Originally posted by Fesarius
If memory serves, in the United States Military, the Marines have the lowest ratio of officers to enlisted men. The Aif Force has the highest. Not sure where the Navy fits in, but I know there are plenty of enlisted sailors and petty officers, as well as warrant officers and specialists.
Right you are! A little quick research at a location further up the directory tree from the page Fesarius provided (the defenselink almanac ), under the "People" heading, and you find all sorts of interesting stats. From these, I find that the Marines have a ratio of about 1 officer to 8 enlisted. The Navy is next with about 1 officer to 6 enlisted, followed by the Army at 1 to 5 and the Air Force at 1 to 4.
Another interesting statistic is what ranks are most common. Among the officers, O3 has the highest population, followed by O4. O1, O2, and O5 are next with approximately equal numbers, followed by O6, and then ever diminishing numbers as you march up the flag/general officer ranks. So when in doubt about the rank of the officer who's walking past your characters in the hallways of the starbase, she's probably a Lieutenant or Lieutenant Commander (or Captain and Lieutenant Colonel respectively if you're using Marines).
On the enlisted side, the most common grades are E4, E5, and E3, so the most common enlisted running about your games should probably be Petty Officer 3rd/Corporal, Petty Officer 2nd/Sergeant, and Seaman, er, Crewman/Lance Corporal.
Just a little bit of extra throw-away detail for you.
Now, if you really want to know about the organizational structure of the military units, you'll probably have to hunt about on the service web pages, like navy.mil and usmc.mil.
Enjoy, everyone!
-Chris Landmark
"Was entstanden ist, das muss vergehen. Was vergangen, auferstehn." -Klopstock & Mahler
"Only liberals really think. Only liberals are intellectual. Only liberals understand the needs of their fellows." How much viciousness lay concealed in that word! Odrade thought. How much secret ego demanding to feel superior. - Heretics of Dune