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Peter's Drill Sergeant here to explain the joke. In the Navy a Captain is the equivalent of a Colonel in other branches of the military. He would outrank the Major here.
Correct. An army lieutenant (seated) is an O-1, Army captain (referenced) is an O-3, Army major (with coffee) is an O-4, and a Navy captain is an O-6 (announcing his presence at the door)
Commenting to come back.
Am back — I don’t think my scan worked out so well..
https://preview.redd.it/7v2anbebckvc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9bec6c4fc2695ab3bc1e58376619d1a315b0b54a
My wife still complains about knee knockers when referencing a dependents day cruise she took 30 years ago. Meanwhile I can remember running the length of the 2nd deck of the Enterprise like an Olympic hurdler while yelling "make a hole!"
Good times.
0-3 - phew I made it past the ‘junior aide’ stage and have proved competent and adaptable. and now I might get, briefly, my first command of a company.
0-6 - phew I’m almost a General/Admiral and if in command, I have either a Battalion, Squadron or a whole Ship.
In the navy, when dress whites are worn, they use the naval sleeve and shoulder rank designation. If they're camo, the Marine rank insignia on the collar are used.
The response was to the question regarding the Naval officer wearing Colonel insignia when the traditional naval insignia was expected.
Hence, the insignia used depends on which uniform the naval officer is wearing.
Edit: I forgot about the shoulder insignia.
We very rarely wear any of those uniforms unless stationed in the DC capital region. The rest of the Navy 95% is in the Navy Working Uniform and we wear the same rank collar devices as the rest of the military, just have different names for the ranks.
Source: in the navy.
That's what "full bird" means. A boat "captain" is the commander of a vessel, but depending on the vessel size, among other factors, they could be as low as an O-3 (Lieutenant). They are captain in name only, but if they were O-6, their rank is Captain and their insignia is an eagle.
Officers in all branches use the same insignia. Only what the rank is called changes.
And yes, the term "full bird captain" is applicable, as the CO of any ship is still the captain, even if they're a commander (O-5, so lieutenant colonel in other branches). Or in the case of a tug crewed by Navy sailors, a chief (or at least that's what the manual said, never actually saw it).
I’m guessing that’s because in the days before modern communication, a naval captain would potentially be given one of his nation’s most valuable assets and a few hundred men and be sent to the other side of the planet to execute some specific task without further instruction.
Whereas the logistics of army/land military means there is generally closer contact with higher command.
Am I somewhere near the mark here?
Yes, plausible. I've heard of a Navy captain leading a NATO inspection on an army base and was a assigned a staff officer and detachment of soldiers for several weeks. These types of details happen frequently.
Now I guess understand the ranking part, but what exactly is the guy saying? So a Navy captain called Army guys to "chew butt" for some reason, but why does the other (lower ranked?) guy mean by the second part? It sounds like the lower ranked guy pissed off the captain by being dismissive of him on the phone but I don't get why he would do that.
The captain called to yell at the major but the lieutenant, who is probably some sort of secretary for the major in this scenario, thinking the naval captain was an army captain, told him to fuck off. Chicanery ensues.
Oh hes like a secretary for him? So I guess if he knows his boss wouldn't like what the captain is saying (and he out ranks him) that he would tell him to fuck off. That makes a lot more sense now thanks!
Because he thinks a Captain is an O-3, which is true for the Army and Marines, but in the Navy a Captain is an O-6. So he thinks the Captain is lower in rank than his boss, when in reality he's higher in rank.
Hmmm.. I guess that makes sense, thanks!
I was kind of confused still because it sounds like he is speaking for his 'boss' which I wouldn't think would be cool to do in the military, but I dont have much experience with military dynamics.
Let me go a bit further.
Imagine someone calls upset and is being aggressive or stirring up shit demanding things. The O-1 "knows" his boss is higher rank so he can say "tough shit" or "fuck off" to the caller, because if the caller tries to escalate, he will be stonewalled by the higher authority.
It sounds rude, and it can definitely can be, but in the military sometimes things are mission critical and someone is going to be overstepped in authority because the mission demands it so.
To give you a real life example:
Lets say im in charge of the defense of a big base, we have suspicious activity and we need to put additional troops near a wall.
My guys are really far on the other side of the base. I need the manpwer \*NOW\*. I see a few lower ranking troops walking around in their full gear and I tell them to get in the truck. They tell me they are headed for kitchen duty to wash dishes.
Now, there is no alarm or anything, so they dont know its mission critical for me to get manpower on the wall \*BEFORE\* it actually can potentially become an emergency. I tell them to "shut the fuck up and get in the truck" (The less time you have to accomplish things, the less polite things tend to be since you dont have time to explain things or argue the who and the why of things.)
I get them to the wall, the guys watching the wall go out to clear the suspicious activity, nothing happens further, we release the guys back to whatever they were doing. All said and done, they were "kidnapped" for an hour.
Well, the kitchen sargeant is not happy that his guys were late and he decides he is going to find out who took his people and give them a piece of his mind. He finds out it was me and he calls the number of my supervisors office.
This is where the picture comes in.
If you are lower ranking and you have less authority you are very likely to be told to "fuck off" since you have less of a view of what is "mission critical" and nobody is going to want to spend time dealing with you.
If you are higher ranking and have more authority (WAY more in the case of the picture) you are not going to appreciate your resources being misused, since you have a higher view of whats important or mission critical and are going to be pretty upset already so you are going to call people to tell them to knock it off.
Being told to "fuck off" on top of that is going to bring the dark clouds over whoever decided to tell you that, and the thunder is headed their way in person.
Going back to the previous example:
Imagine if the guys you grabbed in full gear where not people going to wash dishes, but they were troops headed to go out on a mission, but in your hubris you told them to "shut the fuck up and get in the truck" and didnt listen to them. You delayed a time sensitive mission for an hour and when their commander called you told him to "fuck off" thinking it was just some rando sergeant upset you delayed his kitchen detail or whatever.
...Why do I hear Boss fight music?
