From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: * X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_40,INVALID_DATE, MSGID_SHORT autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!wright!jholbach From: jholbach@wright.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: More fun stuff about Cobol Message-ID: <163@wright.EDU> Date: Sat, 29-Aug-87 13:32:18 EDT Article-I.D.: wright.163 Posted: Sat Aug 29 13:32:18 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 30-Aug-87 09:54:25 EDT References: <1502@cullvax.UUCP> Organization: Wright State University, Dayton OH, 45435 Xref: utgpu comp.lang.ada:590 comp.lang.c:3848 comp.lang.misc:616 List-Id: 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