I did some searching and here are links to the actual Department of Defense sites, for ranks, for the Navy, the Air Force, the Army, and for the Marine Corps.

If you can't get to the ranks on the USMC site, don't worry, the USMC rank system is exactly the same as the one for the Army, expect for the titles of the top people in those branches being more reflective of that branch.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=260

http://www.af.mil/art/index.asp?galleryID=102

http://www.army.mil/symbols/armyranks.html

http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/homepage?readform

I missed a few ranks in my post, so I'm posting the links to the ranks.

Later.

Look, think of it this way.  Space is water.  Planets are islands in that water.  Now, there is no more army or air force.  Why?  Because they rely on land bases.  They rely on air bases, barracks, camps, etc.  You cannot do this in space.  Well, you could, but the ships in space can access ANYWHERE on the planet, so there isn't much of a point to large land operations.  As such, we have the quick-attack branches showing up.  Navy, the occupiers of the "ocean", and their Marines, the quick-attack troops.  The Navy is (THIS IS MY OPINION) , much more effective than the Air Force, as they have a much longer range.  I guess you could have deep-striking bombers in space, but their role would be reduced to such a state that they would be better suited as a division than a whole service.  If we were to condense the entire galaxy into earth, these operations are on bodies roughly the size of Hawaii (The island, not the group).  This size is much too small for an Army.  An Army takes much too long to get into fighting shape as well.  Plus, remember this.  An Army is deployed on planes and masses at a safe spot away from combat.  However, Marines are deployed on SHIPS and can be amphibiously inserted directly into combat.  Marines float in the water (Or stay on a ship), get the call, and kick ass.  The army stays at home, gets the call, plans an invasion, amasses troops, organizes them and sends them in all at once (D-Day).  Basically, the scale we're talking about is too large for an army.  There is no Army or Air Force, there are only Marines and Navy.

Actually its Sergeant MAJOR Johnson.

 While I'm only knowledgeable in Army based ranking, I don't think Lord Hood is an Admiral, unless thats another way to refer to an Admiral, as Lord.
 

Rotaretilbo emailed Nylund about the ranking system used and he told him that the system is based of of the american militaries. And the anomalies, ie Lord Hood, will have to be explained by Bungie since they are the ones who determine canon.

---

I could see how the Navy would be the dominant force for celestial travel.  But it seems to me that a small Army and Air Force would be kept, if for no other reason than to have an Earth based defense. 

---

http://www.halowarscentral.com

kornman00:

Actually its Sergeant MAJOR Johnson.

 While I'm only knowledgeable in Army based ranking, I don't think Lord Hood is an Admiral, unless thats another way to refer to an Admiral, as Lord.
 

Lord Hood is a Fleet Admiral, "Lord" is just an honorific. In First Strike he was called "Fleet Admiral Sir Terrance Hood", and in Halo 2 he became a lord. I think Lord Hood is British, since honorifics like "sir" and "knight" are still used there. 

---

Doles out the Harshness.
Use this. Know this. Love this.

Let us not for get that this is the UNSC (United Nations Space Command)  these are mixed units of different nations combined into a crazy military.  Of course there will be a little strange referance to other military personnel,  and knowing that the U.S. is currently the top military with the british not far along with the Chinese.   In Halo--verse,  The Navy/ Marine Corps are both the dominant force, much like said above...  The Space is the navy's seas, and the planets, are the marines play ground.  Army is still around because they have the best research funds to make the war better.  ONI (office of naval Intelegance) may still be used often in the books but that's because they where under the Spartan project, and the best for Intellegance gathering. 

---

Navy ordnance:

Let us not for get that this is the UNSC (United Nations Space Command)  these are mixed units of different nations combined into a crazy military.  Of course there will be a little strange referance to other military personnel,  and knowing that the U.S. is currently the top military with the british not far along with the Chinese.   In Halo--verse,  The Navy/ Marine Corps are both the dominant force, much like said above...  The Space is the navy's seas, and the planets, are the marines play ground.  Army is still around because they have the best research funds to make the war better.  ONI (office of naval Intelegance) may still be used often in the books but that's because they where under the Spartan project, and the best for Intellegance gathering. 

I'M NOT BEING A SNARK......I'm just curious. 

What do you mean when you say that the US military is currently the "top military"?

Do you mean in numbers, training, technology, experience, quality, advertising(recruiting efforts), funding, or, maybe, in news coverage("media exposure")?

According to pretty much everybody in NATO, and the UN, including the UN Security Council, the top 3 for training, experience, and quality of individual soldiers are, in no particular order, Britain, Canada, and the Israelis; with the US being somewhere in the top 10, either 7th or 8th, but I can't remember which.

China only has numbers; at present, they have the LARGEST standing army on the planet; so why would you say they come just after the Brits?

The US only hits the top spot in terms of: technology, which is usually considered as much of a disadvantage as an advantage (1 EMP and you've got major problems); advertising(recruiting efforts); funding; and "media exposure", which is seen as a major disadvantage in terms of operational security.

