Irish ranks

TelePaul

Hey guys, can someone outline the Irish infantry chain of command? I'm curious as to where Commandant comes. Thanks guys.

Jimbo

NORMAL RANKS
Cadet
Apprentice
Recruit
2* Private
3* Private (Infantry Corps & other elements of the PDF)
3* Trooper (Specific to the Cavalry corps)
3* Gunner (Specific to the Artillery corps)
Corporal
Sergeant
Company/Battery Quartermaster Sergeant
Company/Battery Sergeant
Battalion/Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant
Battalion/Regimental Sergeant Major

Commissioned Ranks
Second Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Captain
Commandant
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Brigadier General
Major General
Lieutenant General

Wikipedia, btw

Company Sgt

cadet, 2nd lt, lt, captain, commandant, lt colonel, colonel, brigader general, major general, lt general thats the commissioned ranks

Manic Moran

jimbo78 wrote: »

NORMAL RANKS
Cadet
Apprentice
Recruit
2* Private
3* Private (Infantry Corps & other elements of the PDF)
3* Trooper (Specific to the Cavalry corps)
3* Gunner (Specific to the Artillery corps)
Corporal
Sergeant
Company/Battery Quartermaster Sergeant
Company/Battery Sergeant
Battalion/Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant
Battalion/Regimental Sergeant Major

Is not 'Signalman' still a rank?
Also forgotten is "Squadron Sergeant" :P

However, more specifically to the question, you're looking at Privates, team and section leaders who are corporals, the sergeant in charge of the platoon, then the chain kindof splits. The Company Sergeant is the company's senior NCO, and the Lieutenant borrows the platoon from the sergeant on occasion and acts as platoon commander. The company 2nd in command is going to be a Captain, and the company commander will be a Commandant. The next level up has the Battalion Sergeant Major and the Lieutenant Colonel as the senior enlisted and comissioned men in the battalion.

I would question "cadet" as being a comissioned rank.

NTM

Jimbo

What do the badges for each rank look like? Any links

Company Sgt

signalman is the same rank as private just that what your called in signals still the same badge also squadron sgt same as coy sgt just in cavs

Company Sgt

yeah youll find pictures of all the ranks on irishmilitaryinsignia

kermit_ie

Here they are.

http://www.bailerweb.com/army/rm.htm

Pherekydes

Company Sgt wrote: »

cadet, 2nd lt, lt, captain, commandant, lt colonel, colonel, brigader general, major general, lt general thats the commissioned ranks

Cadet is not commissioned! Obviously.

Company Sgt

Slow coach wrote: »

Cadet is not commissioned! Obviously.

Never said it was comissioned rank thats just first step you dont start as a private or apprentice !!

Jimbo

It it just me, or is the system overly complicated?

Company Sgt

jimbo78 wrote: »

It it just me, or is the system overly complicated?

in what sense ranks entry etc

Jimbo

It just seems there's too many ranks.
Are they necessary?

Company Sgt

they must if theyre there they all have jobs

NoQuarter

the system isnt complicated, that first post is though, confused me and i know them all!!!

cp251

Commandant is the equivalent of Major. It was probably retained as a rank because of it's use in the old IRA/Irish volunteers. The French army also use Commandant instead of Major which is probably the source of the term.

Manic Moran

jimbo78 wrote: »

It it just me, or is the system overly complicated?

There's something of a 'rule of four': A single person can adequately oversee four people. It is often taken as 'three', and sometimes even stretched to 'five', but three or four is normal.

As a result, if you have each person overseeing say, four juniors, each of which is responsible to four below, that's more or less how many levels you need.

A team leader will have three or four people under him. A section leader will have two or three people under him. A platoon commander will have three or four people under him. A company commander will have three or four platoon commanders under him. And so on. If you are to assume for military efficiency's sake that each superior rank must also have authority of rank over his subordinates, that about defaults to how many different ranks you're going to have.

NTM

Mick86

jimbo78 wrote: »

It it just me, or is the system overly complicated?

It's just you. The system is quite simple.

jimbo78 wrote: »

It just seems there's too many ranks.
Are they necessary?

Pte- kills enemy with rifle, grenade and bayonet.

Cpl- Commands a section of 8 Ptes and one Cpl 2i/c.

Sgt- 2i/c of a Pln.

Coy Sgt- SNCO in a Coy. Responsible for Coy administration and discipline.

CQMS- i/c Coy Stores.

Sgt Maj- SNCO in the Bn. Responsible for Bn administration and discipline.

BQMS- i/c Bn Logs.

Lt -Commands Pln of 3 sections.

Captain -2i/c of a company

Commandant- Commands a company of three rifle and one weapns pln.

Lt-Col- Commands a Bn of 4 Companies- HQ, 2 X Rifle Coys and one SP Coy

Brig Gen- Commands a Bde of 3 Battalions plus CS and CSS units

Maj-Gen- One looks after Admin and one looks after Logs for the DF

Lt Gen- Runs the whole show.

Easy. That's the basics of course.