Soldiering On Military Ranks

A topic that has piqued my interest occasionally has been pronunciations of "soldier". Not sure of why it's not pronounced "sol-di-er", or not spelled "sol-jer". I got to thinking about military ranks that also mystified me because of pronunciation and spelling. My curiosity led me to look up ranks in general, and ranks across branches of the military.

US Military Branches
Military-Ranks.org provided me a bird's eye view—links to the US military branches and pay in the index at the left. At the rank or pay level, you can find out how the ranks vary within each branch. Clicking a branch's rank opens a page with more details of the role. Near the bottom, the Equivalent Ranks section links to the same rank across the branches in the following order: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines (listed as Marine Corps), Navy.

The US Department of Defense has pages with illustrated tables for all five branches for enlisted members and officers (Coast Guard & Navy combined). Curiously, Warrant Officer is notably absent in Air Force, which the DoD officers page shows as "NO WARRANT". In the Wikipedia page for Warrant Officer, the illustrated table shows insignias and grades for all five branches for warrant officers, with the Air Force column heading "discontinued".

Ranks of Interest—Spelling and Pronunciation

Enlisted
Sergeant [sahr-juhnt], from Latin root meaning "serve"

Officer
Ensign—Navy/Coast Guard [en-sahyn; Military en-suhn], pertinent to flag, insignia
Lieutenant [loo-ten-uhnt], pertinent to "placeholder"
Captain (kap-tuhn, -tin), pertinent to "head"
Colonel [kur-nl], related to "column"

The general topic
Soldier [sohl-jer]

Ranks of Interest—Rank vs. Non-Military Context (E, enlisted; O, officer)

• private (E), the member who has the lowest rank and probably least privacy
• major (O), no major in sea branches, no rank named "minor"
• petty officer (E), rank with "officer" in title, but not in either warrant of officer category
• lance corporal (E), visualizing a Renaissance Fair knight engaged in joust
• general (O), ordinarily meaning ordinary

Commander Bond, Captain, US/British Ranks

During my research, "commander" stuck out as a rank I've heard more in reference to James Bond than American commanders. Commanders rank lower than captains. Captains of the sea rank higher than non-sea captains.

The US Navy and Coast Guard have commander ranks—commander and lieutenant commander—ranks that are just below captain. Captains in sea branches rank higher than captains in the other branches. A Yahoo discussion contrasts naval captain vs. army captain. Visit a Wikipedia page to view a table that compares US and British ranks, including "commander".

Post-TDay Travel--Water Water Everywhere

YouTube playlists for this article (1, 2),
playlist compilation article

This article was going to be the second of two parts of the Thanksgiving week travel theme. Previously, I wrote about songs about planes, trains, and automobiles, based on the movie title Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. As I dove into writing about other travel modes, I wandered around from song to song.

I concluded I have enough material for a third part, coming out in about a week. (Visit http://whilldtkwriter.blogspot.com/ about the first week in December for it.) This article focuses on music for a prominent mode of travel NOT in the movie title —boats (and other water travel methods). I've listed songs, artists, lyrics sites, and video sites (if possible). Take another trip down memory lane.

Surfboard Travel (On the Water)

Song	Artist(s)	Lyrics	Video	Comment(s)
Surfin' USA	Beach Boys	Click	BB
Surfin' Safari	Beach Boys	Click	BB
Hawaii Five-O	Various	NA	classic, 2010
Wipeout	Surfaris, Ventures	NA	S, V
Pipeline	Chantays, Ventures	NA	C, V	1st video—Chantays' Lawrence Welk appearance: Check out the Beatles' suits, pre-Beatles
New York's a Lonely Town	Trade Winds	Click	TW
Surfer Joe	Surfaris	Click	Surfaris
Surfer Girl	Beach Boys	Click	BB
Catch a Wave	Beach Boys	Click	BB	same tune as Sidewalk Surfin'
Sidewalk Surfin'	Jan and Dean	Click	J & D

Boat Travel (Also on the Water)

Song	Artist(s)	Lyrics	Video	Comment(s)
Sea Cruise	Frankie Ford	Click	FF
Come on Down to My Boat	Every Mother's Son	Click	EMS
Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)	Enya	Click	Enya
Sailing	Christopher Cross	Click	CC
Come Sail Away	Styx	Click	Styx
Advemtures in Paradise	Lionel Newman composer	NA	LN
Sloop John B	Beach Boys	Click	BB
Sail On, Sailor	Beach Boys	Click	BB
Beyond the Sea	Bobby Darin	Click	BD
Blue Navy Blue	Diane Renay	Click	DR
Kiss Me Sailor	Diane Renay	Click	DR, DR & ER	1st video—live performance 2nd video—duet w/Ed Rambeau, one of the song writers, who also wrote and recorded "Concrete and Clay"
Brandy	Looking Glass	Click	LG
In the Navy	Village People	Click	VP

Underwater Travel (In the water)

Song	Artist(s)	Lyrics	Video	Comment(s)
Yellow Submarine	Beatles	Click	Beatles	Legos video animation
Pink Shoelaces	Dodie Stevens	Click	DS	“He takes me deep sea diving in a submarine!”
Sea Hunt	David Rose composer	NA	DR

The catchy song that takes you from land to water is "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" (Brian Hyland): lyrics, video.