Question About The M*A*S*H Military Ranks
Pauli
Can Anybody Tell Me The Military Ranks Of The M*A*S*H Members?
Thanks.
Foxbat25
Mark R. Voss
In <01bcc042$2bfff320$0565...@dr.pauli> "Pauli" <bpa...@metronet.de>
writes:
>
>
>Can Anybody Tell Me The Military Ranks Of The M*A*S*H Members?
>
>Thanks.
>Foxbat25
Before I review the military ranks of the M*A*S*H characters, it might
be helpful to go through the military ranks and insignia in the U.S.
Army. (Remember that it is the Army, specifically, that we're dealing
with. There are slight variations in rank in the Marines, the Air
Force, and certainly the Navy.)
Rank Insignia On Uniform
------------------------------ --------------------------------------
GENERAL OF THE ARMY Five silver stars, formed in a circle,
and the coat of arms of the U.S. in
gold color metal with shield and crest
enameled.
GENERAL Four silver stars
LIEUTENANT GENERAL Three silver stars
MAJOR GENERAL Two silver stars
BRIGADIER GENERAL One silver star
COLONEL Silver eagle
LIEUTENANT COLONEL Silver oak leaf ("cluster")
MAJOR Gold oak leaf ("cluster")
CAPTAIN Two silver bars
FIRST LIEUTENANT One silver bar
SECOND LIEUTENANT One gold bar
WARRANT OFFICERS (Most often chopper pilots on M*A*S*H)
Grade Five -- Silver bar with four enamel silver squares
Grade Four -- Silver bar with four enamel black squares
Grade Three -- Silver bar with three enamel black squares
Grade Two -- Silver bar with two enamel black squares
Grade One -- Silver bar with one enamel black square
SELECTED NON-COMMISSIONED (ENLISTED) RANKS
SERGEANT MAJOR ............. Three chevrons above three arcs, with
a star between the chevrons and arcs
FIRST SERGEANT ............. Three chevrons above 3 arcs, with a
lozenge (diamond) between chevrons
and arcs
MASTER SERGEANT ............ Three chevrons above three arcs, with
nothing between them
SERGEANT FIRST CLASS ....... Three chevrons above two arcs
STAFF SERGEANT ............. Three chevrons above one arc
SERGEANT ................... Three chevrons
CORPORAL ................... Two chevrons
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS (PFC) .. One chevron above one arc
PRIVATE .................... One chevron
PRIVATE (E-1) .............. (No insignia)
Whew! ... Okay, now let's go through each of the M*A*S*H characters.
First, generals. I believe that all of the immediate supervising
generals (the ones that Henry or Potter directly reported to), were
one-star brigadier generals. A few of the visiting generals were
two-stars or higher.
Then, to rundown the main characters on the series:
HENRY - Lt. Colonel
POTTER, FLAGG - Colonels
HAWKEYE, B.J., TRAPPER, SPEARCHUCKER - Captains
FRANK, MARGARET, WINCHESTER, SIDNEY FREEDMAN - Majors
99 PERCENT OF ALL NURSES - Either 1st lieutenant or 2nd lieutenant.
Kellye Nakahara was 1st Lt.
FATHER MULCAHY - 1st lieutenant, until episode "Captains Outrageous,"
in which he finally became Captain.
RADAR, KLINGER, GOLDMAN - Corporals
KLINGER (last season) - Sergeant
RIZZO - Staff sergeant
ZALE - Sergeant 1st class (I might have to check that.)
IGOR - Private (one chevron).
There may be a few characters I'm missing, but that's most of them.
- MARK
Mark Ledbetter
In article <01bcc042$2bfff320$0565...@dr.pauli>,
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake
Colonel Sherman Potter
Major Frank Burns
Major Margaret Houlihan
Major Charles Winchester III
Captain Hawkeye Pierce
Captain John McIntyre
Captain BJ Hunicutt
Lieutenant Father John Francis Patrick Mulcahy (later promoted to captain?)
Corporal Radar O'Reilly
Corporal Maxwell Klinger (later promoted to sergeant)
These are the major characters. Minors: Sgt Zale, Sgt (?) Rizzo, Private
Igor ???, Lt Kellye, others?
mdl
MrQuixote
Jackmark writes:
CORPORAL ................... Two chevrons
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS (PFC) .. One chevron above one arc
PRIVATE .................... One chevron
PRIVATE (E-1) .............. (No insignia)
---------
You may be describing the sleeve insignia in today's Army (I'm not
sure)....but at least from WWII through early Vietnam....an Army PFC had
one chevron; a private had nothing (emotionally, literally, figuratively
and any other way you care to mention.)
Sometime in the early 70's, I believe, the Army added the rank of "lance
corporal." So you had a Private who still had nothing; a PFC who had one
chevron; a lance corporal who had a chevron and a rocker; and then a
corporal, with two chevrons.
If I remember correctly, in basic training, everyone was a private E-1.
When you got out of basic, you automatically became a Private E-2--which
gave you a few dollars more per month, but nothing more on your sleeve. A
PFC was an E-3, and an E-4 was either a corporal if you were in a combat
unit with a combat speciality, or a Specialist 4 (Spec 4). I don't believe
that they had specialist ranks in Korea, although they may still have had
Tech Sergeant ranks which were used in WWII.
I want to thank you for bringing back about two and a half dozen
absolutely rotten memories. If I can't sleep tonight, I'll be emailing you.
MH
Mark R. Voss
In <19970916024...@ladder01.news.aol.com> mrqu...@aol.com
I got all this information out of the 1997 World Almanac, plus my own
knowledge going back for years. My brother was in the Army in the
mid-80s, and you're right that they all start as E-1, which means no
sleeve insignia. But then my brother got upped to E-2, which earned
him a stripe. From there he went to (West) Germany, got promoted to
E-3, which is a PFC (at least it was then.) A PFC is one chevron above
one arc, which was never seen in M*A*S*H to my knowledge. From PFC he
went to E-4, which I thought was corporal, but he was given the
equivalent rank of Specialist, which is just the black eagle device.
He was in the Quartermaster Corps; perhaps that explains his Specialist
rank, rather than Corporal. When he left the Army, he left as a
Specialist.
- MARK
Mike Hoffman--"The Dv8or"
Dude... its a TV show... a comedy... a damn good one... get over it
MrQuixote wrote in article
<19970916024...@ladder01.news.aol.com>...
a...@insync.net
Mike Hoffman--\"The Dv8or\" <thed...@bway.net> wrote:
> Dude... its a TV show... a comedy... a damn good one... get over it
No, it's much more than that. Understand it.
--
Andrew Smith -- Sysadmin, Insync Internet Services | "Whatever you do, take
PGP: 2A 50 AE 6D 51 53 18 77 F7 6C E9 2E E9 E1 59 2C | care of your shoes."
(finger -l a...@insync.net for full key) | - Tom Marhsall
Altoona157
Thank you! Do you know how long I've been trying to find a list of Army
ranks like this? This is great!
Trekfan33
Potter--Col. Winchester--Maj. Pierce--Cpt. Hunneycut--Cpt.
Hoolihan--Maj. Klinger--Cpl--then Sgt. Father M--Lt.--Then Cpt.
Burns--Maj. then Lt. Col (off screen when he went AWOL) Radar--Cpl.
Trapper--Cpt. Blake--Lt. Col.
midwestr...@gmail.com
Wtf are you o. Or let me guess??? You were a "butter bar" asshole!!!