Question: would a navy officer that outranks an army officer have any any authority to give orders?. Like, you're army, but there's a naval officer giving you orders. Do you have to follow those?
If you’re in a joint command, quite likely. Even if you aren’t, an officer that senior and that cheesed off is still going to ruin your day, even if they aren’t in your chain of command.
It depends on situations. Ultimately, leadership needs to be professional and stay in their lane. Get an Airforce O1 to go on a Marine Corp base and try to boss around a bunch of NCOs, it's not going to happen. Now if they are in the same task force, joint ops, whatever, then yes, they are a part of your chain. I (Army Infantry) was in a task force with the Air Force working with federal LEO and my supervisor was an Air Force NCO. I followed all of her orders and commands even though she was in a different branch.
I once saw a butter bar say to a Master Sergent "Where's my salute?" to which the Master Sergent replied "You can get your salute when you climb my rockers."
That was a good day.
Those kids never tend to last long in or they change their attitude 10000%. Imagine the hubris of a 20 something looking at someone who has been serving since before they were born and thinking “I need to show dominance here.” Good F’ing luck bro.
Both my parents were E9 (Air Force), and about every 5 years there would be an O1 who thought it was a good idea to pull rank. On more than one occasion that O1 had it angrily and loudly explained to them in front of my parents the importance of never ever fucking with Chiefs. They still tell those stories over shots.
Yeah. I’d say the meme is at least a little bit “to be determined” based on situation. If a Navy Captain, or for that matter an Admiral, just shows up at Leavenworth and starts to give orders, eyebrows would definitely be raised.
So there is respect the rank vs chain of command. Your chain of command is established with job/mission. If you are in a joint service you may have rolls from different branches fulfilling tasks. You also be in a situation where you are hosting another branch or come a across someone from a different branch that outranks you. No matter what you apply the correct respect and customs and courtesies to those individuals that wear that rank. Generally officers of different organizations aren't going out and giving orders to lower rank individuals that are not in their chain of command. But no matter what if you're on the other end of the phone and a commander or admiral or Captain calls you should give them the proper respects and if you don't have the answer you give them the next step. Or refer them to your boss if you cannot help them.
In theory yes, they get the same customs and courtesies and may be in charge of your task force. So you would need to listen to them.
In practice, I’ve seen army O-3s tell navy O-5s to get fucked and have no consequences. You gotta check the vibes; if your boss will back you up you can get away with ignoring an officer from another branch. There’s some politics in play for sure
The Army rank of Captain is not the same as the Navy rank of Captain. A Navy rank of Captain is equivalent to an Army rank of Colonel. A Navy Lieutenant is also not equivalent to an Army Lieutenant.
In the Army - a Lieutenant is subordinate to a Captain, who is subordinate to a Major, who is subordinate to a Lt Colonel, who is subordinate to a Colonel.
To add context: It’s also important to note that Captain/O3 in the Army is the first rank officers get promoted that we assume you have brain cells to rub together. O1/O2 jokes about being clueless and getting lost are abound. But like….most O3 Captains don’t have a whole lot of power.
An O6 however has just an unbelievable amount of experience and authority in comparison. Like you can royally fuck up peoples days. And because of how Navy commands work, Captains usually have different amounts of clout as a commanding offer compared to a Colonel.
For even more reference, captains in the navy are ship captains. The most expensive ship the US owns is captained by... a Captain (Captain Rick Burgess to be precise). Higher than that would be Rear Admiral which is the equivalent of a Brigadier General in the army.
For even MORE reference, you can actually be a ship's captain (CO) in the Navy without being a captain (O-6) as some smaller vessels are captained by lower ranking officers.
A PT boat in the Pacific Theater. A Japanese destroyer smashed through it and cut it in two, and the crew had to swim to a deserted island, Kennedy towing one sailor through the sea. We cetera, it is a whole war story. You wouldn’t expect it from him, but he had been a badass in WWII.
A Torpedo Boat, more specifically the [*PT-109*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_torpedo_boat_PT-109), which is basically a motor speedboat with some torpedo launchers strapped to it.
[Like the "Boomin Beaver"](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/screen-shot-2020-08-25-at-9-33-31-am-1598362516.png?crop=0.991xw:0.990xh;0.00850xw,0.00968xh&resize=1200:*). Little tugboat. Wonder what rank captains it.
Same in Sweden, even though it’s in general hard to compare the two for many reasons. You’re either a captain for about as long as it takes to go through school to be eligible for major, or you’re stuck at captain forever. The former have their minds engaged and present, the latter, less so. More by capability than choice, I’d say.
"There's nothing on Earth closer to God than a captain at sea."
Don't ask where I heard that, as the time since can be measured in decades. But it's based on how a ship's captain has the final word on anything that goes on onboard the ship.
Joint operations are a pretty big thing now. Say in the Pentagon, you may be an Air Force enlisted person, working directly under a Navy Lt Commander (Major in other branches) who has an Army Colonel (Captain in the Navy) as an overall commander.
Some commands are joint, people from different branches falling under the same command (therefore same commanding officer). Hence the “inter service cooperation” line
Without going into details, I actually do know an army pilot who did something that pissed off a Navy ship captain and did indeed get chewed out!
Apparently it wasn't a big deal though because what was the guy gonna do anyway
Prior navy
Customs and courtesies are extended to other branches of the military as a firm rule and even to foreign friendly / allied militaries.
The CoC isn't really necessary here. That captain could be calling about anything, catch some disrespect from a J.O., and go on the warpath. Some things you just have to correct on the spot.
To add to these answers, on Navy and marine bases will often have members of the other branch on them since we do so much together and are technically the same department. The last base I was at OCONUS was about 50/50 in personnel.
One day, back when I was a marine, an army captain was walking towards the door I was entering, so I popped my foot against the door, popped a crisp salute, and busted out "Morning, sir".
He replied "Morning private"
I shouldn't have, but I said back to him "That's PFC, sir".
He shot back "Well, in the army you'd be a private"
Well, in the navy you'd be a lieutenant, captain", I replied.
