“Spartans are all equal,” says the Rear Admiral Musa, the creator and current leader of the Spartan branch of the UNSC. But all Spartans holds the “spartan” rank. Like how would this really work? Could a before private spartan basically march up to a colonel or admiral and be all like, “Look I see you got all these troops around the place, but none of them are going to do you any good. So listen to my command…”
The only 3 Spartans in the spartan branch that is not ranked as spartan are Musa, chief of staff Jun-A266 and commander Palmer.
But how about the remaining hundreds of Spartans? Is UNSC just going to be all like “Yeah we’re just going to mess up the chain of command whenever a Spartan is present, good luck?”
They are spartans.
But its not like they can just overtook command if they want,some sort of command chain is still there.
Agreed that I’ve always scratched my head wondering how that would work in a real military situation, everyone having the same rank, sure doesn’t seem like it’d function very well without a definite chain of command. Perhaps there’s some real life military parallel I’m not aware of.
they dont have the same rank.
Thats why John is the leader of Blue team, and Locke is leader of Osiris.
they are a separeted branch from UNICOM and ONI, even if the orders comes from there.
My impression is that the rank is the same for all Spartan-IVs (where in the UNSC official ranking structure, maybe somewhere in the low officer/warrant officer area) but that responsibility and military protocol seems to be dictated by position rather than rank. Not really a huge difference.
i.e. Commander Palmer possess the rank of Spartan by the position of commander. Likewise she is the same rank as Demarco, but outranks (odd term, isn’t it) him due to commander outranking Team Leader
> 2533274921115718;4:
> they dont have the same rank.
> Thats why John is the leader of Blue team, and Locke is leader of Osiris.
> they are a separeted branch from UNICOM and ONI, even if the orders comes from there.
So?
“Ok Spartan XX, you’re the team leader of fireteam ZZ”
-after battle-
“Oh -Yoink-! Spartan XX is dead!”
“Ok then who’s in charge?”
…
> 2535408730995228;2:
> They are spartans.
> But its not like they can just overtook command if they want,some sort of command chain is still there.
But how will they fit? Can anyone order them around since nothing said the rank “Spartan” is higher than any other rank. But then could Spartans order anyone else around since it is not lower than any other rank.
Simple. Each Spartan fireteam has a team leader. Every fireteam leader is directly under command of Spartan Commander, who is currently Sarah Palmer, who presumably has the rank of Commander in the UNSC Navy.
> 2533274974033696;8:
> Simple. Each Spartan fireteam has a team leader. Every fireteam leader is directly under command of Spartan Commander, who is currently Sarah Palmer, who presumably has the rank of Commander in the UNSC Navy.
Who will resume command when the fireteam leader dies?
Do spartans take orders from officer ranks or NCOs?
> 2533274921115718;4:
> they dont have the same rank.
> Thats why John is the leader of Blue team, and Locke is leader of Osiris.
> they are a separeted branch from UNICOM and ONI, even if the orders comes from there.
Doesn’t Fred have more authority than John?
Yet John’s still leader of Blue team.
> 2533274958671328;10:
> > 2533274921115718;4:
> > they dont have the same rank.
> > Thats why John is the leader of Blue team, and Locke is leader of Osiris.
> > they are a separeted branch from UNICOM and ONI, even if the orders comes from there.
>
> Doesn’t Fred have more authority than John?
> Yet John’s still leader of Blue team.
Blue Team is an exception to the rule because they fall under Naval Special Warfare/Weapons still (because the navy will never let go of their poster boys and girls) not spartan branch they have retained their commissions/(the enlisted form of commission) and John leading Blue Team was a matter of unit choice, because John always traditionally led Blue Team Fred didn’t like the idea of taking the lead with John on the team
As for OPs question. Based on what we’ve seen Spartan order of battle goes…
Fireteam
Chosen 2IC (naturally pushed into the role by the Fireteam)
Team Leader (Selected)
Spartan Handlers
Spartan detachment Commander
Assigned Ships Captain
UNICOM/NAVCOM (depending)
HIGHCOM/ONI
Note: Musa fits in this somewhere but I don’t know where
Now if Spartans are linking up with friendly forces from the way I see it they can’t take command of regular forces or other Spartan Fireteams (without expressed instructions from detachment Commander) so if they’re linking up with forces they’re attached to the regular units assigned operation (excluding exceptions) and augment their operation rather than hijack it.
