[RobbyS]

I see I was mistaken, although it does seem true that a navy Captain has more authority than an Army colonel. That wasn’t true in, say, 1940, when a “bull colonel” was a force to be reckoned with. Interesting that in Iraq, the war has been fought mainly by battalion commanders out of necessity when there is no battle line. It would be interesting to see if any guys who started this war as O-5s are on the promotion lists to O-7.

[quadrant]

When a battle has no front line (especially in urban areas) the units will not be led by battalion commanders at all, but by the NCO’s who lead the men. Reading the accounts of the Battle of Hue doesn’t give one the impression that anyone above the rank of buck sergeant had much to say about the outcome. One gets the same feeling reading BLACK HAWK DOWN.