Can someone explain US army ranks to me?

It was spelled BJ. It was on his official records that way and he later explained that the name came from his parents' names: Bea and Jay.

Now see, I remembered he said that's how his name came around. I just never saw how he spelled it. But I guess that makes since, since Hawkeye was bugging him the whole time to find out what it stood for (but I also assumed he just knew him as BJ, and not his actual records Silly me)

True. In military history throughout the ages, as a general rule (no pun intended), the higher the rank, the less likely they are in proximity of actual combat.

However, there are some notable well-documented exceptions. Alexander the Great and his Companions often enjoined in direct combat to turn the tide of the battle after it was initiated. In WW2, Rommel (widely considered a tanker, but just as much a highly skilled infantryman as his treatise on Infantry Tactics shows) was often found on the front line, sometimes with the advance recon units to personally assess the battlefield situation for himself, with numerous close calls. Likewise in WW2, after Stalin's purge of the officer corps earlier in the decade, Russian colonels were expected to be on the front line to keep their command intact and prevent desertions. Also, at least in 20th century warfare, some mission-critical special forces operations have been led by Colonels, although the force they command on the field for a specific operation may be a subset of their total command.

While it is rare for a commissioned officer, from Colonel up and even at the General level, to be in the line of fire, it isn't unheard of.

He deserved that. He might have been top 10 at West Point, but I guess they didn't teach him how to use his compass.

Or the simple physics of magnetic metals, medals aside.

True, but he served in the USMC up to the rank of Staff Sgt. So he was awarded only one rank honorarily - the others he earned the hard way

(Reference)

You know what? I think the Stargate example is probably as close as it gets to what I was shooting for. I've only ever seen the movie, but am I to understand Curt Russell was a Colonel in it? I think I remember him being called that, but it's been, what, 10 years since I last saw it?

Point is, due to the extenuating circumstances of having to use nuclear weapons and the general importance of the mission, a Colonel was put in charge of what looked like no more than a squad of soldiers, which from what I've seen here ought to be the charge of a Sergeant. However, because his task required some serious command authority, they stuck a particularly badass Colonel as a field combatant and went with that. That's sort of what I had in mind.

Put it like this - I have a special operative who generally has NO men under his command simply by virtue of the kind of work he does. I know "lone wolf" operatives who go out into the jungle on their own probably aren't common in real life military forces, but they're common in games and movies and that's sort of what I went with. However, because of the sensitive nature of his work and the great importance of his missions, he needs to be able to assume command when necessary, hence he is given a high rank (and in my case an equivalent rank, like what Red Alert's Tanya had).

From what I've read so far, the above doesn't seem at all likely to happen in a real-world army, but what I want to know is is it even POSSIBLE? I know that movies misappropriate what high-ranking officers and agents mean, via authority equals asskicking, but I also realise this is fiction divorcing from fact in a big way. But can this work the other way? I've already been told that specialists like doctors get a high-ish rank, but how about a truly high one, like Colonel or Major for someone who is, for all intents and purposes, a field operative with no actual command to speak of?

P.S. I think I found sort of what I was looking for by following my own link: Colonel Badass I apologise for diverging from reality so much.

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.

I alluded to this back in my first post on the subject. During WWII the British High Command, as well as the American Armed Forces, were known to commission undercover or underground agents with the rank of Captain, Major, and in a few cases, Lieutenant Colonel / Commander / Wing Commander. The last three being of roughly equivalent rank across the Land Army, Naval Forces, and Air Forces.

I'm unaware of any cases of civilians being commissioned as Group Captain / Full Colonel as such, but it that might have been possible as well. I'm also unaware if the practice extended into the Korean and Vietnam wars, although I suspect it did.

So, to answer you're question... is it possible? Depending on the scope of the mission, yes. In the War-torn story of Paragon City, it might be entirely possible that yes, the military forces have promoted a Metahuman / Superpower to a high rank to deal with some of the super-powered forces.

However, in in-game continuity, the only significant hero-side military faction is the Vanguard, and they do use the rank of Colonel for some of their officers : http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Vanguard

A Royal Navy Commander, actually.

I think I love you

That's a large part of what I had in mind for my own Major, actually. Less command of many men (less so during the time when she's actually in the army) and more special operations via a rather unique set of personal skills. I do like the notion that a job which requires a certain exposure to classified information, but still needs someone to chopper in and kick *** might go to a Major and a small squad of cannon fodder.

Incidentally, what rank does Solid Snake hold? Does he have a rank at all?

On the matter of Colonels, I actually found a couple of interesting examples. One is the Colonel from Predator, whom I didn't know was a colonel, but who acts more like a Corporal or a Sergeant despite his rank. The way he acts is a lot more in-line with what I had in mind for my own Colonel, but I'm not sure if that isn't just done to boost Arnie's badassitude.

The other is the Colonel from Akira, who seems to act a lot more like a commander and, in fact, seems to act more like a General. I'm not sure whether that's because he's warmongering enough to stage a coup and seize authority beyond his rank, or if it's just a post-apocalyptic Japan thing where the whole country has just one Colonel with armies and armies behind his back. The way he acts is pretty much the polar opposite to what I had in mind.

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.

Just looked him up in the MGS Database. It doesn't say. He was a Green Beret before he joined FOXHOUND for MG1, if that's any help. In MG2 and MGS he's retired from the Army, and in MGS2 and 4 he's with an anti-Metal Gear NGO. He's a free agent, and the database won't say what rank he was before. Colonel Campbell stops being a Colonel around MGS, but Snake still refers to him by rank out of respect.

It looks like Konami sidestepped the question altogether.

I actually stopped trying to figure out anything past Metal Gear Solid, because it doesn't seem like anyone has been taking the game seriously from Metal Gear Solid 2 onwards.

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.

Would you believe me when I say that MGS4 managed to tie up all the loose ends from the series? It made a few new ones, but everything odd about MGS2 was explained. (Hint: It's all nanomachines and AIs!) And Raiden was awesome, but you didn't get to play as him.

Lack of a Playstation would prevent me from verifying that. And why is it that I never hear anything about a Metal Gear Solid 3? Did it jump from 2 to 4?

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.

MGS 3 is a prequel to all Metal Gear games. In which you play as Naked Snake, later known as Big Boss(who happens to look and sound exactly the same as one of his clones Solid Snake). So MGS4 is the real sequel to MGS 2.

I would so serve in this military unit.

A couple of interesting names I've come across during my Military career:

Sgt Steele
Private Dancer
Private Phuket

Sounds like a suitable action hero name.

Now, if he were a Doctor, on the other hand...

It's not quite rank-based humour...but uniform tags in the Singapore Army typically list the soldier's initials followed by his family name.

Logical, right? Except...Singapore's majority ethnic group is Chinese. Why's that a problem?

Private SA TAN

The real kicker is that this happens frequently. There's been several SA TANs in this army. One was in my company.

Naval Commander. Equivalent to the Army Captain, I believe (but "Captain" in naval usage is reserved for the commander of a vessel, even if he is a lower actual rank).

Naval ranks are a whole different realm.