Army Ranks: I wonder ...
I got my first SSB call when I was in 11th (I appeared for it thrice, but that's a different story, some other day). That time I was very very excited about our Armed Forces. While studying about Indian Army at that time, I noticed something about the Army ranks. Let me list the ranks in the top-down order. I learnt them by heart and I still remember:
---------- Officer Ranks ----------
1. General
2. Lieutenant General
3. Major General
4. Brigadier
5. Colonel
6. Lieutenant Colonel
7. Major
8. Captain
9. Lieutenant
---------- JCO Ranks ----------
10. Subedar Major
11. Subedar
12. Naib Subedar
---------- Other Ranks ----------
13. Hawaldar Major
14. Master Hawaldar
15. Hawaldar
16. Naik
17. Lance Naik
18. Sepoy
Ok, now I always wonder about the sequence of these ranks. I see a problem at one place. Look at the pattern:
> Before Captain, there is Lieutenant
> Before Colonel, there is Lieutenant Colonel
> And before General, there is Lieutenant General
All fine till here. Now see this:
> Hawaldar Major is after Hawaldar
> Subedar Major is after Subedar
> But why is Major General before General?
This question might be really absurd, but it just never goes out of my mind. I asked some people about this here at AFMC but didn't get any answer. Responses were like:
> "I don't know"
- Grrr!
> "I know the ranks but I never realised this pattern"
- Thank You!
> "Oh! is it? I never knew that General is after Major General"
- Dumbo, General is the highest rank in Indian Army.
> "Why should we bother?"
- Oh dear! there is nothing to bother about. This is just a question.
Someone wants to help?