Military question?

Dave_Stark

To set up a clear chain-of-command. With a ranking structure, everyone knows his or her place in the pecking order.

It also sets up a merit promotion system -- you do well, you move up in rank. With increasing rank come increasing pay and privileges, but also increasing responsibility.

Shayna

Senority. Order of authority. To keep law and order. Organiztion.

dancing_in_the_hail

Quite simply: So we know who's in charge. The Chain of Command exists so that we all have someone to answer to and be accountable to. As with any bureaucracy it can slow things down, but it is a very effective way of getting things done right.

Leonidas

Order, organisation and priorities, which are necessary to deal with difficult situations and obtain a good teamwork without wastes.

Rob M

Military rank, or, more commonly, simply rank, is a system of grading seniority and command within armed forces or otherwise military-style organizations.

Montecar3

its called "the chain of command"

madjer21755

Try these sites, a start

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/jointservices/l/blrankhistory.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_rank

SLF

someone's got to do the donkey work! and someone's got to tell them to do it! Simple as that. It's also a rewards system - do your job well and you might get promotion, same as in civilian life.
Also, bear in mind most entry-level military people are young, working-class and uneducated, they would just go wild if there was no discipline.

brian L

The idea of rank is that it shows those with experience and authority to all and makes the decision making process fast and efficient. Before rank the guy with the biggest mouth and best charm was leader if he got killed there would either be a big fight over who would be the new leader or the army would simply fall apart and go home. With rank everybody knows who is the next guy in charge. All you have to do is look at a persons rank insignia if that guys rank is higher than yours you do as he says it doesn't matter if you like him or if you think you are smarter than he is all that matters is that he is higher rank.

trevelan7

ranking is used to build a hierarchy in the military. without ranking, there would not be order. everyone would go there own way.
hope it helps.

Mahal

Military organizations are authority based. As long as we're going into harms way, we have to have appropriate incentive to understand and obey orders and act efficiently. Giving everyone who serves a social status like a rank is easily defined, easy to recognize, and solves a lot of problems in difficult situations.

For example, in a group of captured prisoners, the highest rank automatically assumes charge of them. Can you imagine how it would be if a group of 5 alpha males were in one group and all wanted to be in charge? So it goes first to rank and total time in that rank is the tie breaker. Having this rule in place in advance goes a long way toward insuring the safety of the men.

Technological advances are blurring the ranks a little bit, though. I don't know about other services, but in the navy, if you get one of the more advanced ratings, you get advanced to non-commissioned officer ranks quickly, and pilots find advancement among officer ranks easy, as well.

Wei_hao

Its to create a heirachy.

With such a heirachy combined with strict discipline and regimentation, those with lower ranks usually do not have the right to question the higher ranking personnel in the things they do and decisions they make.

Imagine a General commanding a whole division of men under him in a war, and everyone is questioning the commander on his decisions, or refusing to obey his command. It would be chaotic.

speedball182

About 3000 years ago Sun Tzu's wrote the Art of War.

He knew that...

Managing the many
is the same as managing the few.
it is just a question of division.

The rank aids this division and allows the flow of information to pass quickly from the man in charge to the person who is just about to get shot at.

MrKnowItAll

The Chain of Command. You need to know who you take orders from and who you give orders to. Otherwise it would be utter chaos. What would happen if you just got 100,000 people together and gave them all guns, tanks and weapons of mass destruction with no orders? They would probably go on a rampage and destroy a couple of nearby towns just to test the weapons out...

Mark Paul the 1st

so you know whos but to kick or kiss

jazza

Depends wether yhe genral swallows white sauce lmao

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