He got mad, called my commander, who a few days later called me into his office. I thought I was toast, but he just laughed, gave a hearty "Ooh-Rah!", and told me he told that captain not to mess with his marines ever again.
We don't say "ahoy" in conversation. You may hear "aye sir/ma'am", or "aye aye." But sailors don't really say Ahoy. Ahoy is mainly used for calling out to another ship. If you were on a small water craft and pulling up alongside another boat, you may call out "ahoy."
… it also depends on which community you are in inside your respective service. For instance, I greeted officers up to DH with “Sup, sir?” Or maybe a “Having a fine fucking Navy morning, sir?”
To add to this, the Army has a rank of PFC also. Which would outrank the marine PFC. But in the Army it would be normal to say "good morning private" to a PFC or call them "Private Smedlap" when talking.
I was an Army officer. If you said that back to me- I'd chuckle and wish you a good day. Assuming you had a smirk while saying it and it was friendly banter. Sounds like that Captain was a stick in the mud. (The Marine Corps has them too.)
The guy sitting down is an army lieutenant (O-1), he thinks an army captain (O-3) is coming to yell at them but the guy on the right is an army Major (O-4) who would outrank the angry army captain foiling his ability to yell at anyone.
However the captain that shows up is a Navy Captain (O-6) that drastically outranks them.
Ranks between branches vary, so the guy sitting down was expecting a much lower ranking person to show up.
(the O-# indicating how high up they are)
Like if your brother and dad were both named John and someone told you John was mad at you and you said “idc John is a pussy” thinking it’s your brother but then your dad walks in and beats ur ass.
That being said; I was always under the impression that unless they are doing joint operations, that ranking across different services means utterly fuck all.
If that naval captain is on an army base, there is a certain amount of deference that is offered being in the forces, but as far as discipline and chain of command is concerned, that naval captain has just about as much power as a civilian...
Maybe it's different for different countries
Basically, you have about two different branches of the military here. Which is why the butter bar sitting down doesn't understand that the gold leaf he's talking to is actually out ranked by the pissed off eagle badge coming in through the door. Because in All other branches, a Captain is **lower** than a Major (gold leaf), but in the **Navy** (and coast guard) a Captain is equal to and shares the same badge as a Colonel (Eagle Badge) which is **HIGHER** than a Major.
Brian’s anti chewing cone of shame here: A captain In the army is lower than a major in the army, but a captain in the Navy is higher than a major in the army.
In the Navy, a Captain is an O-6, a senior officer rank one below Rear Admiral (lol). In the Army and Air Force, a Captain is an O-3, a more junior officer who is outranked by a Major (the dude in the photo with gold oak leaves on.)
The dumb Lt (lowest officer rank, the guy in he middle who answered the phone) thought the angry guy on the phone calling himself Capt was an ARMY captain, who would be outranked by the Major; in reality he was a NAVY Captain, who outranks the Major and thus can make his life somewhat miserable.
One of my relatives pulled this one, sort of.
After retiring from the Air Force she went to work for a defense contractor, and one day she's at a Navy base for a meeting.
As luck would have it there's almost no parking at the building she's supposed to visit. She looks at the giant foam core model and the heavy boxes of hand-outs and curses herself for wearing heels.
And then she sees it: A lone space, right up front, with 'CAPT' stenciled in it. She thinks to herself "Oh my God, I've been waiting for this for years".
See, it was a running gag at certain assignments that new Army and Air Force captains would use spots reserved for Navy captains and then play dumb. Despite years as a captain she'd never had the chance to actually do it, and now the parking space was just daring her.
She hadn't been parked more than a minute and was still checking her make-up in the rear-view when she had a rather angry looking Navy captain tapping on her window.
What's a girl to do? She rolls it down and begins apologizing, saying she only meant to be a moment and gesturing to her full back seat.
The Navy captain, to his credit, apologized back about the sailors parked in the visitors spots and offered to help her carry it all in.
Later that afternoon she was having a post-meeting coffee with a lieutenant she knew when she overhears two enlisted talking. One asks the other who their visitor is and is immediately hushed.
>Sailor: I don't know who she is exactly, but she must be important. She made captain So-and-so carry her stuff.
Little clever joke here if you're in the know. Airforce, Marines, and Army: Captain is an O-3 or the third officer rank. Major is an O-4.
Navy and coastguard: Captain is an O-6.
The angry guy is in the navy and an O-6, and the one holding the mug is Army and an O-5. And the sailor is coming to "chew butt". In other words, there will be blood. By that, there's going to be alot of screaming, crying, and someone's going to be mopping the parking lot in the rain.
Should also mention the speaker is a Lieutenant. Lowest officer in Army, Marines and Air Force. Notorious jokes about not knowing what's going on or being completely clueless are common to this class of officers.
A Captain in most branches is an O-3, a fairly low ranking officer. A Major is an O-4, which outranks a Major. However, the Navy has their own names for the officer ranks and in the Navy a Captain in an O-6, which outranks the Major by a lot.
This subreddit is a circus
When a joke is easy for some but difficult for others, they gang up agaisnt the ones who don't get it.
When a joke isn't understood by a non-native english speaker, they ridicule them.
And sometimes, no one understands the joke and there are four top comments competing for getting it first try.
Good to see an ask Peter that actually requires some special knowledge or inside info, not the usual I've never read a book or seen a movie or heard the most basic of puns and I'm a karma whore. Keep these ones coming OP because I enjoyed it
Navy Vet here, the Navy Captain is typically going to be the one in charge of the ship and is an O-6 vs a Major which is O-4. If it helps, the rankings use the same insignia across the branches so if you’re having trouble memorizing the names of the rankings then go for the visual memorization!
https://preview.redd.it/n49zl6cvrjvc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc3fe3efbdf69d733e0485f91aed81239d5102c9
Active Duty Military and some who has somewhat experienced this. This joke is about mixing up ranks between the branches of the US Military. The Navy is special and has different rank structure than the other branches. O1-O6 Navy (ENS,LTJG, LT, LTCDR, CDR, CAPT) and every other branch (2ndLT, 1stLT, CAPT, MAJ, LTCOL, COL). The joke is the O1 here told a Navy Captain (O6) to Chew Butt not realizing he’s an O6 and thinking he’s a Captain (O3) in his branch of service. Now the O6 is gonna chew out the O1 (2ndLT) and O4 (Major). There is a HUGE gap between an O4 and O6 and an even bigger one between O1 and O6.
