Brigade Commander Ranks

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ChrisWI RE:Brigade Commander Ranks 2/16/2004 1:35:01 PM

I belive its either a colonel or brigadier general (or the equiv. rank) for all those countries.

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Worcester RE:Brigade Commander Ranks 2/16/2004 3:42:11 PM

The Brits use a Brigadier (called Brigadier, not Brigadier General, I believe) - still 1 star but they don't really see it as a General Officer rank; their system is weird as it is normal to jump from Lt. Col direct to Brigadier and Colonel staff rank at division/corps. One day you command a battalion, the next a brigade.

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Worcester RE:Brigade Commander Ranks 2/16/2004 3:43:18 PM

Sorry, should read colonel is just a staff rank at division/corps

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northernguy RE:Brigade Commander Ranks 2/16/2004 11:10:21 PM

The Candian Army has the brigade under the command of a Brigadier-General which is the rank immediately above colonel and just below Major-General. The Canadian army follows the British custom of a lieutenant-general being superior to a major-general. This nomenclature is an artifact left over from an earlier period when there was much less granularity in military rankings. Initially, there was a general and his officers. As things grew more complex a general needed an assistant who acted as the lieutenant-general. Soon the assistant need an assistant who became the seargant-general. Moving from the position of officer to seargant-general had an unpleasant sound to class conscious England so the designation was changed from seargant-general to major-general who was still the assistant to the lieutenant-general. After a while the notion that any rank (such as colonel) could hold a significant command came to be seen as a slur on the aforementioned class conscious generals so the rank of Brigadier was created. Perhaps because the less literate Canadians were more likely to confuse brigadier with brigand, the Canadian army amended brigadier to read brigadier-general. The Canadian Navy equivalent rank to Brigadier-General is Commodore. Both are flag rank. As in America the title of Commodore has unflattering associations with yacht clubs. Unlike America, Canada has not abolished the rank. A commodore is junior to rear-admiral but senior to captain. The Canadian Navy has the common practice of having both the rank of Captain and the position of Captain. The _rank_ of Captain is junior to Commodore but senior to Commander. He is recognised by wearing four rings on his sleeve or four stripes on his epualet. The _position_ of Captain can be filled by an officer of any rank including the rank of Captain. The position of captain is filled by the officer designated as being in command of the ship. Officers temporarily on board the ship may have higher rank but the officer designated as Captain of the ship has the final authority. Because of the small size of the Canadian Navy and the small size of the few ships it has, an officer with the _rank_ of Captain would very rarely have the _position_ of Captain at sea. When it does happen, that officer with both Captain rank and Captain position would probably be the senior officer at sea in that hemisphere and would be designated as senior officer pacific or senior officer atlantic. There you go. More than you ever wanted to know about the Canadian military. But you did ask! :) Northernguy

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Thomas RE:Brigade Commander Ranks 2/17/2004 1:59:53 AM

In the Danish Forces a brigade is normally commanded by a colonel. A Colonel is normally the commander of a regiment, that has more than one batallion. The regiment is the unit that trains and forms the units. At the same level is Brigade, but the brigade is an operational - most often composite - unit. That is brigade and regiment is same level but different tasks. The advantage of the regiment is that everybody knows everybody, but some of the officers and NCO are under training and hold positions they are not fully trained for. The brigade has fully trained personel on all positions, but as they come from different regiments and different arms, they are not fully aquainted. The Brigade General is a rank normally used in NATO context, where a colonel is temporarily promoted to Brigade General as long as he holds the NATO position and after that stint he reverts to Colonel. There is one exception, however, The International Brigade (to be deployed outside Danish Territory) has a full-time Brigade General in command.

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clarkey188 RE:Brigade Commander Ranks 2/17/2004 8:53:09 AM

The British army used to have the rank brigadier general but changed it to brigadier. It goes Lt Colonel, Colonel then Brigadier

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Worcester RE:Brigade Commander Ranks=clarkey 2/17/2004 3:36:44 PM

Is Brigadier regarded as a general? I know that on NATO its one star, but I thought the idea was to be compatible with the navy where Admirals start at 2 star and a commodore is a temporary appointment, with many reverting to captain.

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northernguy RE:Brigade Commander Ranks=clarkey..Worcester 2/18/2004 6:27:15 PM

Worcester writes: quote Is Brigadier regarded as a general? I know that on NATO its one star, but I thought the idea was to be compatible with the navy where Admirals start at 2 star and a commodore is a temporary appointment, with many reverting to captain endquote In the Canadian Army the Brigadier-General is a fully regarded general. In the Canadian Navy the rank of Commodore is a definite rank and it would be very strange circumstances indeed if a Commodore were to be reduced in rank to Captain and still remain in the Navy. It may be that in certain excercises, usually training, an officer may be given the title of Commodore if the temporary task he is fulfilling normally requires that rank but he isn't actually given the rank, just the very temporary, very limited title. Of course the peculiar conditions that prevail in actual combat offer any number of exceptional situations and someone may be able to post historical examples that contradict what I have just written. But in the normal course of events, in the Canadian military both Brigadier-General and Commodore are flag level and are a fully established rank that one aspires to. I'm sure that is true for the British military as well.(except that the British call the rank a Brigadier) It is true that the American's don't like the title Commodore and have effectively abolished the rank. Northernguy

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Ex98C RE:Brigade Commander Ranks=clarkey..Worcester 2/18/2004 8:13:04 PM

In the US Army a one star is a flag rank Brigadier-General. It is usually a staff positon of some sort. the Navy, as NG noted, is not fond of the rank of Commodore, so a 1 star is Rear admiral (lower half),a 2 star is Rear Admiral (upper half). Got to love Swabbie logic

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