RANK AND COMMAND. In the military or naval services, the different steps or grades of command are marked by a distinct title of rank or standing. The rank is relative to the grade or command, and an officer may be of the same grade yet be inferior in rank to another. Officers of the same grade are senior or junior to each other, according to the priority of their com mission. ln the United States, the Regular Army commission takes precedence of either militia or State National Guard commissions of the same grade. Where the grade and date of commission of two or more officers is the same, seniority is according to length of previous service; and should their period of service be equal, the order of appointment determines the rank between officers of the same regiment. Brevet (q.v.) rank applies only to the army.
As responsibility and subordination are the basis of organization, rank and command are the necessary correlatives. Every rank should have its proper command, and conversely every com mand should be accompanied by a proper rank. The only safe guide is the custom of nations, ac cording to which all the forces of the land, com prising usually several armies, are commanded by a general-in-chief, who is often the sovereign or head of the nation himself, if he should be by education and training a soldier capable of tak ing the field in that capacity; each separate army is commanded by a general or field-mar shal, each army corps by a lieutenant-general, each division by a major-general, and each brig ade by a brigadier-general. The regiment is com manded by a eolonel, assisted by a lieutenant colonel, each battalion by a major, and each com pany by a captain, assisted by first and second lieutenants.
There are some slight differences in the various armies of the world. For example, in France the highest rank is that of Marshal of France, and there is no grade corresponding to the United States major-general; in Germany the generals.
are classified as marshal-generals, eolonel-gen erals, generals of infantry, cavalry, or artillery (commanding army corps), lieutenant-generals (commanding divisions), and major-generals (commanding brigades)—there are no brigadier generals. and there are two grades of captains, first and second class. In Great Britain the bat talions are commanded by lieutenant-colonels. and the field batteries by majors. The grades of non-commissioned officers. other than sergeant and corporal, are also quite different in the differ ent armies.
Promotion is an important factor in rank and command, since its rate determines the age at. which any particular rank o• command is reached, and the latter is a very important ele ment in the organization of an army, because rapid promotion insures to the higher commands young, and therefore energetic, officers. Germany may be taken as the type of the Continental armies, and there promotion from second to first lieutenant takes place in the arm of the service, from first lieutenant to captain by corps, from Captain to major in the arm again, and above that in the entire army: transfers are often made in order to equalize promotion. and incapable officers are retired ; in the general staff promotion is more rapid, because there are more majors than captains, and the former are continually passing out for service in the line. Promotion in the German army has been as follows: to first lieu tenant after 7 years of service, to captain after 12, to major after 23, to lieutenant-eolonel after 30, to colonel after 33, and to major-gene•al after 36; in the general staff, however, captaincies are attained in two or three years less than in the line, and majorities three or years earlier than in the line. See ARMY ORGANIZATION; AnntiEs.