Military Ranks

The military rank system used in the Sanctum is a bastardization of UESC colonial marine ranks and regular naval rankings. Original used in the Proles Army, these were carried over to the Sanctum Militia.

Enlisted verus Officer Rank
All soldiers begin in the enlisted category. In this particular military, the main differences between the two career tracks are:


 * 1) Officers are always expected to command other soldiers. Enlisted may become non-commissioned officers, but often the rank indicates time served and expertise rather than command.
 * 2) Officer promotions are entirely at the discretion of their commanding officer, while enlisted promotions are determined by a combination of performance reviews and time served, thus making enlisted rank promotion much more predictable.
 * 3) Officers are expected to perform all necessary administrative tasks for their soldiers, and participate in social promotion work--including publicity.
 * 4) In order to move from enlisted to officer, rigorous skill and academic testing is often required, though this testing may be waved or postponed at the discretion of the commanding officer.
 * 5) Due to the previous points, officers are given a 10% pay bonus, which carries over to their retirement pay. NCOs are given a 5% pay bonus as long as they are in command and performing the appropriate administrative duties.

Form of Address Cheat Sheet
Full rank isn't necessarily used when addressing someone in speech outside of introductions: All others, just use rank as written.
 * Warrant Officers are addressed as Officer
 * Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and Gunnery Sergeant are all addressed as Sergeant
 * Second Lieutenant and Lieutenant are both addressed as Lieutenant
 * Master Sergeant and Master Gunnery Sergeant are both addressed as Master Sergeant
 * Sergeant Major and Command Sergeant Major are both addressed as Sergeant Major
 * Major General and General are both addressed as General

Insignia
All insignia are maglock collar pins. Metal or metalloid pins are used for dress uniforms. More durable, non-reflective plastic pins are used for BDUs.

Pay Scale
All pay is listed in standard credits, yearly salary. Paychecks come in every two weeks, regular as clockwork. Honorable retirement or medical discharge pay is accrued at 2.5% per year. Thus 50% pay upon honorable retirement is earned after 20 years of service. Full pay on retirement is earned at 40 years.

There have been successive scandals regarding retirement pay, however, first with the disbanding of the Proles Army and then later with medical discharges in the Sanctum Militia. Serving soldiers like to joke bitterly that retirement is not actually guaranteed, but at least they'll still pay for your cremation. (The punch line sometimes continuing on to note that then your ashes get used to fertilize lemons that people in D1 use to do anatomically impossible things.)