Can someone explain US army ranks to me?
By
Acyl,
Posted on: 2009-10-28 15:08 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
One place you might look:
http://www.militaryfactory.com/ranks/index.asp
Another is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform..._United_States - on the right, click the links for Enlisted vs Officer for more details about each branch of the service.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militar...arine_Corps.29
That's the ranks and responsibilities for the US Marines. Tells you how many troops each rank is in command of.
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Sergeant : . Non-Commissioned Officer| Now, I've looked into military ranks before, and I know there are about a zillion of them, with lots in-between (not that I know what any of them mean), so to narrow the question a bit, let me specify a few ranks I'm looking at. Specifically, I'm looking to understand what the ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Major and Colonel mean, what their responsibilities and authorities are, and what someone holding these ranks would do, just as a general thing. |
These are the enlisted guys. They talked to an Army Recruiter, got a job doing something in the Army, moved up through the working ranks, and have practical experience in their job field. They work for a living.
After attending Basic Training, they head onwards to AIT, or Advanced Individual Training, to begin their career paths.
***
Commissioned Officer: A Commissioned Officer enters the Army with some formal training, like a college degree. After passing Basic Training, they attend Officers School to learn the basics of leadership and the core tenants of being an Officer. Once they graduate they receive their Commission which basically says they are of such and such a rank.
It is possible, and non exactly uncommon in War-Time environments, for Civilians to be made Commissioned Officers for protection purposes or for practical purposes.
In the US Army, the Lieutenant Rank is the lowest rank, with First and Second Lieutenants. They've just graduated from Officers School and get stuck running the lowest amount of paperwork and acting as the direct commanders of squads and platoons.
The Major is above the Lieutenant. They've passed the rank of Captain, and have authority over a wider range of resources. Although they are of a higher rank, a Major can spend a lot of time in the field on assignment. In fiction, a Major is often used to identify an officer that's got some time in the service behind him, and is in charge of the crack team of sociopaths that are going to blow the smithereens out of something... or more often... the sole sociopath going behind enemy lines to blow the smithereens out of something.
In realistic life, most Majors are a bit boring. They often get small duty assignments or lost in the paper-work shuffling.
The Colonel is another double rank, with both Lieutenant Colonel, and the Full Bird. These guys have made a career out of being in the armed forces, and they also happen to be where the useless paper-pushers tend to float to. Effective Colonel's rise to become Generals. Ineffective Colonel's... don't.
In realistic life, you'll generall find Colonels either acting as direct gophers for Generals, or commanding larger installations.
I'm more familiar with USMC rank structure more than anything, but most modern militaries use similar rank structure.
Officers are the military's leadership. The thing to know is that, according to the book, any officer rank is superior to any enlisted rank, although junior officers usually recognize seniority and tenure of higher-ranking enlisted men, especially Staff NCOs (Staff Sergeants and above).
Officers must generally have a college degree or graduate from a military academy to be eligible for officer candidacy. However, it is possible to become an officer as an enlisted man through a warrant officer program. Officers are "commissioned" by the President and Congress to serve for a certain amount of time, and can continue to serve as long as they want thereafter, AFAIR.
Enlisted men sign contracts and serve for their obligated contract term, typically 2-4 years. When their contract expires, they can either sign a new contract to continue their service, and be discharged from service.
Higher ranks are usually conferred with length of service, although it also depends on rank availability. In times of war or other extenuating circumstances, field promotions can be granted by superior officers for both officers and enlisted men.
Funnily enough I have been researching this a bit while preparing for NaNoWriMo. Don't know about the paperwork though but I think that je_saist is pretty accurate.
My own knowledge about U.S. Ranks comes mostly from Stargate. Where the commissioned ones go something like: 2d Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant, Captain, Lt. Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General. (Air Force and Army are the same apparently in that, Navy is different, Colonel is the same rank as Captain in the Navy for example.
A Colonel average age is end thirties/begin forties. (from what I read) (probably not important for your purpose, but it was for the main character of the story.
I of course don't know whether the team size of an SG team is normal for a Colonel to lead, as I saw on wikipedia that a Lt. Colonel already commands 100 to 300 soldiers....
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@Lyrik
The short answer is that the army ranks are historically connected with command of units of various sizes in a hierarchical manner. Lts command platoons, Captains command a company which is composed of platoons, each with an Lt in command, that sort of thing.
