Operation Tartarus Theater Roster

[Pale Rider]

The United Systems Colonial Marine Rifle Platoon is composed of two sections and led by a Lieutenant. There are two Squads in a Section and each Section is led by a Sergeant with a driver. A Squad is composed of a Rifle Team (Pair of Riflemen) and a Gun Team (Rifleman and a Machine Gunner). The Squad leader is the designated Grenadier and a Rifleman functions as the teams scout.

COMMAND
Lieutenant Maria Gruber - Platoon Commander (NPC)
Master Sergeant Yakov Jacobson - 1st Sections Sergeant
Private Katherine Anna Bradford - APC Driver
Pope - Science Officer - Synthetic (NPC)

1st Squad - Break Shots
Cpl. Samantha Hall - Squad Leader
L. Cpl. Mark Giosso - ComTech (Rifleman)
L Cpl. Eric Roberts - Smart Gunner
Pvt. Scarlet Burnside - Rifleman (Assistant Smart Gunner)

2nd Squad - Dead Shots
Cpl. Dirk Pitt - Squad Leader
L Cpl. Thomas Colson - Medic (Rifleman)
Cpl. Allen Morse - Smart Gunner
Pvt. Clint McKenna - Rifleman (Unit Armorer and Assistant Smart Gunner)

[Whisky]

Colson got promoted to Lance Corporal?!

Now how did that manage to happen? (I'm guessing by grace of surviving this long XD)

[maxvale76]

For what it's worth.....if I remember correctly, in the credits for Aliens; there are only 2 PFCs listed (Vaz and Hudson); a bunch of Privates (Frost, Crowe, Wierzbowski, Drake, Spunkmeyer); 3 Corporals (Ferro, Dietrich and of course Hicks), a Sergeant (Apone) and a Lieutenant (Gorman).

What's interesting to me is that while Gorman wears the (modern day, it must be said) insignia of a 2nd LT (single Gold bar)....he's never listed or called as such just the generic 'Lieutenant'; which is fine for people talking to him.....Apone is only called (and listed) 'Sarge' or 'Sergeant'; though he wears the (again, present day it must be stated) insignia of an E-6 or 7 (can't quite tell) and in modern military (U.S. anyway) talk, E-6s and E-7s are typically called 'Staff' or "Gunny' in the Marines....not Sarge.......and NOBODY is a Lance Corporal.

Now there's a LOT of possibilities here....maybe nobody in the unit happens to be one....which is fine.....OR the rank doesn't exist in the USCM of the fictional/alternate universe Aliens takes place in. Personally, considering the age of the marines (assuming the actor's ages line up with the character ages)....most of them are in thier mid 20s and are E1s to E4s....which doesn't really work with modern military (U.S. anyway) time-in-grade......I tend to think the system works more like this:

Private: 2-5 years
PFC: 2-4 years
Corporal: 3-6 years
SGT: at least 10 years in

Something along those lines and no LCPL rank at all. Perhaps a "Recruit" or "Private Recruit" rank is E1 and applies to Boot Camp/A-school equivalent....and the "Privates" we see in the movie are E2s. This would help explain why there's so many 25ish 'Privates' and Hicks, who is around 30, is a Corporal and the 2nd ranking NCO.

Just a thought.....mainly I bring it up to say that nobody in our platoon is a PFC but we have 3 LCPLs.......but this is your take on things amigo; whatever works!

[Pale Rider]

I am going on the assumption that they would be rising in ranks like troops did in the Vietnam Era.

[Morse]

I always find it funny how once every year or two we wind up talking about the Ranks. Personally I just don't think it matters for us much since our characters have been in this for years, but the USCM doesn't appear to be as large as our present military. So I just tend to work with the assumption that there aren't a lot of people looking to join, and those that do rise up in the ranks with not as many below them. So I don't think it matters much. As long as we all know the chain of command.

At the end of the day, for our guys, the rank is just a pay grade.

[maxvale76]

Oh absolutely.....I don't really care from the perspective as a player, it's just a weird point of interest for me. Kind of like how I've always had an interest in the types and capabilities of things like guns, planes, tanks, APCs, etc.; though I've never been in the military or owned a gun. Just a strange 'academic' interest kind of thing.

Yes, I know....I'm weird.....

[Corporal Hicks]

Hey it's all good. You don't know how many times I've been asked "Why don't you just join the army?" I'm an enthusiast but I'm not really super psyched for boot camp or you know killing people.

As for ranks, it kind of sucks to have a bunch of Corporals because it looks unbalanced. It also sucks to play 5 missions and be stuck at Private. I used to be a Corporal which is a source of irritation for me but its too late to go back now lol.

In present day military, a corporal is basically a private who has been there for two years and is responsible for the hygeine of a fireteam. Not the leadership role it becomes in the movie.

[Morse]

I suffer from a similar problem with that question. I get students asking me which branch I was with because I know so much about how they need to get in. Though at the moment I'm in the midst of discussions about going in as an officer. - I wrote in a long time ago that Morse originally wanted to be a pilot but his scores weren't high enough so he did infantry. - Turned out that was a self fulfilling prophecy as I found out during my flight physical for the army that I'm partially color blind. But I can maybe do other stuff, so if in the next week I finally snap and say I just don't wanna be a teacher that'll probably be the next road.

As for the Corporal thing, I always thought the rank suited Morse perfectly. Not too low, not too high. Just dead in the middle. I don't like to compare any of this stuff to the actual military really though. Case in point, we don't land troops in dropships that carry nukes.