NepalRank Structure and Insignia
Figure 12. Nepal: Military Ranks and Insignia, 1991
Royal Nepal Army rank structure was, like most other
aspects of
military life, a blending of British, Indian, and Nepalese
practices. Except for honorary military titles, most
commissioned
officer ranks were the same as their United States and
British
equivalents. Exceptions included the titles field marshal
(equivalent to the United States general of the armies)
and colonel
in chief of the army. As of 1991, Nir Shamsher Jang
Bahadur Rana
was the only field marshal; Crown Prince Dipendra Bir
Bikram Shah
Dev was the colonel in chief. Nepal's senior officer corps
in 1991
numbered one general, five major generals, and about
twenty-one
brigadier generals. Officers' insignia displayed a variety
of
symbols; all, however, bore the emblem of the crossed
kukri
that identified Gurkha soldiers the world over.
Between the commissioned officers and the enlisted
ranks was a
separate category of junior commissioned officers (JCOs),
who acted
as a bridge between the officers and their troops. Adapted
from the
colonial commissioned officer system of the old British
Indian
Army, JCOs were roughly equivalent to United States Army
warrant
officers (although few JCOs were skilled technicians).
JCOs were
selected from noncommissioned officer ranks and advanced
through a
three-tier ranking system (jamadar, subedar,
and
subedar major). At the bottom of the military
hierarchy were
the "other ranks" (commonly referred to as ORs). These
included
several ranks of noncommissioned officers, sepahis
(or, the
Anglo-Indian corruption, "sepoys") and jawans, who
together
made up the bulk of the army
(see
fig. 12). Although the
lowest
army ranks had their equivalents in the Brigade of Gurkhas
and the
colonial successor armies of India, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh, the
Royal Nepalese Army maintained a distinct nomenclature not
found
anywhere else.
Data as of September 1991
|