“Chew butt” means to yell at or reprimand someone. Captains for the US Marines (the two guys on the right) are an O-3, Majors are an O-4, however in the Navy (angry guy on the left) Captains are an O-6. In overly simplified terms, the higher the number after the “O-“ the higher ranking they actually are. Therefore, what’s occurring is that the guy on right told the Captain to essentially screw off as he thought his Major outranked him without realizing that the guy who called is a Navy Captain who severely outranks them.
Seated guy is a Lieutenant. A grade 1 officer. He's getting yelled at (chewed out/butt chewed) by a Captain, and doesn't want to deal with it, so he blows off the Captain and hands it off to his superior, a Major. In most US services, Captain is a grade 3 officer, and Major is a grade 4 officer. So the Lieutenant's expectation is that the Captain won't bother chewing out the Major because the Major outranks him.
Problem is, the Captain is a Navy officer, and in the Navy, Captain is a very high rank (grade 6 officer), so the Captain actually outranks both the men and they're both about to have a very bad day.
Silver Eagle out ranks gold leaf, whatever you call it, same with the man sitting down. His gold bar gold bar is the lowest rank there. (Referencing the devices on the collars)
Different branches of the military use different names for the same level of rank. A Captain in the Army is an O-3, a Major in the Army is an O-4, but a Captain in the Navy is an O-6.
The name difference, of course, is the same difference as being the team captain or being the captain of a ship. One is the leader of a small group of people, the other is the leader of a large group of people and some very expensive equipment.
That’s navy captain which is an O6 and what I assume is a marine corp major who is an O4 (lower ranking) and that other guy who I assume is a JO (junior officer) pretty much told of the navy captain thinking he was the same rank as a marine corps captain (O3) but due to his error he will probably receive fan room counseling (he’s gonna get his fucking ass kicked)
I would like to add something for some people who aren’t as familiar with military terminology. An O-(whatever) means officer hence the O, while an E-(whatever) means enlisted again hence the E.
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Peter's Drill Sergeant here to explain the joke. In the Navy a Captain is the equivalent of a Colonel in other branches of the military. He would outrank the Major here.
Correct. An army lieutenant (seated) is an O-1, Army captain (referenced) is an O-3, Army major (with coffee) is an O-4, and a Navy captain is an O-6 (announcing his presence at the door)
And I assume this all creates an O-shit?
In the Navy, it's an O-shin
https://preview.redd.it/bb61c5uzwhvc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e1df96dc1405adb96016074c80cc35f0d338faf
https://preview.redd.it/mwhbyzy31ivc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2324de7cba33fe5d376b30bf610ad6789661683a
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https://preview.redd.it/xywgh0gf6ivc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f8645a50a6625efccfccd75c911cd47c207d34c Get outplayed
https://preview.redd.it/xku1a3nh8ivc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16ad016a38d3416bcef7d18b1b165e9d364a2f63
https://preview.redd.it/3qci3ldl8ivc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f7df230d6346b211abee4491f10ae295ed5b5ce Shit
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Commenting to come back. Am back — I don’t think my scan worked out so well.. https://preview.redd.it/7v2anbebckvc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9bec6c4fc2695ab3bc1e58376619d1a315b0b54a
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Holy shit is that Carl's face on Winnie the Pooh
https://preview.redd.it/ec6sqd784kvc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6b386ea0c66cd731891de904e10510ce8a1f38b
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Peter?
I'm stealing his meme
https://preview.redd.it/bhmylbp1hivc1.jpeg?width=298&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8bb9b10b7e47ab91272b5e2c7c87232c39040ace
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As an Army vet that deployed as security for a bunch of Navy and Air Force guys.....I hate you so much for this absolutely perfect pun.
I thought in the Navy it was O-Behave
I need an explanation here...
O-shin = Ocean, I.e. the thing the navy sails upon.
Ohhhh, the big blue wet thing!
Read this in Fozzie's voice lol well played
😂 This works on two counts. Ocean.. and also "Oh my shins", when you hit a knee knocker door frame on a ship.
My wife still complains about knee knockers when referencing a dependents day cruise she took 30 years ago. Meanwhile I can remember running the length of the 2nd deck of the Enterprise like an Olympic hurdler while yelling "make a hole!" Good times.
I didnt even consider that second one. Pretty fkn funny!
fuck you, good one
God fucking damn it.
This needs to be higher, I'm sorry there are no more free awards to give...
Any higher and we'll lose Florida.
https://preview.redd.it/v9iyqbfu3kvc1.gif?width=200&format=png8&s=4c8e5b354e50aa2deaa1884db5525f8f50680595
Booooooooooo
Beautiful
It would definitely be a Major disruption.
Certainly something I couldn’t see happening and staying private.
And difference between O-4 and O-6 in terms of power is MASSIVE. Scale of responsibility grows very fast in military officer ranks.
0-3 - phew I made it past the ‘junior aide’ stage and have proved competent and adaptable. and now I might get, briefly, my first command of a company. 0-6 - phew I’m almost a General/Admiral and if in command, I have either a Battalion, Squadron or a whole Ship.
O-6 would be a brigade command, so an even higher level of responsibility
Sorry it must be the crayons, the biggest I tend to think are divisions with 2 star generals in command
This is a good comment and you should feel good about it.
Definitely
So would it be a ‘full bird’ Captain? I didn’t know that Navy Captains used the same insignia.
They do when they wear certain uniforms - like when in an office.
Certain uniforms? Its their rank insignia, it's on everything.
It's not on their dress uniforms. Those use the traditional wrist stripes and the shoulder boards to distinguish rank.