However, ranks can also be given out to people for other reasons other than unit command. Not all colonels in the army command actual regiments. But in general, for the purposes you are intending to use the ranks for, I'd say there are just two things to consider:
1. If the character serves as a commander of combat troops, their rank would be associated with the number of men under their command, in rough terms. Calling him "Lt Jones" would imply he was a commander of a small unit of a few dozen people. Calling him "Colonel Jones" would imply he was a commander of a very large unit of probably a few thousand people.
2. Alternatively, they might have that rank because they served some special purposes in their career of similar importance and authority. As a rule, a Colonel is a Colonel if they have to be able to give orders to Majors, and so on. So a Colonel might be a Colonel because they command a regiment, and must give orders to the Majors in command of the units within the regiment. Or he might be a Colonel because he needs to be able to give orders to Majors and be the equal of other Colonels for some other reason other than direct command of a combat unit. An intelligence service officer, perhaps.
Pick the rank that is appropriate to what that character's military backstory suggests.
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I've got a Sgt. Elemental who was in charge of a platoon of soldiers during the 1st Rikti war, he was rebuilt bionic man style.
I've got a Sgt. Toxic who was with the PPD, before his 'accident'.
I kinda just used sargeant because I like the abbreviated look.
Now I'm kinda curious what the differences are between military ranks and police ranks.
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Colonels are just short of Generals, and typically lead larger units. For example, a Captain might lead a company, but a colonel leads several companies as a battalion. You can find more info on unit structures here.|
Originally Posted by Lyrik
I of course don't know whether the team size of an SG team is normal for a Colonel to lead, as I saw on wikipedia that a Lt. Colonel already commands 100 to 300 soldiers....
|
(<<< Former USMC)
Don't go off of SG. I think their reasoning for putting a high-ranking military person in charge of a single squad was basically due to the sensitive nature of traveling to different worlds. In real life, a colonel would almost never lead a squad or fire team his or herself - that's a task for an enlisted person, or a Lt. at most.
I want to respond to je saist, but I'm going back to front, so... Thank you, Arcanaville. This goes a long way towards helping me. I generally have two characters I care about, and they fit both of your points.
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I'll have to double-check the link to unit sizes Ruby Rose gave me, but I think from what I saw, a Major will do for the one character who was supposed to be one. I'm still not sure how accurate it would be for me to put the major in actual combat, but given the kind of position I had in mind for her, the rank seems to ring true.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
1. If the character serves as a commander of combat troops, their rank would be associated with the number of men under their command, in rough terms. Calling him "Lt Jones" would imply he was a commander of a small unit of a few dozen people. Calling him "Colonel Jones" would imply he was a commander of a very large unit of probably a few thousand people.
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| 2. Alternatively, they might have that rank because they served some special purposes in their career of similar importance and authority. As a rule, a Colonel is a Colonel if they have to be able to give orders to Majors, and so on. So a Colonel might be a Colonel because they command a regiment, and must give orders to the Majors in command of the units within the regiment. Or he might be a Colonel because he needs to be able to give orders to Majors and be the equal of other Colonels for some other reason other than direct command of a combat unit. An intelligence service officer, perhaps. |
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| Pick the rank that is appropriate to what that character's military backstory suggests. |
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Staff officer = not a rank, but a position. Usually an officer on a general's staff.
Commissioned officer = someone ranked Lt. or above. They are "commissioned" as opposed to the "non-commissioned officers" aka NCOs or enlisted personnel.
XO = executive officer. Assistant to the commanding officer.
CO = commanding officer. This officer commands a unit. Can be basically any commissioned officer rank.
To explain the ranks and their responsibilities, I need to explain how army units are organized. I hope this doesn't get too confusing. The troop numbers below are averages and can vary.
Units
More info on sergeants and lieutenants:
Sergeant = working man's boss. Think "foreman". It's an enlisted rank, not a commissioned officer rank. Sergeants are the backbone of the army. Sergeants get things done.
Lieutenant = junior officer. Second Lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. First lieutenant is the next next lowest. These are folks right out of college, officer candidate school or West Point (a university run by the army).
FYI: there are many enlisted ranks, including Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, etc. "Sergeant" as a rank refers to what some call a "buck sergeant", the lowest rank of sergeant. But all ranks of Sergeant are addressed as "Sergeant", much like all officers are addressed as "Sir".
