Lt and Major Powers
How does the Major boss the Lt around. I thought the LT. outranked him in the Marines? Did I miss something? Someone please explain
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MovieChat Forums > Heartbreak Ridge (1986) Discussion > Lt and Major Powers
The progression (lowest to highest) is lieutenant, captain, major, colonel, general.
shareActually it's ... Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel ... then come the Generals. They start with Brigadier General (1 star), Major General (2 stars), Lieutenant General (3 stars), General (4 stars) and finally General of the Army/Air Force (5 stars). All ranks are listed lowest to highest.
sharehbaecker could you tell me who the5 star General is? I thought that went out after WWII. If I remember right it was created to equal a rank the Soviets had. Of course I could be wrong. :)
shareThe five star general rank was created during WW II because several American commanders found themselves in position to supervise allied officers of higher rank. In all, four Army generals (George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley) four Navy admirals ( William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, Chester Nimitz, William Halsey) and one Air Force general (Henry Arnold - Army Air Force then changed to Air Force) have held this rank ... so with the death of Bradley in 1981 the five-star rank passed into history with him.
I've never been able to figure out what MAJ. Powers' job was. The sergeant major introduced him as the operations officer, but they portrayed him like he was a battalion commander. For that matter, Highway was in the recon platoon. Every infantry battalion has one. Yet their rivals was "1st platoon" which in an infantry battalion there are four.
shareYeah, MAJ Powers seems to be the battalion XO, the battalion commander, a Company Commander, and a Platoon Leader depending on what the plot needs him to do. They should have made him the Company Commander, and had some "teacher's pet" LT in charge of 1st Platoon, as a rival to LT Ring.
shareOmar Bradley was the last 5 star general (General of the Army).
shareI was told once that Lieutenant Colonels were referred to as "Telephone Colonels", as the "Lieutenant" part invariably got left off when introducing oneself on the telephone. ;)
I was also told by a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant that if you were a Sergeant, the Lieutenants were afraid of you, the Captains would undercut you in secret every chance they had, the Majors and Colonels were openly hostile, but the Generals were your friends. A Marine Corps Recruiting Sergeant (of all people) explained that this was a result of one's place on the E-X ladder when compared to the O-X ladder, where the Sergeant and the General were approximate equals. :)
I could see part of this with Lieutenant Ring and Major Powers, but I guess there wasn't enough room in the casting budget to make the Colonel in this movie a General . . .
Close but not quite. Generally Officers have respect for their NCO's because while they outrank them NCO's will inevitably have more experience than them and are their to advice. Each officer in the services will have a Senior NCO assigned to them, I'm more familiar with the Army way but I do know the Marine Corps way as well so ill try and offer some better insight. I do not think your generalizations about officers not liking NCO's is good advice, you better believe a Light Colonel relies on his Sergeant Major for advice on dealing with enlisted men, also if a Lieutenant or a Captain were to chew out a Master Sergeant or a Sergeant Major he would probably get his ass handed to him by some Colonel...you do NOT *beep* with the First Sergeant! (First Sergeant is both a position and rank but Im referring to First Sergeant as the position). Also Lieutenants rely on their NCO's even more than other officers at times as a new butter bar LT isnt going to be able to effectively command 15-40 men without actually being in the *beep* so the LT has the final word but the Staff Sergeant or Gunnery Sergeant is his "safety net", assistant leader, and loyal advisor...
This movie was good but not the best in accuracy terms. If anyone is interested in an excellent movie that protrays the ranks of officers and NCO's well take a look at "We Were Soldiers", its based on a true story and the officer who was in the situation was the chief advisor and described the movie as "A war movie FINALLY done right!" its not for the faint of heart but it is a true war movie.
You are correct on the ranking on how it goes.
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