Originally Posted by
Timelord
Doesn’t the GSM hold some weird hybrid rank so he has the status of a Major as well ? Need someone from the Guards to explain.
The seniority/ status of the most senior WO 1 appointments is rather opaque, due to copying in part the USA arrangements.
Further complicated by the first appointee as Senior Enlisted Advisor to Chief of Staffs Committee [SEAC] who indeed was a hybrid major dressed as a weird compromise and with the ugliest badge ever invented. He resigned in unfortunate circumstances. Below that are Command Sergeant Majors, essentially one for each major subdivision such as RA, RLC etc. I think these also have deferred LE commissions in the bank. There are about 30 such. Again, weird appointment badges.
Another subset is GSM Londdist and the Academy SM .......... I do not think these have a commission.
The prime loser in all this is the Conductor, who could once make a spirited if spurious defence of being the most senior WO appointment. He now has to doff his cap to a shed load of WO Is.
I fully expect the above is out of date: the army and RM change the pecking order and badges as often as they change their socks.