I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have.
- Squad - a group of about 10 soldiers.
- Platoon - four squads. a group of about 40 soldiers.
- Company - a group of four or five platoons. About 200 soldiers.
- Battalion - a group of four or five companies. About 1,000 soldiers.
- Brigade - a group of four or five battalions. About 5,000 soldiers.
- Division - a group of three or four brigades. About 20,000 soldiers.
- Corps - a group of two or more divisions. Size can vary greatly.
Ranks
- Sergeant - non-commissioned officer, aka enlisted. In charge of a squad or a platoon.
- Lieutenant - in charge of a platoon. Or XO for a company.
- Captain - in charge of a company.
- Major - XO for a battalion.
- Lieutenant Colonel - in charge of a battalion.
- Colonel - in charge of a brigade.
- Brigadier General - in charge of a brigade or a division.
- Major General - in charge of a division.
- Lieutenant General - in charge of a corps.
- General - in charge of a theater of operations or a major command.
More info on sergeants and lieutenants:
Sergeant = working man's boss. Think "foreman". It's an enlisted rank, not a commissioned officer rank. Sergeants are the backbone of the army. Sergeants get things done.
Lieutenant = junior officer. Second Lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. First lieutenant is the next next lowest. These are folks right out of college, officer candidate school or West Point (a university run by the army).
FYI: there are many enlisted ranks, including Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, etc. "Sergeant" as a rank refers to what some call a "buck sergeant", the lowest rank of sergeant. But all ranks of Sergeant are addressed as "Sergeant", much like all officers are addressed as "Sir".
I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have.
What everyone has told you is true Sam. I would add:
Like Arcana said, rank roughly correlates to the size of a unit that the person commands.
For example with Officers:
A Lieutenant (O-1, O-2) typically leads a Platoon.
A Captain (O-3) or Major (O-4) might lead a Company
etc.
See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Organization
But then when, you're dealing with someone with a specific learned skill, say a doctor, pilot, lawyer, etc. They're almost always going to be an Officer rank (Lt. or above), even if they don't command anyone.
For example, not sure if you've ever seen the old television show MASH, but the doctors on that show were mostly either Captains or Majors. And that designation had nothing to do with their ability to command troops. It was just a rank given to compensate for their advanced training.
So when selecting a rank for my characters I usually use the following rules of thumb:
1) If I'm thinking of a soldier, someone who fights for a living, I'm typically going to select one of the enlisted ranks like Sergeant.
2) If I'm thinking of a leader, but young, brash, perhaps foolhardy, then I'll go with a Lt.
3) I usually avoid Captain altogether because Captain is a MUCH higher naval rank than it is an Army, Air Force or Marine Corps rank (equating to a Colonel)
4) I usually avoid Generals because they customarily are too important to be on the front lines most times and from an RP perspective it just doesn't fit with me.
5) Colonel is usually the rank I use for a senior, experienced officer. Sergeant Major for an experience enlisted soldier.
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Useful example. Also, it was realistic in terms of the number of men under his command; a few dozen.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Lieutenant - Rasczak from the Starship Troopers movie, who seemed to act like lord and ruler of his men and the sole man responsible for everything.
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| Major - Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. |
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| For a Colonel, I could probably also quite Colonel Carl Jenkins (seriously) again from the Starship Troopers movie, but his entire role in the movie is to resemble a Nazi officer and make a grand total of one order, so I've no idea what his rank is supposed to mean. |
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Let me see if I get this straight - a Non-Commissioned Officer is someone who enlisted as a soldier and rose through the ranks, whereas a Commissioned Officer is more a commander and less a frontline soldier essentially commissioned by the government? Do I have that about right?|
Originally Posted by je_saist
Sergeant : . Non-Commissioned Officer
These are the enlisted guys. They talked to an Army Recruiter, got a job doing something in the Army, moved up through the working ranks, and have practical experience in their job field. They work for a living. After attending Basic Training, they head onwards to AIT, or Advanced Individual Training, to begin their career paths. Commissioned Officer: A Commissioned Officer enters the Army with some formal training, like a college degree. After passing Basic Training, they attend Officers School to learn the basics of leadership and the core tenants of being an Officer. Once they graduate they receive their Commission which basically says they are of such and such a rank. |
So how likely would it be for a commissioned officer to willingly step out into a fight, rather than standing back in his command centre and commanding? Movies seem to show Lieutenants rolling out with their soldiers, but Colonels tend to stay behind. Then on the other hand, we have CNC: Generals' Colonel Burton, who knifes people and blows up buildings... Is he a real Colonel or did the name just sound cooler with Colonel in front of it? Remember, he's a throwback to Red Alert's Tanya, whose title in that game is "Special Agent." I think she was supposed to be CIA, but I don't remember.
