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Rank

From Joepedia - The G.I. Joe Wiki

Rank has rarely been a significant issue in official Joe fiction. The cartoon seemed to ignore it altogether, except in the movie, when Lt. Falcon tried to pull rank on Duke and failed. Nevertheless, the filecards take care to report the rank of all but two or three Joes, and even early Cobras had equivalents ranging from E-4 to O-5.

Contents

[edit] U. S. Military Pay Grades

Grade Army Marines Air Force Navy
O-10[1] General Admiral
O-9 Lieutenant General Vice Admiral
O-8 Major General Rear Admiral (Upper)
O-7 Brigadier General Rear Admiral (Lower)
O-6 Colonel Captain
O-5 Lieutenant Colonel Commander
O-4 Major Lieutenant Commander
O-3 Captain Lieutenant
O-2 First Lieutenant Lieutenant Junior Grade
O-1 Second Lieutenant Ensign
W-5 Chief Warrant Officer
W-4 Chief Warrant Officer
W-3 Chief Warrant Officer
W-2 Chief Warrant Officer
W-1 Warrant Officer
Grade Army Marines Air Force Navy
E-9 Sergeant Major Chief Master Sergeant Master Chief Petty Officer
E-8 Master Sergeant or First Sergeant Senior Master Sergeant Senior Chief Petty Officer
E-7 Sergeant First Class Gunnery Sergeant Master Sergeant Chief Petty Officer
E-6 Staff Sergeant Technical Sergeant Petty Officer, 1st Class
E-5 Sergeant Staff Sergeant Petty Officer, 2nd Class
E-4[2] Specialist or Corporal Sergeant or Senior Airman Petty Officer, 3rd Class
E-3 Private First Class Lance Corporal Airman First Class Seaman
E-2 Private Private First Class Airman Seaman Apprentice
E-1 Private Private Airman Basic Seaman Recruit

[edit] Non-Army Joes

The vast majority of Joes are in the U.S. Army. But the following represent foreign armed forces or other branches of the U.S. military:

[edit] Air Force

Ace
Countdown
Dogfight
Ghostrider
Maverick
Payload
Skystriker
Slip-Stream
Space Shot

[edit] Coast Guard

Cutter

[edit] Marines

Bullhorn
Gung-Ho
Hollow Point
Leatherneck
Mace
Mainframe
Sgt. Slaughter
Blast-Off
Clutch
Mirage [3]

[edit] Navy

Deep Six
Depth Charge
Dr. Link Talbot
Keel-Haul
Rampart
Shipwreck
Topside
Torpedo
Tracker
Wet-Suit
Wet Down


[edit] Oktober Guard (Soviet Union)

Col. Brekhov
Volga/Daina
Dragonsky
Lt. Gorky
Big Bear/Horrorshow
Red Star
Shrage
Stormavik
Sgt. Misha Zubenkov

[edit] S.A.S.

Big Ben (British SAS)
Skymate (Australian SAS)

[edit] No Rank Given

Back-Stop
Chameleon
Mercer (listed as E-5 Equivalent)
Red Dog (listed as E-5 Equivalent)
Specialist Trakker
Storm Shadow (as G.I. Joe member)
Taurus (listed as E-5 Equivalent)

[edit] Rank on the Cartoon

As mentioned above, the Sunbow cartoon generally disregarded Joe rank. Otherwise, the first-season Joe team would have been led by Ace and Doc, with the next-ranking officers being Cutter and Steeler. Shipwreck would have outranked Beach Head, and Bazooka would have been giving orders to Alpine.

The various team members usually treated one another as equals, and leadership on a mission was more a matter of functionality and experience than official rank. The only Joes addressed by rank on the series were Sergeant Hauser, Sergeant Slaughter, Lieutenant Falcon, and General Hawk, plus "colonels" Dial-Tone, Lifeline, and Shipwreck. (In their episode, Beachhead expressed surprise that the promotions had not gone to him, Roadblock, or Slip-Stream.)

G.I. Joe's leadership, as reported in "Arise, Serpentor, Arise" and The Most Dangerous Thing in the World, had Hawk at the head of the team, followed by Duke, then Flint, and finally Sgt. Slaughter and Beachhead. In the absence of these, Scarlett, Ace, and Lady Jaye usually took the lead on their missions, and Stalker, Gung-Ho, Cover Girl, Cutter, Roadblock, Dusty, and Tollbooth also took on leadership roles at times. Shipwreck was not averse to shouting orders to his teammates, but he apparently never carried legitimate authority over anyone. In addition, Cutter sat next to Flint at Dusty's court-martial, and Slip-Stream, Wild Bill, and Admiral Ledger were alongside Hawk at Falcon's hearing. Admiral Ledger was in charge of the USS Flagg but seemed to be outside the Joe team itself, on par with Colonel Sharp.

[edit] References

  1. Eleven men have held rank higher than the four-star O-10. "Five star" Generals of the Army: Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, and Bradley; Fleet Admirals Leahy, King, Nimitz, and Halsey; and General of the Armies of the United States John J. Pershing and George Washington. (Washington's rank was awarded posthumously in 1976.)
  2. Army E-4's are regarded as specialists except when specifically named corporals. It is presumed that most Joe E-4's are classified as corporals as part of their assignment to the G.I. Joe team.
  3. Assumes the "Mega Marines" of 1993 were all Marines. If not, then Blast-Off, Clutch, and Mirage are probably Army, and the Marines are probably angry about lending their name to three Army guys.