Talk:UNSC rank structure

Further matters to consider
I was wondering if we should change the template and make the presentation of this article similar to this article.— subtank   16:42, 15 March 2014 (EDT)
 * Update: Yup. Definitely looks nicer compared to the old template design. Moreso on mobile browser.— subtank   10:12, 3 April 2014 (EDT)

Could the NAVCOM rank "Captian" have clarification if it refers to a Halo Array Installation or colony installation. In other words: be more specific as to what "installation" refers to? 12:27, 8 March 2023 (PST)
 * 'Captain' is in reference to a UNSC Navy rank in this context. The 'installation' would be a UNSC Naval installation. Some ground based UNSC facility or possibly an orbiting UNSC station. I don't think it should need clarification. It's not going to refer to a Halo installation. -ScaleMaster117 (talk) 07:56, March 9, 2023 (EST)

Senior Enlisted Advisor
Since we saw the Rank insignia for Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy in Halo 3, should the ranks be updated to show the senior enlisted advisor ranks for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force?

Individual Pages
In my opinion, the way this page works is kind of outdated. I would like to make individual pages for Fleet Admirals, Generals, etc. like we have for Covenant Ranks but cannot do so because all of those terms automatically redirect here.Japeth555 (talk) 00:11, 18 December 2016 (EST)Japeth555
 * I agree, but I see why we don't have individual articles for them at the moment. A lot of ranks would have little info on them. However, currently, I'm linking to the individual ranks just for if we make articles for them in the future. If anything, we can make articles for just say "Captain" or "General" and include info for that rank in various organizations rather than just a single branch of the UNSC. For example, the captain article would have info for Jiralhanae captains, Marine/Army/Air Force captains, Navy captains, and civilian captains. -- NightHammer (talk)(contribs) 00:49, 18 December 2016 (EST)
 * We used to have individual pages for all of them, as some might remember, but this system suffered from precisely the problem NightHammer identifies: most had little information on them, and were more or less copied from the American rank system on Wikipedia. For that reason, it was decided to collapse them all into one page, like the list of food and drink and other such situations with so little specific info. Since it was decided to do this (I'm sure you could find the discussions somewhere), I would be rather hesitant to undo this state of affairs without first coming to a broad consensus with others. With that said, if you do create any articles, I would advise that they only be about ranks which have something sufficiently notable or unusual about them, some way in which they differ from current U.S. ranks - if the page would just be a list of soldiers and sailors with that rank, it would be better to just make it a category. DefeatingLine (talk) 02:37, 18 December 2016 (EST)
 * The two comments above are indeed correct. Back in those days, the individual articles displayed information from Wikipedia (i.e. lazy editing) and were trivial and useless to readers. So, back then, there was an agreement to merge them all into what you see now (as per my comment in 2014 above). I do think DefeatingLine's proposal is doable; however, do note that editors would need to supervise actively so as to not allow this floodgate to re-open. — subtank   10:12, 22 December 2016 (EST)


 * I am all for this. We do it for the covenant. Why not the UNSC/ONI.-CIA391 (talk) 10:31, 14 June 2018 (EDT)

Overview and Rework
Ok lets go over stuff as shown in the "Halo: Official Spartan Field Manual".


 * Navy ranks are listed under "NAVCOM RANKS".
 * Marine Corps are listed under "UNICOM RANKS".

This would change how we go over those ranks. I really like how Halo.fr goes over them and I'd like to set up a similar set up for those. Template:Grades on Halo.fr

Now the Army ranks. Thankfully "Reach" and a few other sources preserve those ranks. But they are not listed in the Spartan Field manual. But it may be wise to have all those sources put somewhere to help this case.

Now onto stuff that is a lil iffy. Excuse me if I am wrong... but bar the Outstanding Airman of the Year Ribbon which may have changed its purpose. Have any "Air Force" ranks been used at all? Cause it feels kinda wrong to have them listed yet they have never been used at all.

So tldr
 * 1. We rework the NAVCOM and UNICOM ranks based on the field manual with a lil inspiration from Halo.fr.
 * 2. We source up the Army Ranks, and do a similar thing as above.
 * 3. We potentially remove the Air Force ranks as they have not been used in Halo at all yet, and may have dramatically changed.

So is that a fair assessment?-CIA391 (talk) 18:05, June 8, 2019 (EDT)


 * We can easily add Air Force Back in if they are used at a later date. But atm I dont recall them ever used.-CIA391 (talk) 18:14, June 8, 2019 (EDT)


 * If we have zero sources of the Air Force ranks existing, then we're essentially posting fanon by having them listed here. If we don't cover them, it simply means that they haven't been mentioned in the canon, it isn't us declaring them to not exist. Our content should be able to be sourced. BrianH (talk) 18:54, June 8, 2019 (EDT)


 * I believe a character in Spartan Ops holds the rank of "airman". -- NightHammer (talk)(contribs) 23:06, June 8, 2019 (EDT)


 * Hmmm and General also for R. Dellert. However General is already under the Unicom system (a fact that Lunaramethyst from Halo.fr pointed out. I wont take credit there)
 * Its also possible that Airman is a role and not a rank in the future... seeing as thats the possibility that the Ryan Frank page poses. But its still odd I wont lie regardless.-CIA391 (talk) 06:15, June 9, 2019 (EDT)

Regarding the overhaul
Great work on the update BaconShelf! I have a few questions though, what sources did you use for the descriptions of each rank? For example it says rear admirals command battle groups, but captains can command fleets as well (Captain Lasky/Captain Del Rio leading the UNSC Infinity as the flagship in the Expeditionary Strike Group 1 fleet ). Is it noteworthy to say rear admirals command mere battle groups as their primary description when captains can command full fleets?

Also, could we put the rank insignias back into the box for each rank, the images are represented in the games so why not restore them. Good update otherwise.Editorguy (talk) 13:14, September 17, 2019 (EDT)


 * Regarding the insignias. We first need to see what ones are actually used in a lore perspective. I noted earlier most have not been seen insignia wise and thus we actually shouldnt use them. This is due however for my major uber rehaul when we finally have pages for these again.-CIA391 (talk) 15:55, September 17, 2019 (EDT)