This, for me, is the most
utterly confusing aspect of
Babylon 5.
Aboard the station itself, you seem to have straight naval ranks--
Ensign,
Lieutenant,
Lieutenant Commander,
Commander, and
Captain.
In
GROPOS, we saw what was presumably a large army division--mostly enlisted men (
Private,
Private First Class,
Corporal, and
Sargeant). They're commanded by a
General, which makes sense and is still consistent.
In
Eyes, we have an
EarthForce Internal Affairs agent identified as a
Colonel. It's unclear what branch of the military he was actually in. He is identified as a
superior officer to
Commander Sinclair, so it's a higher rank than
Commander.
We then have
General Hague, who is on the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. He commands an
EarthForce ship during the coup against
President Clark, which would seem to indicate he's in the
Navy. This is reinforced by the fact that he gives
direct orders to
Ivanova in
Points of Departure, which wouldn't be possible if he was in a different branch. After Hague's death,
Major Ryan, his
second in command takes over for him. He also appears to be in the
Navy.
Major Krantz is the
commanding officer of
Babylon 4 when it disappears, but
JMS has indicated that he was in something equivalent to an
Army Corps of Engineers that helped build the station.
An
Admiralty is briefly alluded to in one episode, but as far as I can remember no
Admirals are actually seen. Numerous
Generals *are* seen, often giving the B5 staff direct orders.
Ivanova, in fact, is a
General in 2281 by the time of
Sleeping in Light.
It would appear, from the evidence listed above, that the
EarthForce naval rank system goes something like the following: Ensign, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, Colonel, General. I have no idea where
Major would fit in...he appears to be a lower rank than
Captain given Major Ryan's demeanor in
Severed Dreams, but I have no idea where to peg him at or whether he was really a
naval officer at all since
Ivanova was never a Major on her way from Lieutenant Commander through Captain.
If anyone can clarify this, please do. :)
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