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As a footnote. I do remember one wee marine captain. Tough as old boots he was. Had para wings too. There was something about panzers he just didn't take to - the motion have him a problem. There was one day on 'Busaco Ridge' when we had to swing further out to the right flank than we had done before - took us over to Battlesbury direction. When we started to advance we found we'd hit an old impact area which wasn't marked on the map. I was driving and although it was no difficulty getting through, I had to do it all in 1st gear because of the knife edges between craters. One second looking at the sky, the next nearly sliding off the seat because the forward angles were so actue.

well this guy, he started screaming. "Gemme off, gemme off - you can't do this to me. I want off - off I tell you" (or words to that effect). Couldn't do a thing - couldn't stop because there was no ground level enough to balance the panzer on to let him off. He had to stay there screaming until we crawled back onto level ground. We changed students at the end of that phase and I never saw him again. He's probably a general now or else in a home somewhere still muttering, "gemme off"

Sticky Blue wrote:No, rank realignment was a couple of years back I think. It was after 1998 for sure.
The Royal Navy only brought in WO2s within the last 2 years

Hmm, I've not seen any RN WO2's. Are you 100% sure you don't mean 'Warrant Officers'. Didn't they take the place of 'Chiefs'??

GD at one stage there were CPO's Fleet CPOS, and then Warrant Officers. As to what it is now.....PASS! (wish I'd kept out of this thread)

Artist

Right - I've done a search to draw a line under this. Rather than type it all out I'll do a cut and paste.

The history of warrant rates in the Royal Navy is complicated, but can be viewed in two parts:

warrant officers who were definitely officers rather than ratings, similar to those in U.S. forces, up to the 1950s;
warrant officers who were senior NCOs, like those in the British Army, from the 1970s on.
Originally, warrant officers were as described at the top of this article: professional seamen whose expertise and authority demanded formal recognition. These included the sailing master, the gunner, the boatswain and the carpenter.

Their positions in the hierarchy depended on the precise nature of their jobs. Most outranked midshipmen (trainee officers): the master, the purser, the surgeon and the chaplain had the privilege of dining in the wardroom with the commissioned officers (and were known as "Warrant Officers of Wardroom Rank").

From the 19th century onwards, senior warrant officers were increasingly granted commissions, and in 1949 the RN stopped creating warrant officers altogether.

In 1973, the RN created the rate of Fleet Chief Petty Officer (FCPO) as the equivalent of the Army's WO1; this was renamed Warrant Officer in the 1980s.

In 2004, the RN renamed the top rate Warrant Officer Class 1 and created the new rate of Warrant Officer Class 2 immediately below it, to replace the appointment of Charge Chief Petty Officer. The latter was a senior Chief Petty Officer, but not a substantive rank in its own right. Only those who held the specific appointment of Charge Chief Artificer (a CCPO in a skilled technical trade) gained partial recognition as NATO OR-8 equivalent, as with other WO2s.

Royal Navy warrant rates are thus now the same as those in the Army and Royal Marines, and wear the same rank insignia: like RM WO2s (but unlike Army WO2s), all RN WO2s wear the crown-in-wreath variation.

*end of cut and paste*

So the navy DO have WO2's. I've learned something.

Here's the link to the page which explains the lot. Navy, army, air force et al.

Thank Christ for that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_officer

The Aussies realigned their ranks so that an army WO2 is now equivalent to an air-force Flight Sergeant. Confusing!

Upside down if you ask me