In case you're wondering, if EVERY other standing army, on the planet, were to face off against the Chinese army, we'd probably need some reinforcements, the Chinese have that many soldiers.

I'm not trying to be argumentative with this post, I'm just curious as to what you based your observations on.

Later.

We all know the MC is a all around badass but sadly he is not technically a marine. The "Master Chief" rank is actually a rank used in the navy reffering to "Master Chief Petty Officer" or "Master Cheif Petty Officer Of The Navy". Its even in the ranks someone posted earlier and can be seen on wikipedia.

I am pretty sure most of us new that. He is an E-9 in the Navy. And he is a Master Chief Petty Officer.

---

Well, this conversation is getting awkward.  I think what he was just being overly patriotic when he said the United States has the best military in the world.  It is a fact we have the largest volunteer army, as quoted on The Military Channel, but we certainly don't have the largest military in the world.  Anyway, this forum is about the Halo universe, and I guess I'd better get down to business.  The Navy is the main focus in the Halo universe, because that is what section the Master Cheif, and MOST of the rest of the Spartans are in.  But, there is still the Army, but the Air Force might have been obsoleted with the navy.  Why have a ship that is restricted to water, and planes that are restricted to an atmosphere, when you can just make space ships that can go into space, and fly.  But as I was saying, the Army still exists, and lucky me, I have my copy of Ghosts of Onyx with me to quote from

Quoted from, Page 58, Chapter Five, Ghosts of Onyx

"The Wall slid apart and a balding man entered.  Curiously he wore an Army uniform, pinned with the eagly insigne of a colonel.  His dark eyes fixed apon Kurt"

As you can see, the Army must still exist, or there would be no way to wear an Army uniform.

My observation came with a retired admiral.  The U.S. is the fastest military response world wide.  It's not about numbers, china does beat us there badly, it's not about weapons, because believe it or not the british have more of the fastest firing tanks, and strongest rifles currently made.  Most of the other nations training comes from the U.S.  And currently the U.S. Navy is the leading force on seas.  Marine Corps (with the help of the navy) Reacts just as fast and powerful on land. 

  The Retired Admiral was also a Skipper to a Medical Response ship.  He went on to some speach about a Tsunami that hit a small island.  And of course they where the first ones to responed, but close to 72 hours later, Germany came to help with that response.  And thou the admiral is retired, I believe he knows what he's talking about.

 

And yes the Army is in the Halo-Verse, and I think that the only thing that they have to help out with is thier research teams.  Army is well known for that, and in todays army, they are working on some serious super soldier armor and weapons.  They are also funded for rail-gun research which is something similar to the MAC gun.  I'm thinking one of the resonse why they are so small in the Halo-Verse (other than the fact that their is no ground for them to fight) is that they cut thier personnel for stronger research teams, and handed the rest to the Marine Corps and Navy Staff.  Their maybe some Army Soldiers left for guarding certain Military Installations. 

 

---

China also has the worlds largest Air Force, and they are the main manufacturer of old soviet weapons

but the US has the worlds largest known nuclear stockpile, located 20 miles south of seattle, its one of 4 on US soil, but its the largest

but yea, fastest response, they have plans for a sub-orbit ship that can skim over the airspace of countries to get anywhere in the world within 2 hours

by going over a countries airspace instead of through, its not seen as an act of war, but its assumed that soon after the ship is released and used, the UN will end up increasing the height of the airpsace boundries 

---

Signature removed. - Thunder

I looked through a few rankings of militaries in the world and got these results.

Done by intelligence agencies from America, Europe, Asia.

1. USA
2. China
3. Germany
4. India
5. France
6. Russia
7. UK
8. Italy
9. Israel
10. Pakistan

Most money spent

United States  
Japan  
United Kingdom  
France 
China  
Germany 
Saudi Arabia  
Italy  
Iran  
South Korea  

Largest army

# China – 2,840,000

United States – 1,431,000
# Russia – 1,200,000
# India – 1,145,000
# North Korea 1,055,000

Sorry kobun i even looked for the UN report but i could not find it. These are all official rankings. The first one is from the CIA and the equivalents in european and asian countries. Not only is america not 7th but it is first in all except size.

---

I found a ranking done by the U.N. Wire. This was made b/c they are thinking about revamping the security council.

"Move to military power, an essential attribute for countries with the responsibility for deciding issues of war and peace, and paying a premium contribution to U.N. peacekeeping. No need to guess who's first here: The United States has the largest military budget by far, and the rest of the top 10 are Russia, China, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Italy and India. The largest armed forces in the world belong, in this order, to China, the United States, India, North Korea, Russia, Turkey, South Korea, Pakistan, Vietnam and Iran. The picture gets a little cloudier for some developing countries where a mammoth army seems to take priority over economic growth and national power becomes unbalanced."   

                                 -Barbra Crossette (U.N. Wire)

---