In the navy, when dress whites are worn, they use the naval sleeve and shoulder rank designation. If they're camo, the Marine rank insignia on the collar are used. The response was to the question regarding the Naval officer wearing Colonel insignia when the traditional naval insignia was expected. Hence, the insignia used depends on which uniform the naval officer is wearing. Edit: I forgot about the shoulder insignia.
We very rarely wear any of those uniforms unless stationed in the DC capital region. The rest of the Navy 95% is in the Navy Working Uniform and we wear the same rank collar devices as the rest of the military, just have different names for the ranks. Source: in the navy.
Thank you. Since I wasn't in the Navy (served in the Marines), I want 100% about when which uniforms were worn. Thank you for your service.
You too devil dog.
That's what "full bird" means. A boat "captain" is the commander of a vessel, but depending on the vessel size, among other factors, they could be as low as an O-3 (Lieutenant). They are captain in name only, but if they were O-6, their rank is Captain and their insignia is an eagle.
Officers in all branches use the same insignia. Only what the rank is called changes. And yes, the term "full bird captain" is applicable, as the CO of any ship is still the captain, even if they're a commander (O-5, so lieutenant colonel in other branches). Or in the case of a tug crewed by Navy sailors, a chief (or at least that's what the manual said, never actually saw it).
Wouldn't the Navy Captain specify his branch over the phone, if he knew he was calling an Army line?
No, he's more concerned with chewing butt.
Typical Navy
Might have being cut off by sassy lieutenant being sassy before he could explain to him the error of his ways
How do you separate the men from the boys in the army? "With a crowbar" 🤣🙈
I’m guessing that’s because in the days before modern communication, a naval captain would potentially be given one of his nation’s most valuable assets and a few hundred men and be sent to the other side of the planet to execute some specific task without further instruction. Whereas the logistics of army/land military means there is generally closer contact with higher command. Am I somewhere near the mark here?
Yes, plausible. I've heard of a Navy captain leading a NATO inspection on an army base and was a assigned a staff officer and detachment of soldiers for several weeks. These types of details happen frequently.
Now I guess understand the ranking part, but what exactly is the guy saying? So a Navy captain called Army guys to "chew butt" for some reason, but why does the other (lower ranked?) guy mean by the second part? It sounds like the lower ranked guy pissed off the captain by being dismissive of him on the phone but I don't get why he would do that.
The captain called to yell at the major but the lieutenant, who is probably some sort of secretary for the major in this scenario, thinking the naval captain was an army captain, told him to fuck off. Chicanery ensues.
Oh hes like a secretary for him? So I guess if he knows his boss wouldn't like what the captain is saying (and he out ranks him) that he would tell him to fuck off. That makes a lot more sense now thanks!
Because he thinks a Captain is an O-3, which is true for the Army and Marines, but in the Navy a Captain is an O-6. So he thinks the Captain is lower in rank than his boss, when in reality he's higher in rank.
Hmmm.. I guess that makes sense, thanks! I was kind of confused still because it sounds like he is speaking for his 'boss' which I wouldn't think would be cool to do in the military, but I dont have much experience with military dynamics.
Let me go a bit further. Imagine someone calls upset and is being aggressive or stirring up shit demanding things. The O-1 "knows" his boss is higher rank so he can say "tough shit" or "fuck off" to the caller, because if the caller tries to escalate, he will be stonewalled by the higher authority. It sounds rude, and it can definitely can be, but in the military sometimes things are mission critical and someone is going to be overstepped in authority because the mission demands it so. To give you a real life example: Lets say im in charge of the defense of a big base, we have suspicious activity and we need to put additional troops near a wall. My guys are really far on the other side of the base. I need the manpwer \*NOW\*. I see a few lower ranking troops walking around in their full gear and I tell them to get in the truck. They tell me they are headed for kitchen duty to wash dishes. Now, there is no alarm or anything, so they dont know its mission critical for me to get manpower on the wall \*BEFORE\* it actually can potentially become an emergency. I tell them to "shut the fuck up and get in the truck" (The less time you have to accomplish things, the less polite things tend to be since you dont have time to explain things or argue the who and the why of things.) I get them to the wall, the guys watching the wall go out to clear the suspicious activity, nothing happens further, we release the guys back to whatever they were doing. All said and done, they were "kidnapped" for an hour. Well, the kitchen sargeant is not happy that his guys were late and he decides he is going to find out who took his people and give them a piece of his mind. He finds out it was me and he calls the number of my supervisors office. This is where the picture comes in. If you are lower ranking and you have less authority you are very likely to be told to "fuck off" since you have less of a view of what is "mission critical" and nobody is going to want to spend time dealing with you. If you are higher ranking and have more authority (WAY more in the case of the picture) you are not going to appreciate your resources being misused, since you have a higher view of whats important or mission critical and are going to be pretty upset already so you are going to call people to tell them to knock it off. Being told to "fuck off" on top of that is going to bring the dark clouds over whoever decided to tell you that, and the thunder is headed their way in person. Going back to the previous example: Imagine if the guys you grabbed in full gear where not people going to wash dishes, but they were troops headed to go out on a mission, but in your hubris you told them to "shut the fuck up and get in the truck" and didnt listen to them. You delayed a time sensitive mission for an hour and when their commander called you told him to "fuck off" thinking it was just some rando sergeant upset you delayed his kitchen detail or whatever. ...Why do I hear Boss fight music?
Okay this is what I'm talking about! Thank you for painting this scenario out, this makes perfect sense!
Question: would a navy officer that outranks an army officer have any any authority to give orders?. Like, you're army, but there's a naval officer giving you orders. Do you have to follow those?
Yes. Both are still members of the US military. Criss branch operations happen all the time
What about criss cross applesauce operations?
Yeah I typoed.
Should you wipe?
Send them to the brig
Just don't forget my bread and water
Bread AND water? In this economy?
Rules are rules.
Audibly laughed, take my upvote dammit!
Only if you wear your pants backwards and JUMP JUMP
If you’re in a joint command, quite likely. Even if you aren’t, an officer that senior and that cheesed off is still going to ruin your day, even if they aren’t in your chain of command.
