First of all I thank all my Gurus including two Tajik Brothers Said(omon Umaravich Bodamaev) and Daler

sorry Salahiddin Amiridinovich Kiromov. It is a fun to know how the ranks of Armed Forces came into use.
First of all during the bible time. There was appointment of Officers . Which goes like this" So I took the
chiefs of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and
captains over hundreds and captains over fifties, and captain over tens, and officers among your tribes." duet
l). This was the beginning of the formations like divisions, battalions, companies etc.

Captain and Sergeant

The Oldest rank in the world is Captain. This rank is derived from the latin word Caput mean head, thus it is
headman . While German army word for Captain is Hauptmann, Which precisely mean Headman. And the
rank of Sergeant was derived from word servant or serventes corrupted to Sergeant.In feudal times. There
used to be earls, barons, lords etc. In the feudal times, the lord used to retains number of guards in his
castle. These guards used to be headed by Captain. Who himself was a knight and hired mercenary and
who fought his way up from his ranks. The larger guards , the bigger the lord. Thus a lord had a captain and
several sergeants over the raw recruits. The richer the lord the larger were trained men under him. As the
centralization of administration started. The captains were forced to spend time at the court then in the field.
So the Capt. appointed a men to take his place in the field. Which came to be known as Lieutenant i.e
placeholder. And there used a person who used to head the men in the absence of Lieutenant who was
called Second Lieutenant. The Third Officer of a company was called Ensign. Because part of his duty was
to carry the company flag. This was for Infantry. For Cavalry the Third Officer was called Cornet because he
used carry a flag called by that name. After the flags were laid and aside and the junior officers used to be
called Second Lieutenant.

Colonel and Lieutenant ColonelAs the armies grew in size , the number companies became greater and it
was usual to find number of companies marching together in a column on the same road. The Senior Officer
present commanded the whole column called colonne in French and from this he came to be known as
Colonel or Column Commander. The Colonels frequented the court and secured the services of Lieutenant
Colonels to command their regiments on active service.

General and Lieutenant General Finally,the command of the whole army was given to an officer who
originally was called General Captain or Captain General .The distinction to the company captain ,who
commanded just the company . He too had to have a Lieutenant General to command for him or at any rate
assist him and to this end the "captain" part of the title was dropped , and officers included General and
Lieutenant, Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels and Captains and Lieutenants. Only country the General is still
called Captain General or General Captain is Spain. At the lowest command were sergeant. In our country it
is Havaldar who command a section. The ranks of Major and Major General were later additions.

Major General and MajorIn the time of Oliver Cromwell , the " new model" army was originated with just
about the ranks noted above. In each regiment, however the need was found for a administrative and supply
officer to look after the accounts and the paper work, which Cromwell insisted be carefully kept.

Cromwell was doubtless influenced by the example of the Swedish King Gustavo Adolphos (1594-1632) in
whose army many English Officers had served out of sympathy for protestant cause. Gustavo provided his
army with a complete administrative organization which cromwell adopted to English requirements.In each
company a sergeant was appointed to perform the duties of both administrative and supply, but at the
regiment level an officer was so detailed , and was called the great Sergeant or Sergeant Major. He took
rank next after the Lieutenant Colonel being senior to all captains . Then a corresponding appointment was
made fo the whole army as the Sergeant Major General. But the " sergeant" post of both titles dropped , later
because the officers concerned doubtless considered it somewhat belittling and the designation became
Major and Major General. This series of transition explains incidentally why the modern major general ranks
below Lieutenant General , while a major two grades higher than a Lieutenant.The grade of sergeant major ,
in its actual meaning was later revived for a senior sergeant, a Non Commissioned Officer.

Marshals ; The title of Field Marshal as applied in our British and Indian army comes from the old french
Marschel , Which originally meant a blacksmith or farrier. In the French Army a farrier still has the title of
Marschel Ferrant. As time went the King's horseshoer or farrier rose in importance until the title became
equivalent to " master of the horse" at the French Court and gradually assured great military importance.
Later in the French royal armies of the 18th Century the need was felt for a rank subordinate to all general
officers as in Cromwell's army to take charge of administration, supply etc. This rank disappered . And it
was revived by Nepoleon who ranked it above all senior generals.
 Other General Officers The American and British armies both created the title of Brigadier General for
commander of Brigade. But British and Indian Govt. has shortened to Brigadier. While most of the army
have four general ranks like General, Lieutenant General, Major General and Brigadier General. Even
though in Brigadier the General is not suffixed in India . But he is one Star General. That's why whenever
you see any army car with a a board in red color with golden single star in front . It is the car of Brigadier.
Like that if it has two star then it is of Major General, Three Lt.Gen. and four General.

Meanwhile here have a look as how the Israelis have hebrewised the ranks of their armed which( All ranks
are army ranks for Army, Air Force and Navy) in ascending order from bottom.I have given only
commissioned ranks.

1) Segen Mishneh- 2nd Lt.

2) Segen- Lt.
3) Seren- Capt.
4) Rav Seren- Maj.
5) Segen Aluf- Lt.Col.
6) Aluf Mishneh- Col.
7) Tat Aluf- Brig.Gen
8) Aluf- Maj.Gen.
9) Rav Aluf- Lt.Gen.

So whenever you see any of these officers. Give him a big Salute. He will be impressed.
To be continued.
V.C.Rajnarayan