Roman command structure did not function in the same way that modern Officer/NCO/enlisted function. Don't buy into the books that call such and such a rank a Colonel or General or Major or Sergeant, it just doesn't work like that, from the available records and writings.<br>
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The structures also varied by time period and unit type.<br>
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Basically you had trainees, regular pay soldiers, regular pay soldiers immune from certain details, and various groups of specialists who received more than regular pay. None of these seem to be in the "chain of command" with the possible exception of the "optio" for limited periods. The "optio" is the company first sergeant and company clerk and other duties rolled into one, and could become an "officer". We conjecture other duties for other "positions" some with more certainty than others. We know one highly paid soldier was keeper of the standard, and another was the keeper of the password, and we think we know some of their other duties, but did they command troops? Interesting question, someone else will know more than I do.<br>
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Your "officer" chain of command changed over time! some depends on whether you speak of Republican or Imperial times, obviously.<br>
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At the century level, was the centurion, who is an officer. He was either voted into office, raised from the ranks, or directly given the post through patronage, or as a transfer from another unit. There may be a hierarchy of promotions in the centurionate, at various times, but again, there is little consensus as to the whole of Roman military history. Several good books offer currently accepted theories. They are mentioned in other threads.<br>
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The Senior centurion in a legion was called Prime Pilus, He is almost similar to a colonel, but not exactly, because he is a career professional officer, but he is commanded by political appointees, who may have less experience.<br>
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Tribunes , political, some with little experience, (almost like lieutenants), but able to command large detachments at the whim of the Legate, others with lots of experience, commanding in the absence of the Legate or commanding separate detachments, like the inexperienced ones! We can sometimes identify them by their family connections, later career record, or some terms that identify their "class".<br>
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Legates were commanding legions at some times in Roman history, other times it was a consul or pro-consul! Imperial Legates had a great deal of experience OR good political connections OR lots of money OR married well... some were good commanders with military experience and know how, others didn't seem have much military experience. They were all politicians and the post of legate was a political appointment, you could look at them as senator/generals but maybe they had been put in charge of a combat arms "division" after being a really good administrative type or after being a successful governor. The Legate's camp commander was an ex-prime Pilus, just to add more confusion!<br>
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This is really basic, but you can see it doesn't match the officer/NCO corps structures of today, at least in Europe or North America, or other Europeanized countries.<br>
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The centurion had plenty of authority, he carried a vine staff and used it often. The optio carries a big stick too, but it may not have been for punishment! The rest of the folks may have worked more like the old Soviet military, with the Officers telling people where to be, when and what to do, and the older troops seeing that the newer troops did the work or else. If you were tough you would rise to the top, and join the people who didn't work as hard, sort of a unofficial hierarchy of brutality. The Romans would have seen nothing wrong with this, as long as the job got done, roads were built, latrines were clean and battles were won. <p>"Just before class started, I looked in the big book where all the world's history is written, and it said...." Neil J. Hackett, PhD ancient history, professor OSU, 1987</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/ucaiusfabius.showPublicProfile?language=EN>Caius Fabius</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ROMANISROMANORVM/files/C%20Fabius%201988b.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 9/8/02 4:48:13 am<br></i>