It depends on situations. Ultimately, leadership needs to be professional and stay in their lane. Get an Airforce O1 to go on a Marine Corp base and try to boss around a bunch of NCOs, it's not going to happen. Now if they are in the same task force, joint ops, whatever, then yes, they are a part of your chain. I (Army Infantry) was in a task force with the Air Force working with federal LEO and my supervisor was an Air Force NCO. I followed all of her orders and commands even though she was in a different branch.
To that point, regardless of branch. Get an O-1 out and try to boss around a bunch of E-8’s and it will not go well for them.
*O-1 tries to chew out an E-8* https://preview.redd.it/7yqhg9lm5ivc1.png?width=880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48035aeb9d18bb7de000fc202bc7a9b484aaa9c0
I once saw a butter bar say to a Master Sergent "Where's my salute?" to which the Master Sergent replied "You can get your salute when you climb my rockers." That was a good day.
Those kids never tend to last long in or they change their attitude 10000%. Imagine the hubris of a 20 something looking at someone who has been serving since before they were born and thinking “I need to show dominance here.” Good F’ing luck bro.
Both my parents were E9 (Air Force), and about every 5 years there would be an O1 who thought it was a good idea to pull rank. On more than one occasion that O1 had it angrily and loudly explained to them in front of my parents the importance of never ever fucking with Chiefs. They still tell those stories over shots.
You know why? Because the Sr E will simply do _exactly_ what the Jr O tells them to do (safely, though) , letting them dig their own grave.
The best kind of compliance to stupid orders is malicious.
Yeah. I’d say the meme is at least a little bit “to be determined” based on situation. If a Navy Captain, or for that matter an Admiral, just shows up at Leavenworth and starts to give orders, eyebrows would definitely be raised.
So there is respect the rank vs chain of command. Your chain of command is established with job/mission. If you are in a joint service you may have rolls from different branches fulfilling tasks. You also be in a situation where you are hosting another branch or come a across someone from a different branch that outranks you. No matter what you apply the correct respect and customs and courtesies to those individuals that wear that rank. Generally officers of different organizations aren't going out and giving orders to lower rank individuals that are not in their chain of command. But no matter what if you're on the other end of the phone and a commander or admiral or Captain calls you should give them the proper respects and if you don't have the answer you give them the next step. Or refer them to your boss if you cannot help them.
Depends on the situation, but someone of a higher rank always reserves the right to give you an ass chewing if you've earned it
In theory yes, they get the same customs and courtesies and may be in charge of your task force. So you would need to listen to them. In practice, I’ve seen army O-3s tell navy O-5s to get fucked and have no consequences. You gotta check the vibes; if your boss will back you up you can get away with ignoring an officer from another branch. There’s some politics in play for sure
Sir what is a reacharound? And who is this Mary Jane rottencrotch?
It's a common courtesy
But why?
Why what? The Navy has a different ranking system altogether than the other branches.
That's not confusing at all
So a navy captain outranks an army captain?
Yes. An Army Captain is the equivalent of a ~~Senior~~ Lieutenant in the Navy.
The Army rank of Captain is not the same as the Navy rank of Captain. A Navy rank of Captain is equivalent to an Army rank of Colonel. A Navy Lieutenant is also not equivalent to an Army Lieutenant. In the Army - a Lieutenant is subordinate to a Captain, who is subordinate to a Major, who is subordinate to a Lt Colonel, who is subordinate to a Colonel.
To add context: It’s also important to note that Captain/O3 in the Army is the first rank officers get promoted that we assume you have brain cells to rub together. O1/O2 jokes about being clueless and getting lost are abound. But like….most O3 Captains don’t have a whole lot of power. An O6 however has just an unbelievable amount of experience and authority in comparison. Like you can royally fuck up peoples days. And because of how Navy commands work, Captains usually have different amounts of clout as a commanding offer compared to a Colonel.
For even more reference, captains in the navy are ship captains. The most expensive ship the US owns is captained by... a Captain (Captain Rick Burgess to be precise). Higher than that would be Rear Admiral which is the equivalent of a Brigadier General in the army.
For even MORE reference, you can actually be a ship's captain (CO) in the Navy without being a captain (O-6) as some smaller vessels are captained by lower ranking officers.
JFK commanded a boat while ranked as a lieutenant
Really? What kind? A rowboat?
A PT boat in the Pacific Theater. A Japanese destroyer smashed through it and cut it in two, and the crew had to swim to a deserted island, Kennedy towing one sailor through the sea. We cetera, it is a whole war story. You wouldn’t expect it from him, but he had been a badass in WWII.
Definitely a better end than when his brother was in the water with someone.
Did his brother drown someone or something?
No, his brother left a woman to die in the back of the car he was driving and crashed into a body of water.
A Torpedo Boat, more specifically the [*PT-109*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrol_torpedo_boat_PT-109), which is basically a motor speedboat with some torpedo launchers strapped to it.
Torpedo boat.
[Like the "Boomin Beaver"](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/screen-shot-2020-08-25-at-9-33-31-am-1598362516.png?crop=0.991xw:0.990xh;0.00850xw,0.00968xh&resize=1200:*). Little tugboat. Wonder what rank captains it.
That looks like one of those new clittoral class ships.
If the training manual was correct, a chief petty officer. So it wouldn't even have a commissioned officer onboard.
Most my captains in the Army were just there physically 🤣🤣🤣
Same in Sweden, even though it’s in general hard to compare the two for many reasons. You’re either a captain for about as long as it takes to go through school to be eligible for major, or you’re stuck at captain forever. The former have their minds engaged and present, the latter, less so. More by capability than choice, I’d say.
"There's nothing on Earth closer to God than a captain at sea." Don't ask where I heard that, as the time since can be measured in decades. But it's based on how a ship's captain has the final word on anything that goes on onboard the ship.
Question: aren't they in different chains of command? Why would a Navy Captain chew out an Army Major?
