RDF Commissioned Officer Insignia

Background notes as they relate to the ROBOTECH TV series:

This rank structure is still evolving from nearly three years of discussion and debate on the ROBOTECH Mailing List, and private discourse between Dr. Peter W. Walker and myself. Round after round of email has been--and continues to be--exchanged between the two of us to arrive at this scheme, not to mention a literal ton of research on Peter's part, for which ROBOTECH fans should be grateful.

The rank structure is still in flux, and Heaven only knows when we'll be done with it. In the meantime, please remember: this is not a United States Military structure. Frankly, I don't particularly care if the structure conflicts with the U.S. scheme because it is NOT the U.S. scheme. I believe the United States military had a great deal of influence, but not necessarily the final word. If the RDF structure conflicts with the U.S. scheme that is because the TV show did so and we must remain true to it. Enlisted ranks are fuzzy, but the following do exist in the show:

Private: Eddie
Private Second Class: Sean Phillips (after demotion)
Private First Class: Bowie Grant
Corporal: Angelo Dante ("Dana's story"), Louie Nichols, Max Sterling, Ben Dixon, Rick Hunter,
and numerous others
Sergeant: Dana Sterling ("Dana's Story"), Angelo Dante, Rick Hunter.

The Lance Corporal is inserted, in part, to justify the existence of "Plane Captains" in Veritech Squadrons and to solve problems involving compression in the lower quarter of the rank structure. Since we have Corporals flying jets, we can't have their plane captains having equal rank, and the plane captain needs "command authority." Hence the Lance Corporal.

A second motivation being that the "Fire Team" structure we see used in the show implies a U.S. Marine-style organizational system, with non-rated personnel in charge of Fire Teams. Hence, the Lance Corporal, who, though not a non-commissioned officer, has command responsibilities.

Finally, ROBOTECH seems to, by convention, have multiple uses of rank names: PRIVATE, PRIVATE Second Class, PRIVATE First Class, Third LIEUTENANT, Second LIEUTENANT, First LIEUTENANT, Lieutenant COMMANDER, COMMANDER, CAPTAIN (Kramer), CAPTAIN (Gloval). Thus, it seems obvious there will not only be multiple Sergeant ranks, but also multiple Corporal ranks. Thus, Lance CORPORAL and CORPORAL both existing does not seem to conflict with the "flow" of the show.