Sol Defence Corps/Ranks

The ranks of the Sol Defence Corps make up the organization's workforce, management and coordination, ranging from enlisted to commissioned officers. This page intends to detail the ranks of the SDC from the lowest (E-1) to the highest (O-11).

Entry
Both enlisted personnel and officers have two primary methods of entering the Sol Defence Corps: direct enlistment or service transfer.

Direct Enlistment
Direct enlistment is when a civilian enlists directly in the ranks of the SDC, via recruitment. Once completing basic training, they are commissioned as the lowest permissible rank of their career track; Shipman Recruit for enlisted and Ensign for officers. Staff Corps officers may be placed at higher ranks upon commissioning based on prior experience.

Service Transfer
Service transfer is the alternate method of entering the SDC's ranks if a person desiring to enter the SDC is already a member of a partnered military in a country's national armed forces. The Sol Defence Corps takes personnel from all branches of military, regardless of specialty; Army, Navy, and Air Force transferees are all accepted.

Both enlisted and officer transferees still undertake limited basic training at their respective schools; however as they are already military, they only need training on space-specific trades and specialties, such as microgravity training and survival school. Their training courses are, on average, 4 weeks less than that of a direct enlistee.

Partnered armed forces include the militaries of more than 150 United Nations member countries. Most transferees come from NATO and Commonwealth nations, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Australia. Additional candidates come from Russia, China, Japan, India, and Korea.

If enlisting from a different branch than a Navy, additional qualification courses are required for ship operations. Naval transferees require less training than that of other branches due to the SDC sharing many aspects of operation with that of seafaring naval services.

Upon enlistment or commissioning, except in extraordinary circumstances, a service member will retain the rank (or equivalent) they have previously used in their nation's armed forces; i.e. a Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. Army will be commissioned into the SDC as a naval Commander.

General and flag officers of national militaries cannot directly commission into the same rank without the approval of the Secretary-General; they will be billeted, usually temporarily, as a Captain (O-6) until they can go through the necessary processes of becoming a flag officer.

Enlisted
Enlisted personnel are noncommissioned staff of the SDC, forming a majority of its workforce. These personnel require a minimum of a high school diploma and proper training at a Basic Training Centre (BTC) to qualify.

All enlistees are qualified in basic warfare and are trained in firearms, survival, EVA (extravehicular activity) and hand-to-hand combat in addition to the specialist training required in their career tracks.

Enlisted Promotions
Promotions for junior enlisted and NCOs are handed on a "shall-issue" basis; that is, an enlistee is guaranteed to be promoted if they have fulfilled the minimum requirements for promotion outlined by rank, demonstrate adequate skills and pass necessary examinations, and are in good or perfect behavioural standing. An enlistee's promotion may be delayed or waived altogether if they have been recently disciplined for poor behaviour or conduct, and may even result in a demotion or discharge if severe enough.

Promotions to the Chief Petty Officer ranks (E-7 - E-9) additionally require a peer review by a board of serving Chiefs to be eligible for advancement, reflecting the notion that Chiefs are "chosen by their own". If successful, they are promoted.

Junior Enlisted
Junior enlisted, also known as Shipmen, are, as the name implies, the most junior of the SDC's ranks. These usually are still in the training or education phase, being fresh out of boot camp with little practical experience under their belt. They are whipped into shape by their seniors, and as they acquire more experience they become more skilled, earning promotions along the way.

Shipmen are apprentices who are still learning their craft, and have usually not yet been assigned a formal rating. Upon promotion to Petty Officer they are assigned a rating of their choice, depending on which apprenticeship they undertake while they are a Shipman.

Petty Officers
Petty Officers (POs) are the specialist group, and form the junior NCO ranks ranging from Petty Officer 3rd Class (PO3) to 1st Class (PO1). They are usually tasked with more specialised duties and are higher ranking than Shipmen, usually promoted to such after sufficient seniority.

When addressed, a notable Navy tradition is that Petty Officers (and to an extent Chief Petty Officers) are never referred to as "sir" or "ma'am", they are addressed either as "Petty Officer" or "Petty".

Chief Petty Officers
Chief Petty Officers (CPOs, or "chiefs") are the senior enlisted men and women of the SDC and make up the highly-experienced workforce of the Corps. Chiefs have mastered their craft and have come a long way in the military food chain to end up as the most experienced, most respected people in the fleet. Chiefs often start sharing privileges with those of commissioned officers due to their seniority.