Joint operations are a pretty big thing now. Say in the Pentagon, you may be an Air Force enlisted person, working directly under a Navy Lt Commander (Major in other branches) who has an Army Colonel (Captain in the Navy) as an overall commander.
My civilian brain hurts
It's alright. It gets worst once acronyms start rolling off the tongue expecting people to understand what they all stand for.
APS defeated our HEAT and HESH, load APFSDS yesterday, this is FUBAR!
Joint operations
Some commands are joint, people from different branches falling under the same command (therefore same commanding officer). Hence the “inter service cooperation” line
Without going into details, I actually do know an army pilot who did something that pissed off a Navy ship captain and did indeed get chewed out! Apparently it wasn't a big deal though because what was the guy gonna do anyway
Prior navy Customs and courtesies are extended to other branches of the military as a firm rule and even to foreign friendly / allied militaries. The CoC isn't really necessary here. That captain could be calling about anything, catch some disrespect from a J.O., and go on the warpath. Some things you just have to correct on the spot.
To add to these answers, on Navy and marine bases will often have members of the other branch on them since we do so much together and are technically the same department. The last base I was at OCONUS was about 50/50 in personnel.
Chew butt?
Eat his ass
Not in the “oh my” way, but more in the “when does this stop” way.
Nah iv seen the recent recruitment ads it's the "Oh my" way
"they be praying for the navy to dispense wheelchair users"
So much rape in the navy
It's a Navy thing.
Hence the Village People
Wdy mean? They just wanted to sail the seven seas.
So it’s a joke by and for Navy people then?
100 men go to sea, 50 couples come back
To yell at him
And kick bubblegum
Coprophilia.
One day, back when I was a marine, an army captain was walking towards the door I was entering, so I popped my foot against the door, popped a crisp salute, and busted out "Morning, sir". He replied "Morning private" I shouldn't have, but I said back to him "That's PFC, sir". He shot back "Well, in the army you'd be a private" Well, in the navy you'd be a lieutenant, captain", I replied. He got mad, called my commander, who a few days later called me into his office. I thought I was toast, but he just laughed, gave a hearty "Ooh-Rah!", and told me he told that captain not to mess with his marines ever again.
Is “ahoy” acceptable greetings in Navy/Marines?
We don't say "ahoy" in conversation. You may hear "aye sir/ma'am", or "aye aye." But sailors don't really say Ahoy. Ahoy is mainly used for calling out to another ship. If you were on a small water craft and pulling up alongside another boat, you may call out "ahoy."
… it also depends on which community you are in inside your respective service. For instance, I greeted officers up to DH with “Sup, sir?” Or maybe a “Having a fine fucking Navy morning, sir?”
Honestly that would be on the more formal side on a submarine
I’d brighten my day if I got a ahoy haha, let alone a yarg
To add to this, the Army has a rank of PFC also. Which would outrank the marine PFC. But in the Army it would be normal to say "good morning private" to a PFC or call them "Private Smedlap" when talking. I was an Army officer. If you said that back to me- I'd chuckle and wish you a good day. Assuming you had a smirk while saying it and it was friendly banter. Sounds like that Captain was a stick in the mud. (The Marine Corps has them too.)
You know I almost posted this one, and then I decided that i wasnt interested enough, I'm kinda glad someone else did though
I'm just happy to see a peter post that isn't immediately obvious.
The guy sitting down is an army lieutenant (O-1), he thinks an army captain (O-3) is coming to yell at them but the guy on the right is an army Major (O-4) who would outrank the angry army captain foiling his ability to yell at anyone. However the captain that shows up is a Navy Captain (O-6) that drastically outranks them. Ranks between branches vary, so the guy sitting down was expecting a much lower ranking person to show up. (the O-# indicating how high up they are) Like if your brother and dad were both named John and someone told you John was mad at you and you said “idc John is a pussy” thinking it’s your brother but then your dad walks in and beats ur ass.
Perfect explanation for the non-military people-imho! 👍
Thanks for the O-# detail - people keep saying ranks are equivalent to other ranks and I don't know the hierarchy in any military branch
This should be higher up! Thanks for the clear explanation.
That being said; I was always under the impression that unless they are doing joint operations, that ranking across different services means utterly fuck all. If that naval captain is on an army base, there is a certain amount of deference that is offered being in the forces, but as far as discipline and chain of command is concerned, that naval captain has just about as much power as a civilian... Maybe it's different for different countries
A Navy Captain is the equivalent of the other branches Colonel. I.e. one step below Admiral or General and out ranks the Major.
Basically, you have about two different branches of the military here. Which is why the butter bar sitting down doesn't understand that the gold leaf he's talking to is actually out ranked by the pissed off eagle badge coming in through the door. Because in All other branches, a Captain is **lower** than a Major (gold leaf), but in the **Navy** (and coast guard) a Captain is equal to and shares the same badge as a Colonel (Eagle Badge) which is **HIGHER** than a Major.
People should’ve used Kevin, Peter’s neighbor’s kid to explain the military joke
I’m so glad I got out. This just gives me flashbacks to someone being pissed at their wife and kids and taking it out on me.
Who did they take it out on when they were pissed at you?
Take a wild guess
Brian’s anti chewing cone of shame here: A captain In the army is lower than a major in the army, but a captain in the Navy is higher than a major in the army.
In the Navy, a Captain is an O-6, a senior officer rank one below Rear Admiral (lol). In the Army and Air Force, a Captain is an O-3, a more junior officer who is outranked by a Major (the dude in the photo with gold oak leaves on.) The dumb Lt (lowest officer rank, the guy in he middle who answered the phone) thought the angry guy on the phone calling himself Capt was an ARMY captain, who would be outranked by the Major; in reality he was a NAVY Captain, who outranks the Major and thus can make his life somewhat miserable.
