A rough guide to the rankings of the soldier. The first one could represent a private, private 1st class, or specialist, which is an E-1 to E-3 rank, with minor designations in leadership being present in some units or in case the primary leader is removed. So the individual is treated as a peer to the other members of their class unless the leader is removed for some reason, like they get separated or the leader is injured. As sergeants largely lead fireteams (although only lower ranking sergeants, where as a higher ranking one runs the squad), the corporal rank is largely used to designate the 2nd in command who might take over if the leader is incapacitated, rather than a functional position most of the time. In this case, the lance corporal is actually higher ranking the corporal, which is not the case in real life. Usually, specialist positions like marksmen, medics, or machine guns can be corporals, although often medics are classified as sergeants, simply due to the special emphasis placed on medics in the Manokan military. Ranks in many cases are honorary titles that only come in to effect in extreme circumstances, sort of like how in the special forces every soldier is a sergeant rank or higher, and the team leader is a captain etc.
During times of heavy war and with conscription of largely poorly trained draftees, these superior soldiers, often ranked as corporal, specialist etc. become more important, and sometimes even become fireteam or squad leaders. The higher rank largely stands as honorable title in peacetime, where as times of "war", or heavy WWII like war, the rank becomes actually useful and denotes leadership positions. In this way they can proliferate skilled NCO's across the military if need be in order to upsize the military force and have the better men serve as force multiplier. Squads like this are not always broken up in to smaller pieces, but extra "scrubs" can be added to beef up the size of a squad or men can be rearranged. This allows for more effective leadership and control when the military swells in size during extreme times of war, but for everyday purposes the difference between a corporal, private or specialist is largely just the pay grade and the honorable title. E-5 staff sergeants are generally fireteam leaders, while E-6 Sergeant first class run squads, and Lieutenants run platoons. The E-5 sergeant rank (but not staff sergeant or medical sergeant), largely applies to leaders of small groups, such as a tank commander, weapons team (such as a heavy machine gun team, mortar team leader etc.), or other specialty group. Sometimes the leader of a group of drivers, or group of vehicle operators will be an E-5, or someone in charge of a fireteam sized unit that is not a full sized squad. This rank is intended to denote their separation from a staff sergeant and delineate's from the infantry, showing a more general purpose. It's not uncommon for specialists such as computer experts or storage experts to be simply promoted to "sergeant", while largely infantry use the term "staff sergeant". Sometimes sergeants will be in the squad, but have no leadership position, simply having that high of a rank but no squad or fireteam of their own to command, and thus retain the same paygrade but are a normal soldier in the squad, being an E-5. Ranks above E-6 usually run a squad or co-run a platoon with the lieutenant, and sometimes serve as advisors to entire companies. Extremely high ranking sergeants have large amounts of influence, and often make decisions with higher ranking officers. Captains run companies, majors run battalions, colonels run regiments, brigadier generals run brigades, major generals run divisions, and generals run unit groups, or co-run divisions. Leadership is very cooperative, often with many individuals being equal to their peers or close to it for a more democratic process among leaders. This style of leadership is more like an oligarchy than a dictatorship, and ensures a system of checks and balances, although the highest ranking member usually has veto power.
This may sound somewhat tedious, but this is designed to address rank inflation during peace and wartime. More skilled soldiers can get their promotions without *having* to be in command positions, but the ranks still closely correlate to said command positions. Also cooperative leadership prevents stagnant leadership or low ranking officers from ruining operations, as well as just provides more insight in general.
Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 3:40 pm