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| In the US Army, the Lieutenant Rank is the lowest rank, with First and Second Lieutenants. They've just graduated from Officers School and get stuck running the lowest amount of paperwork and acting as the direct commanders of squads and platoons. |
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The Major is above the Lieutenant. They've passed the rank of Captain, and have authority over a wider range of resources. Although they are of a higher rank, a Major can spend a lot of time in the field on assignment. In fiction, a Major is often used to identify an officer that's got some time in the service behind him, and is in charge of the crack team of sociopaths that are going to blow the smithereens out of something... or more often... the sole sociopath going behind enemy lines to blow the smithereens out of something. In realistic life, most Majors are a bit boring. They often get small duty assignments or lost in the paper-work shuffling. |
I'd also like to thank you kindly for your help, saist. I appreciate the insight and the more down-to-earth explanation of things. It really helps me get a feel of how things go.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Also a good point and still true today, especially in the medical and intelligence branches of the armed forces.
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Originally Posted by Ironblade
If you've ever watched the American TV show M.A.S.H., you may have noticed that every doctor was a commissioned officer. They were given a high rank due to their special skills.
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My main character for now is Lt. Col send on a mission with a small team(Major as XO and two lieutenants) for something highly secret. Would something like this even be feasible in real life?(as much as I want realism in that part my main character is early/mid thirties so his rank do need to be appropiate for his age(assuming he has a normal progression))
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
Colonels are just short of Generals, and typically lead larger units. For example, a Captain might lead a company, but a colonel leads several companies as a battalion. You can find more info on unit structures here.
(<<< Former USMC) Don't go off of SG. I think their reasoning for putting a high-ranking military person in charge of a single squad was basically due to the sensitive nature of traveling to different worlds. In real life, a colonel would almost never lead a squad or fire team his or herself - that's a task for an enlisted person, or a Lt. at most. |
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@Lyrik
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I know! But she was the only major I could think of |
Originally Posted by Ironblade
Terrible example. Firstly, it's not set in the U.S. Secondly, she's an intelligence operative and not a regular soldier.
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*edit*
Other than Major Payne, but wouldn't that be a WORSE example?
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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It's very realistic. Lt's are in the field with their troops. They lead platoons, but because they're young, they also rely on their platoon sergeant to advise them.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
How likely is a lieutenant to see action intentionally? Movies seem to show them going into battle with their men (Starship Troopers as the example), but I don't know how realistic that is.
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| That's part of the reason I asked. In the info I found, the Major was described as essentially a paperwork rank, which wouldn't quite jive with what I had in mind. The amount of people under a Major's command feels about right, but if it's completely ludicrous that a Major would step out of the tent and, as you said "blow the smithereens out of something," then I may have to do some lateral thinking. |
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| That's generally the problem with trying to give someone an important-sounding rank - the higher the rank is, the less action that person is likely to see. Gone are the days of king leading cavalry charges. |
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Yes.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Let me see if I get this straight - a Non-Commissioned Officer is someone who enlisted as a soldier and rose through the ranks,
|
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| whereas a Commissioned Officer is more a commander and less a frontline soldier essentially commissioned by the government? Do I have that about right? |
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| So how likely would it be for a commissioned officer to willingly step out into a fight, rather than standing back in his command centre and commanding? Movies seem to show Lieutenants rolling out with their soldiers, but Colonels tend to stay behind. |
Furthermore, aircraft is typically only flown by officers or warrant officers. Enlisted men only provide logistics and support for aircraft (supplies, repair, maintenance, etc.).
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Perhaps. But for RP purposes, in the intelligence field, you could have some leeway... especially for espionage and top secret missions.