Every spartan has the rank of spartan. How it operates is that the branch itself has positions like “Commander” and “Fireteam leader” that have more authority. Internally the line of succession to those positions will have been clearly established so casualties will not disrupt the unit. Spartans DO NOT have any independent authority over other branches nor do they take orders from anyone outside their chain of command. The chain of command itself is established, when on operation, by the order of battle that details every unit, whose in charge of what and what are the hierarchical position of the various units relative to eachother.
Or thats how militaries generally operate and integrate their irregular forces in to the big picture anyway.
> 2535464649080366;1:
> “Spartans are all equal,” says the Rear Admiral Musa, the creator and current leader of the Spartan branch of the UNSC. But all Spartans holds the “spartan” rank. Like how would this really work? Could a before private spartan basically march up to a colonel or admiral and be all like, “Look I see you got all these troops around the place, but none of them are going to do you any good. So listen to my command…”
> The only 3 Spartans in the spartan branch that is not ranked as spartan are Musa, chief of staff Jun-A266 and commander Palmer.
> But how about the remaining hundreds of Spartans? Is UNSC just going to be all like “Yeah we’re just going to mess up the chain of command whenever a Spartan is present, good luck?”
People kinda do listen to the Spartans since the IIs and IIIs were genetically enhanced physically, psycologically and literally bred for war.
I think that instead of ranks, Spartans chose on specific divisions. Reading the descriptions of the Halo 5 armory, many descriptions refer to specific tasks in the battlefield. I’m particularly curious for the visor named “Flood,” have wondered if it’s a hint for Halo 6 future enemy
> 2533274958671328;10:
> > 2533274921115718;4:
> > they dont have the same rank.
> > Thats why John is the leader of Blue team, and Locke is leader of Osiris.
> > they are a separeted branch from UNICOM and ONI, even if the orders comes from there.
>
> Doesn’t Fred have more authority than John?
> Yet John’s still leader of Blue team.
John earned the respect of blue team and the surviving spartan 2’s when they did the get back to base training exercise in the movie halo the fall of reach because john took charge and made sure everyone got home safe and that earned him the respect of the whole spartan 2 batch and he was put as blue team lead due to his good leadership skills and out of respect by fellow spartam 2’s
I see that this is somewhat of a necro, but I’ll post some information that has since been released.
“All Spartans receive a direct commission as an officer in the UNSC. Be aware that a Spartan’s authority does not typically extend outside of his or her chain of command. However, UNSC personnel will defer to your (referencing a Spartan-IV) expertise in most combat situations and you are expected to take the initiative in any emergency. Spartans follow when necessary but always lead from the front.”
RANKS:
Spartan : First Lieutenant
Fireteam Leader : Captain
Mission Handler : Major
Spartan Commander : Colonel
Director of Spartan Operations : General
Source: pg. 33 of the Official Spartan Field Manual.
In the field guide it says S-IVs hold a rank of 2nd lieutenant when amongst other branches so that they have a level of authority. They are to be compliant if out ranked in a normal setting but when it comes to combat it’s expected that Spartans take charge dispite rank as they are subject matter experts. In spartan branch it’s more about experience than rank, with titles like team leader, mission handler, and commander being awarded to those who have done the time and have the scars to show.
This also covers the older generations IIs and IIIs, even though most are only petty officers, except Fred as he is a full lieutenant, no other Spartan is really going to try and pull rank on them.
Spartan-IIs are chief petty officers
Spartan-IIIs are go with Officer ranks I believe
Spartan-IVs are ranked as “Spartan”, with Sarah Palmer’s rank being “Spartan commander”
My guess is maybe they carry on the Officer ranks of the Marines. But I have wondered the same thing because there is a “Master Chief Petty Officer” in the Navy’s Officer ranks. I don’t know if there is a correlation or not.