Chief Petty Officers are addressed by "chief", or in the higher ranks "senior chief" and "master chief", never "sir" or "ma'am".

Officers
Officers are a separate career track in the military that is geared more towards command and bureaucracy; these personnel are highly-educated soldiers who demonstrate command ability and strong leadership skills. The Officer corps are extremely competitive, and form a much different climate in comparison to the enlisted corps in regards to promotions, exercises, and standards.

An officer who successfully enters the military is stated as having "earned their commission". This can be done in one of several ways:


 * Graduation from a Service Academy, which provides both college-level education and military training.
 * Graduation from a Reserve Officers Training Corps, a complementary course available in select colleges that trains officer candidates.
 * Graduation from the Officer Candidate School (OCS), a post-graduate course similar to boot camp undertaken by college graduates.
 * Graduation from an Officer Training School (OTS), a training programme for Staff Officers (outlined below) for training in non-combat specializations.

Officer Specializations
Unlike enlisted, officers have three different career tracks available to them upon commissioning, and come with caveats or limitations to their track.


 * Line Officer (LO) / Unrestricted Line Officer (URL) - The most well-known type of officer, these are usually placed in charge of general command departments that emphasize leadership above all else with technical expertise being secondary. Line officers are the only officers eligible to become a ship's Captain or Executive Officer, though a Technical Officer (see below) can still be eligible for base or station command.
 * Technical Officer (TO) / Restricted Line Officer (RL) - Restricted line officers, known in the SDC as technical officers, are officers not eligible as a vessel Commanding Officer due to insufficient command training or capabilities, instead focusing on technical specializations (as the name implies) in non-combat fields such as engineering, intelligence, bureaucracy, or diplomacy. Technical officers remain eligible for command of a base or space station should the requirements for such allow a technical officer to take command.
 * Staff Officer (SO) / Staff Corps Officer (SCO) - Non-combat officers who have only marginal command training and were selected due to their specialty inherently requiring a college degree by default; this includes doctors, nurses, lawyers, and other military professions requiring college or postgraduate education. Personnel who have completed the necessary training and education require a relatively short course to earn their commission, with details such as self-defence, firefighting and survival being taught.

Officer Promotions
Unlike enlisted, officer promotions are competitive and promotion eligibility is made out of selecting from a pool of candidates to determine who, among the pool, deserves a promotion the most. As a result, officers continuously compete to outshine each other in their fields in order to net a step up the ranks. Officer promotions are reviewed by one of several Boards with the supervision and recommendations by the officer's commanding officer, with senior officer promotions additionally requiring peer review and approval by fellow senior officers.

The Sol Defence Corps adopts an 'up-or-out' policy with officer promotions. If an officer is 'passed over' (declined) for promotion twice upon review, they are forced to retire. As a result, rank stagnation is extremely rare, if not unseen, in the SDC.

Promotion into and above the flag officer grades are especially competitive with extremely limited slots being available. Flag officers, upon promotion, must require confirmation by the UN General Assembly and personal approval of the Secretary-General and, for officers other than the CMF themselves, the Commander of the Fleet. The Commander of the Fleet may be nominated exclusively by the Secretary-General and confirmed by the General Assembly.

Senior Officers
Senior officers are officers selected by a Board of high-ranking Commanders, Captains and Admirals for promotion eligibility, and are the first groups of officers entitled to commanding entire vessels or installations. Senior officers are highly respected and are well-trained in leadership experience. Note: Unlike the US Navy, where Lieutenant Commanders are regarded as junior officers, LCDRs in the SDC are regarded as senior officers and are often placed in positions of higher responsibility or command as a result.

Flag Officers
Flag Officers (also known as general officers outside of the Navy and Admirals in general usage) are high-ranking officers who serve as commanders of the highest degree; generals are often placed in charge of multiple ships up to and including entire fleets, commands, or Navy divisions. Flag officers are given unique and powerful privileges offered due to their status, seniority, and ranking. Admirals are equal parts military as political, requiring just as much public attention from the media and scrutiny by the UN as a politician.

To qualify for a position as an Admiral, there first needs to be a vacant seat available - admirals are promoted based on office vacancies and one is only sought after if an existing flag officer retires, is promoted, discharged, or becomes unable to serve. To compensate for this, Admirals may only serve a maximum time period of 5 years in an office before either being promoted to a higher position or are forced to retire.

Admirals are sworn in by the General Assembly and approved by the Secretary General.