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Originally Posted by Lyrik
My main character for now is Lt. Col send on a mission with a small team(Major as XO and two lieutenants) for something highly secret. Would something like this even be feasible in real life?(as much as I want realism in that part my main character is early/mid thirties so his rank do need to be appropiate for his age(assuming he has a normal progression))
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Thanks |
Originally Posted by Obsidius
Perhaps. But for RP purposes, in the intelligence field, you could have some leeway... especially for espionage and top secret missions.
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Yeah, it's definitely top secret.
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Yes, but let me add two quick things.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Let me see if I get this straight - a Non-Commissioned Officer is someone who enlisted as a soldier and rose through the ranks, whereas a Commissioned Officer is more a commander and less a frontline soldier essentially commissioned by the government? Do I have that about right?
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1) It's not all that rare for a promising NCO to go through an advanced program and become commissioned as an officer, typically a 2nd Lieutenant. Thus you could have something along the lines of Private > Corporal > Sergeant > Lieutenant.
There is a big divide between Enlisted personnel and Commisioned Officers, but in the modern military one than be breached.
For example, I have a friend who enlisted into the Marines out of high school and attended college. While in college, he attended the Army's ROTC program. After 4 years, he became a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army.
2) A big key is to understand that not all officer job duties are the same. A 2nd Lieutenant in infantry is very likely to out fighting with his men. When the men get back into the rear, the Lieutenant will have to catch up on a lot of paperwork but even then, he has enlisted soldiers devoted to helping with the paperwork.
Had he been a 2nd Lieutenant in the supply corps, he very likely would not be out in the field with men; he would be at headquarters supervising enlisted men who are also in supply corps.
By no means are 100% of a unit's people fighters; think about the supply clerks, records clerks, medics, weaponsmith, mechanics and so on that are absolutely vital in keeping those fighters fed, equipped, paid, and safe.
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| So how likely would it be for a commissioned officer to willingly step out into a fight, rather than standing back in his command centre and commanding? Movies seem to show Lieutenants rolling out with their soldiers, but Colonels tend to stay behind. Then on the other hand, we have CNC: Generals' Colonel Burton, who knifes people and blows up buildings... Is he a real Colonel or did the name just sound cooler with Colonel in front of it? Remember, he's a throwback to Red Alert's Tanya, whose title in that game is "Special Agent." I think she was supposed to be CIA, but I don't remember. |
As you go higher up in command, by definition you tend to have less personal involvement with what happens.
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| How likely is a lieutenant to see action intentionally? Movies seem to show them going into battle with their men (Starship Troopers as the example), but I don't know how realistic that is. |
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That's part of the reason I asked. In the info I found, the Major was described as essentially a paperwork rank, which wouldn't quite jive with what I had in mind. The amount of people under a Major's command feels about right, but if it's completely ludicrous that a Major would step out of the tent and, as you said "blow the smithereens out of something," then I may have to do some lateral thinking. That's generally the problem with trying to give someone an important-sounding rank - the higher the rank is, the less action that person is likely to see. Gone are the days of king leading cavalry charges. I'd also like to thank you kindly for your help, saist. I appreciate the insight and the more down-to-earth explanation of things. It really helps me get a feel of how things go. |
A good book to get a basic understanding of this would be Keegan's Mask of Command. In it, he shows you for example how Alexander was expected to (and could get away with) lead from the front of his men and yet how Wellington very much had to sit at the rear and coordinate the actions of his men.
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I want to quote this post in its entirety, as it's very good info and one that isn't actually terribly easy to find. I appreciate you taking the time to type this up and explain it, and I will definitely bookmark this thread or save that to a file somewhere just so I don't forget. This takes all the guesswork I had to go through in trying to figure out who should be commanding what.|
Originally Posted by Doughboy
Staff officer = not a rank, but a position. Usually an officer on a general's staff.
