Re: More fun stuff about Cobol

[jholbach@wright.UUCP]

in article <1502@cullvax.UUCP>, drw@cullvax.UUCP (Dale Worley) says:
> Xref: wright comp.lang.ada:443 comp.lang.c:3073 comp.lang.misc:513
> 
> dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady) writes:
>> Hopper was indeed promoted to Commodore.  I believe the Navy recently
>> got rid of the rank of Commodore again, returning to the strange
>> practice of several years ago that lumps O-7s (= Brig Gen in the other
>> services) and O-8s (= Major Gen) together as Rear Admirals, lower and
>> upper half.
> 
> Someone explained to me that for a while the Navy didn't have O-7s at
> all, which caused problems because the big jump from O-6 to O-8 was hard
> to make.  So they re-instituted Commodores, but that sounded wimpyer
> than Brig. Gen.  They finally make O-7s a form of Admiral, so the set
> of ranks labelled Admiral would be the same as the set labelled
> General.
>
	The first explanation was correct -- we've always had O-7s
and O-8s (which are both "pay-grades" and not "ranks"), it's just that
the O-7s were Rear Admiral (lower half) and the O-8s Rear Admiral (upper
half). When this was changed several years ago, the Navy hierarchy
couldn't make up its collective mind between the title Commodore (which
has some tradition behind it) and another suggested title Commodore Admiral
(which has the magic phrase Admiral in it). Commodore finally won out, 
but was immediately unpopular with the next batch of newly selected
O-7s who (if the articles in the Navy Times were correct) felt that the 
world did not accept that they were *real* admirals since their titles
did not reflect that. Since this was nearly as momentous a question as
whether sailors should receive a decoration merely for having gone to sea
(we do *now*), the issue was finally resolved by going back to the way
it was before. 
	Speaking of naval tradition, we seem to have started a new 
tradition -- change something for the sake of change and then several
years later, reinvent the wheel by going back to the way it was before.
Ever wonder why sailors look like sailors again? Bell bottoms are back --
who the heck wants to enlist in an organization that wears coats and ties
on the way to the Persian Gulf?

	"It's not just a job -- it's an adventure!"

Jim Holbach