The other week I just finished watching the World War II-based mini series Band of Brothers. It’s a great show with a good story and lots of action and even sparked an interest in me to learn more about the War. This recent Time magazine article is what inspired me to watch this show.

As I started watching the first episode, I realized I knew nothing about military terminology. Many times, the soldiers would call each other by their rank, but since I didn’t know the terms, I had no idea who was the leader of whom and who outranked whom. Eventually I got a feel for the terms, but it took a few episodes. To make it easier for anyone else out there in my situation, here are the ranks mentioned in the show that I caught, from highest ranking to lowest:

1. Colonel
2. Major
3. Captain
4. Lieutenant
5. Sergeant Major
6. Sergeant
7. Corporal
8. Private

Quick tip: throughout the movie, you can see each person’s rank by the symbol on his helmet.

The other military terminology that I was illiterate to was the unit of each military squad: how many per unit, and what was the hierarchy? Same as before, here’s what I eventually figured out, from smallest to largest:

1. Squad (9 – 13)
2. Platoon (20 – 42)
3. Company (70 – 200)
4. Battalion (300 – 1,300)
5. Regiment (3,000 – 5,000)
6. Division (10,000 – 15,000)

The Wikipedia pages have a much more detailed list of ranks and units, which is partly how I figured out the above list!