualy short for Wing Commander in TTT) replaced the Lt. Colonel spot. If it was there, Wedge would outrank both Aril Numb (who was a Captain in Wedge's Gamble) as well as any Majors. He would also only be skipping 1 rank to hit General.

 

Jaina is a Lt. Colonel at the end of the NJO, IIRC.

 

Right. Hmm. NRFC seems to have changed the rank system somewhere. It looks like they settled on ground ranks, rather than naval or air

 

Personally I go by the rank structure set up by the X-wing books. And their authors. And that is it goes...

Flight Officer(British origins I believe)
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Commander
General

I just realized we never hear about a Colonel. So I'm thinking Commander was used instead of Colonel, or it just got screwed up somewhere between the NJO and the rebellion.

 

Colonel Tycho Celchu (I, Jedi)
Colonel Gavin Darklighter (Dark Tide)
Colonel Corran Horn (Dark Tide)