Poulton said:Major is higher than lieutenant, but Lt.General is higher than Major General?
All sounds barmy to me!!
I don't think so. A lieutenant colonel is a colonel, and not a lieutenant. Majors are higher than lieutenants in every rank system I've ever seen.TopGun said:I think it stems from the fact that their is an Lieutenant Colonel after Major
Ripper said:Yes, but Lieutenant Generals outrank Major Generals everywhere except Wing Commander because some civilian didn't bother to check when they wrote the Victory Streak.
Ripper said:Yes, but Lieutenant Generals outrank Major Generals everywhere except Wing Commander because some civilian didn't bother to check when they wrote the Victory Streak.
Actually, I think it stems from the original meaning of the title 'lieutenant' (which in French means, quite literally, 'placeholder'). A lieutenant was somebody's second-in-command - so, your basic lieutenant was a captain's second-in-command, a lieutenant colonel was a colonel's second-in-command, and a lieutenant general was, unsurprisingly, a general's second-in-command.TopGun said:I think it stems from the fact that their is an Lieutenant Colonel after Major
Hmm, reading your post, one would be excused for thinking that somebody had in fact suggested otherwise .gryphon said:The original name of this rank is SERGEANT MAJOR GENERAL. The word "SERGEANT" was dropped some years ago but the place of the rank remains. Anyone suggesting otherwise is simply ignorant of military history.
Quarto said:Actually, I think it stems from the original meaning of the title 'lieutenant' (which in French means, quite literally, 'placeholder'). A lieutenant was somebody's second-in-command - so, your basic lieutenant was a captain's second-in-command, a lieutenant colonel was a colonel's second-in-command, and a lieutenant general was, unsurprisingly, a general's second-in-command.
Not offensive, though it did seem oddly aggressive, considering that nobody had made the specific claim you were correcting .gryphon said:The offensive nature of my post is urelated to this discussion.