Commonwealth Ranks

Part of the state series of articles.

The Commonwealth does not divide its uniformed services into officers and other ranks. Every member of the Armed Forces and the Police Service is an officer of the Commonwealth, and every officer holds one of twelve grades in a single structure. A grade means the same thing whether the holder serves aboard a frigate, in a territorial regiment, at a Signals Picket or at a police station. There are no service-specific rank titles, because the Commonwealth does not maintain separate military branches and does not treat policing as separate from them.

A grade is held under a warrant. Servicemen hold a military Attestation and constables hold a police commission, and an officer with both carries the one grade under each. Promotion falls outside any Establishment or department, and a promotion in one warrant is a promotion in the other. A Commander who transfers from a company to a police division remains a Commander.

Rank is separate from positional title. Rank is a permanent grade that reflects seniority; a positional title describes the appointment an officer currently holds. A grade 7 Commander placed in charge of a company becomes a company commander, and the same Commander placed in charge of a division of police becomes an inspector. A grade 9 Secretary given command of a fleet is addressed as admiral for the duration of that appointment. Between appointments, officers revert to their rank title alone. This arrangement allows command structures to be flexible across interarmes operations and across the two warrants without creating competing hierarchies.

The grades fall into four tiers. Grades 1 and 2 are held by servicemen in their first years of service and by probationers at the Commonwealth Police College. Grades 3 to 6 are the officer tier, in which most officers serve out their careers. Grades 7 to 9 are the command tier. Grades 10 to 12 are the senior tier.

Note: Vekllei does not gender occupational titles. ‘Serviceman’ refers to both men and women, as do equivalents like rifleman and constable.