Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Normally, I post military data in another thread, but after reading this, I felt that it needed as wide an audience as possible, as it has clear relevance to the Character Generation Rules for all of the various editions and permutations. The data comes from an Army Ground Forces Observer Team that accompanied the 24 Army Corps prior to and following the invasion of Okinawa in April of 1945. As it was done by and for the Army Ground Forces, the promotion rates would not include the Army Air Force units in the Pacific Ocean Area.
The Pacific Ocean Area analyzed the time in grade of all officer ranks from 2nd Lieutenant up to Colonel in the Army units within its command. The study showed the time in grade of the various ranks as of 1 September 1944, so it would not have picked up the casualty promotion rate for the Philippines campaign. The following is the average time in grade for officers in the Army from 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. Time in grade represents the time from promotion from one grade to a higher one.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for 2nd Lieutenants is one (1) year, four (4) months.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for 1st Lieutenants is one (1) year, one (1) month.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grades for Captains is one (1) year, three (3) months.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for Major is one (1) year, three (3) months.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for Lt.Colonel is one (1) year, six (6) months.
This matches up with a comment by Ernie Pyle about officers in North Africa in late 1942, where an officer made Lieutenant Colonel at the age of 27, 13 years faster than his father. Assuming that he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant at the age of 21, he made Lieutenant Colonel in 6 years.
In the Pacific, an officer could go from 2nd Lieutenant to Major in 45 months, or within a Traveller 4 year term. To reach Colonel would take another 33 months on average, again well within a Traveller 4 year term, or within 2 terms upon being commissioned. This is significantly faster than shown in say The Traveller Book. Now, these are rates of wartime promotion rates in a major war against an enemy that literally fought to the last man, so quite intensive combat.
However, from looking at this data, which does cover a fairly large sample, it appears that the normal promotion rate in Traveller reflects a peace-time or minor warm-war situation, compared to the above promotion rate which would reflect a major hot-war situation. Basically, you could go from Rank 1, Lieutenant, to Rank 5, Colonel, in two terms, compared to 4 terms per the rules as given. You also might want to give serious thought to making promotion to General a bit more difficult, otherwise, you would have an awful lot of Generals in your campaign.
For those interested, you can download the entire report from archive.org at the following location: https://archive.org/details/a438976
Note, it is a wartime mimeograph, so not the easiest reading, but a lot better than some that I have encountered.
The Pacific Ocean Area analyzed the time in grade of all officer ranks from 2nd Lieutenant up to Colonel in the Army units within its command. The study showed the time in grade of the various ranks as of 1 September 1944, so it would not have picked up the casualty promotion rate for the Philippines campaign. The following is the average time in grade for officers in the Army from 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. Time in grade represents the time from promotion from one grade to a higher one.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for 2nd Lieutenants is one (1) year, four (4) months.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for 1st Lieutenants is one (1) year, one (1) month.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grades for Captains is one (1) year, three (3) months.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for Major is one (1) year, three (3) months.
Pacific Ocean Area average years in grade for Lt.Colonel is one (1) year, six (6) months.
This matches up with a comment by Ernie Pyle about officers in North Africa in late 1942, where an officer made Lieutenant Colonel at the age of 27, 13 years faster than his father. Assuming that he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant at the age of 21, he made Lieutenant Colonel in 6 years.
In the Pacific, an officer could go from 2nd Lieutenant to Major in 45 months, or within a Traveller 4 year term. To reach Colonel would take another 33 months on average, again well within a Traveller 4 year term, or within 2 terms upon being commissioned. This is significantly faster than shown in say The Traveller Book. Now, these are rates of wartime promotion rates in a major war against an enemy that literally fought to the last man, so quite intensive combat.
However, from looking at this data, which does cover a fairly large sample, it appears that the normal promotion rate in Traveller reflects a peace-time or minor warm-war situation, compared to the above promotion rate which would reflect a major hot-war situation. Basically, you could go from Rank 1, Lieutenant, to Rank 5, Colonel, in two terms, compared to 4 terms per the rules as given. You also might want to give serious thought to making promotion to General a bit more difficult, otherwise, you would have an awful lot of Generals in your campaign.
For those interested, you can download the entire report from archive.org at the following location: https://archive.org/details/a438976
Note, it is a wartime mimeograph, so not the easiest reading, but a lot better than some that I have encountered.