Captain or Corporal, which rank is higher?
NameLessOne47
Member Posts: 23
Captain Corwin vs Corporal Duncan
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I was in the military and can answer this.
There are different types of authority within ranks. The rank is universally symbolic of who is in charge if a situation occurs where shit has hit the fan, several units have been merged into one, and someone needs to take charge. It is easy, in high stress environments, to find the highest ranking member.
This also, for the most part, applies in day to day duties. A Captain (O-3), for example, would likely still take orders from a Colonel (O-6), even if that Colonel was in another unit.
There does exist, however, a form of authority called delegated authority. One situation where this could happen is if you were a Captain (O-3) and were the subject matter expert of a particular area. Let's imagine it is militaristic strategic planning. If you were the expert and this is why the military needs you, authority could be delegated to you by a higher ranking official, giving you authority to issues orders with things specifically pertaining to your field of expertise. You could not tell a Colonel to go get you doughnuts and coffee, but you could issue orders that directly pertain to militaristic strategic planning, for example.
This happens a lot in the Air Force when you have maintenance crews who work on different flights lines and with different planes. A Captain who comes from an acquisitions career field would have less authority on a flight line than an appointed NCO whose career field is specific to performing maintenance where they are located as long as they are specifically dealing with the planes that the NCO is a subject matter expert on.
This also occurs with OSI (Office of Special Investigations). A Captain who works for OSI, for example, would not necessarily have to take orders from even a General who doesn't, if it pertains to an investigation. This gives all OSI military personnel the freedom to investigate all matters that are deemed necessary without having an investigation compromised because a higher ranking officer outside of their chain of command orders them to stop.
Keep in mind that respect is still given at all times and salutes are still rendered the same way.
So in the case of BG, it could be totally possible that the Corporal has delegated authority over the current mission, meaning Corwin would follow Duncan's orders as long as they pertained directly to the mission at hand. This does not mean a demotion has occurred. It simply means that a higher rank does not necessarily mean a higher level of knowledge in all areas.
I hope that answers your question!
As for the last chapter, pursuing the romantic plot with Corwin makes her compromised, so I guess this makes Bence the next best authority figure from the available pool of developed in-game characters.
Ya!
Spoiler warning: