BRIGADIER GENERAL OR FIELD MARSHALL?

One of my traits as a nipper was to rank stuff.

I was obsessed with ranking.

Anything and everything could be ordered but my favourite targets were: the military, gunslingers, pirates, monsters and dinosaurs.

My typical gunslinger ranking might have looked like this based on the speed of the draw. I've guessed this one entirely but I would have looked these up as a kid and got it right:

1. Billy the Kid
2. Wild Bill Hickcock
3. Wyatt Earp
4. Calamity Jane
5. Buffalo Bill
6. Jesse James

A dinosaur ranking based on size might have been thus [using the names I knew as a kid]:

1. Brachiosaurus
2. Brontosaurus
3. Diplodocus
4. Mesosaur
5. Plesiosaurus
6. Stegosaurus

and finally, the list of the top brass in the armed forces. This was spurred on by my Action Man/ GI Joe platoon, who regularly performed daring feats deserving of more medals and of course my Project SWORD rank badges that came free with the toys.

Again I will have looked it up as a kid in the encyclopedias in my folks' house but I'm doing this from memory so apologies for the many errors!

1. Chief of the Armed Forces
2. General of the Army
3. First Sea Lord - Navy
4. Air Marshall - Air Force
5. Field Marshall - only in war, the top dog over them all
6. Never sure about the top brass of the Marines.
7. Is there anything higher than all of these beside the Queen/ President/First Minister?

I was also fascinated by different combinations of military ranks and possible overlaps [I've always had a thing about overlaps in anything!]. Some of my faves were:

1. Rear Admiral - is it the same as the Sea Lord? I could look it up but its fun not to!
2. Brigadier General - sounded very important!
3. Lieutenant General - have I made that up?
4. Corporal Major - again, did Woodsy Junior dream that one?
5. Major Colonel or is it Colonel Major? - only they know
6. Full Bird Colonel - heard this in Rambo when it first came out!

Were you a ranker readers?