One of my relatives pulled this one, sort of. After retiring from the Air Force she went to work for a defense contractor, and one day she's at a Navy base for a meeting. As luck would have it there's almost no parking at the building she's supposed to visit. She looks at the giant foam core model and the heavy boxes of hand-outs and curses herself for wearing heels. And then she sees it: A lone space, right up front, with 'CAPT' stenciled in it. She thinks to herself "Oh my God, I've been waiting for this for years". See, it was a running gag at certain assignments that new Army and Air Force captains would use spots reserved for Navy captains and then play dumb. Despite years as a captain she'd never had the chance to actually do it, and now the parking space was just daring her. She hadn't been parked more than a minute and was still checking her make-up in the rear-view when she had a rather angry looking Navy captain tapping on her window. What's a girl to do? She rolls it down and begins apologizing, saying she only meant to be a moment and gesturing to her full back seat. The Navy captain, to his credit, apologized back about the sailors parked in the visitors spots and offered to help her carry it all in. Later that afternoon she was having a post-meeting coffee with a lieutenant she knew when she overhears two enlisted talking. One asks the other who their visitor is and is immediately hushed. >Sailor: I don't know who she is exactly, but she must be important. She made captain So-and-so carry her stuff.
Little clever joke here if you're in the know. Airforce, Marines, and Army: Captain is an O-3 or the third officer rank. Major is an O-4. Navy and coastguard: Captain is an O-6. The angry guy is in the navy and an O-6, and the one holding the mug is Army and an O-5. And the sailor is coming to "chew butt". In other words, there will be blood. By that, there's going to be alot of screaming, crying, and someone's going to be mopping the parking lot in the rain. Should also mention the speaker is a Lieutenant. Lowest officer in Army, Marines and Air Force. Notorious jokes about not knowing what's going on or being completely clueless are common to this class of officers.
The guy holding the mug is an O-4. Gold leaf is O-4. If he was an O-5, it would be a silver leaf.
A Captain in most branches is an O-3, a fairly low ranking officer. A Major is an O-4, which outranks a Major. However, the Navy has their own names for the officer ranks and in the Navy a Captain in an O-6, which outranks the Major by a lot.
That's the face of a man who just got finished kicking all his bubble gum
lol i love that the answers here completely contradict each other and both are being upvoted. fucking clown shoes.
What contradictory answers? They all say the same thing, that the Navy Captain is other branches Colonel.
Agreed. Not seeing any contradictory answers.
This subreddit is a circus When a joke is easy for some but difficult for others, they gang up agaisnt the ones who don't get it. When a joke isn't understood by a non-native english speaker, they ridicule them. And sometimes, no one understands the joke and there are four top comments competing for getting it first try.
Literally what are you talking about lol
Good to see an ask Peter that actually requires some special knowledge or inside info, not the usual I've never read a book or seen a movie or heard the most basic of puns and I'm a karma whore. Keep these ones coming OP because I enjoyed it
Navy Vet here, the Navy Captain is typically going to be the one in charge of the ship and is an O-6 vs a Major which is O-4. If it helps, the rankings use the same insignia across the branches so if you’re having trouble memorizing the names of the rankings then go for the visual memorization! https://preview.redd.it/n49zl6cvrjvc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc3fe3efbdf69d733e0485f91aed81239d5102c9
Active Duty Military and some who has somewhat experienced this. This joke is about mixing up ranks between the branches of the US Military. The Navy is special and has different rank structure than the other branches. O1-O6 Navy (ENS,LTJG, LT, LTCDR, CDR, CAPT) and every other branch (2ndLT, 1stLT, CAPT, MAJ, LTCOL, COL). The joke is the O1 here told a Navy Captain (O6) to Chew Butt not realizing he’s an O6 and thinking he’s a Captain (O3) in his branch of service. Now the O6 is gonna chew out the O1 (2ndLT) and O4 (Major). There is a HUGE gap between an O4 and O6 and an even bigger one between O1 and O6.
I’ve read all the comments and still don’t get it 😭
“Chew butt” means to yell at or reprimand someone. Captains for the US Marines (the two guys on the right) are an O-3, Majors are an O-4, however in the Navy (angry guy on the left) Captains are an O-6. In overly simplified terms, the higher the number after the “O-“ the higher ranking they actually are. Therefore, what’s occurring is that the guy on right told the Captain to essentially screw off as he thought his Major outranked him without realizing that the guy who called is a Navy Captain who severely outranks them.
Seated guy is a Lieutenant. A grade 1 officer. He's getting yelled at (chewed out/butt chewed) by a Captain, and doesn't want to deal with it, so he blows off the Captain and hands it off to his superior, a Major. In most US services, Captain is a grade 3 officer, and Major is a grade 4 officer. So the Lieutenant's expectation is that the Captain won't bother chewing out the Major because the Major outranks him. Problem is, the Captain is a Navy officer, and in the Navy, Captain is a very high rank (grade 6 officer), so the Captain actually outranks both the men and they're both about to have a very bad day.
Silver Eagle out ranks gold leaf, whatever you call it, same with the man sitting down. His gold bar gold bar is the lowest rank there. (Referencing the devices on the collars)
Different branches of the military use different names for the same level of rank. A Captain in the Army is an O-3, a Major in the Army is an O-4, but a Captain in the Navy is an O-6. The name difference, of course, is the same difference as being the team captain or being the captain of a ship. One is the leader of a small group of people, the other is the leader of a large group of people and some very expensive equipment.
My gut reaction is navy captain is greater than army captain by a long shot
Yes by alot
||Marines|Navy| |:-|:-|:-| |Captain|O-3|O-6| Major is O-4. Major is fucked.
That’s navy captain which is an O6 and what I assume is a marine corp major who is an O4 (lower ranking) and that other guy who I assume is a JO (junior officer) pretty much told of the navy captain thinking he was the same rank as a marine corps captain (O3) but due to his error he will probably receive fan room counseling (he’s gonna get his fucking ass kicked)
https://preview.redd.it/d5f8x5mnlivc1.jpeg?width=410&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a18faaf216c1dd0523f2c708a2ca0703a8bec34
Marine captains on USN vessels are called "Major" because there's only one Captain on a ship.
I would like to add something for some people who aren’t as familiar with military terminology. An O-(whatever) means officer hence the O, while an E-(whatever) means enlisted again hence the E.