Commissioned officer = someone ranked Lt. or above. They are "commissioned" as opposed to the "non-commissioned officers" aka NCOs or enlisted personnel. XO = executive officer. Assistant to the commanding officer. CO = commanding officer. This officer commands a unit. Can be basically any commissioned officer rank. To explain the ranks and their responsibilities, I need to explain how army units are organized. I hope this doesn't get too confusing. The troop numbers below are averages and can vary. Units
Ranks
More info on sergeants and lieutenants: Sergeant = working man's boss. Think "foreman". It's an enlisted rank, not a commissioned officer rank. Sergeants are the backbone of the army. Sergeants get things done. Lieutenant = junior officer. Second Lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. First lieutenant is the next next lowest. These are folks right out of college, officer candidate school or West Point (a university run by the army). FYI: there are many enlisted ranks, including Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, etc. "Sergeant" as a rank refers to what some call a "buck sergeant", the lowest rank of sergeant. But all ranks of Sergeant are addressed as "Sergeant", much like all officers are addressed as "Sir". I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have. |
I have one question, though, that isn't directly related to the thread, but is sort of in the same vein - where does an army and an army group figure into this? I see you've listed things up to a corps, but I remember seeing a lot of WW2 documentaries which talked about army groups and the armies within them, and I sort of inferred they meant possibly into the millions of soldiers. Just curious where that stands.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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A couple of of Corps make an army. A couple of armies make an army group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_group
To further confuse you, in some cases they may be referring to some of those being skipped.
For example, you may just have a bunch of divisions put together to make an army without any corps structure involved.
IIRC, the Marines don't bother with brigades, they have a bunch of battalions together in what's called a Regiment (which is smaller than what a brigade would be) but then lump a bunch of those regiments together to make a division.
There's more than one way to organize things, even in the same country.
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Films and games, I find, tend to be a bad inspiration for realistic ranks. For the most part, anyway, especially big action Hollywood ones.
The most realistic I've seen is 'We Were Soldiers', where the Lieutenants are all heading platoons. I don't know if the SM (Sergeant Major) rank works like it does there, and that is an example of a Colonel being in a warzone, although that is based off real life event,s irrc. -shrug-
Wikipedia tends to be fairly accurate afaik on military ranks and such, simply because people will take the time to get that sort of stuff right.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
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OK, I know this is a stupid question, and I tried to find my own answer. Honest to God, I tried, but there is just so much supplementary information I just plain don't know that I can't make heads or tails of it. I don't know what a staff officer is and how that's different from a commissioned officer, I don't know what an XO is and how that's different from a CO, I have practically NO knowledge of army infrastructure or logistics. That, and I'm not American and I haven't been in the army, myself. My country dropped conscription laws a year before I was due.
Now, I've looked into military ranks before, and I know there are about a zillion of them, with lots in-between (not that I know what any of them mean), so to narrow the question a bit, let me specify a few ranks I'm looking at. Specifically, I'm looking to understand what the ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Major and Colonel mean, what their responsibilities and authorities are, and what someone holding these ranks would do, just as a general thing.
My reasons for asking are about as simple as they get - I want to give a couple of my characters ranks, and I don't want to just randomly attribute one out of nowhere and then guess what it would mean. I'm not too much of a stickler for realistic accuracy, but wherever possible, I like to NOT contradict real life for no reason beyond simple ignorance.
Now, keep in mind that my only exposure to US military tradition has been from movies, and not all of them having to do with the actual US military, so Heaven knows how much of my info is even accurate. I have seen a few people use those ranks, however. Off the top of my head:
Sergeant - Big Joe from Kelly's Heroes. He seemed to be practically in charge of everything, though they kept talking about a Lieutenant (was it?) who was away for the entirety of the movie.
Lieutenant - Rasczak from the Starship Troopers movie, who seemed to act like lord and ruler of his men and the sole man responsible for everything. Of course how much of that is the rank and how much is Michael Ironside just exaggerating it I can't say. Am I safe to assume the Lieutenant is a combat rank, though, as in someone who suits up and goes out to shoot people?
Major - Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. Unfortunately, Ghost in the Shell is such an existentialist mess that I've NO idea what her rank even meant or what she was supposed to be doing. She could have been called a SpecOps and it'd have made as much sense. I'm drawing a blank here.
Colonel - Cambell from Metal Gear. He's an old man who spends most of his time talking and trying to give orders, but doesn't actually contribute much in a meaningful way. Ineffectivenss aside, he appears to be some kind of high commander who is supposed to have a lot of authority (even if it doesn't work out that way, damn flanderization of a good concept!), but I've no idea what his responsibilities actually are.
For a Colonel, I could probably also quite Colonel Carl Jenkins (seriously) again from the Starship Troopers movie, but his entire role in the movie is to resemble a Nazi officer and make a grand total of one order, so I've no idea what his rank is supposed to mean.
Can anyone help me out here?