Final edit B5 commisioned ranks and positions

As far as I can tell based on watching episodes, the chain of command works (in terms of positions) as follows:

General
Captain
Commander
Lieutenant
so orders have to go through the commander to get to the lieutenant

I'm making an educated guess that ranks below general, based on episodes "Survivors" and "Spider in the Web" are:
Major
Captain
Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Sergeant
Lieutenant
as a partial list of Psi Corps ranks is given in "Spider in the Web" (those underlined), bearing in mind that sometimes to avoid confusion Lieutenant Commander is just Lieutenant (as in most navies), Sergeant is First Lieutenant and Lieutenant is Second Lieutenant (as in most armies)

Also, junior officers always seem to be referred to as lieutenant and, other than Major Ed Ryan, current and former starship commanders are always referred to as captain. Majors Ryan and Kemmer ( "Survivors") are described as aides to a general; the rank could be a position but this seems unlikely.
It would be easy to assume something along the lines of using staff ranks for army (i.e., Brigadier General to Five Star General) for the admiralty and navy ranks for all other commissioned officers (Captain down to ensign) but this is contradicted by the use of characters having the rank of colonel.

Garibaldi confirms the existence of admirals even though they are never seen but perhaps in the field they are referred to as either general or captain.

Update:  It does seem that Earth Force officers hold two ranks simultaneously. Corwin is referred to as a Second Lieutenant in season two but he is promoted from Lieutenant (junior grade) to full Lieutenant. Takeshima is described as both a Lieutenant and Lieutenant-Commander.
I can't say that major is a position given to a general's aide because of the character Major Krantz.
I think this can be clarified if we consider Earth Force to be two organisations: the space navy and off-world security. The position of captain exists in title only.

So for the navy*:
Admiral (one to five star)
then
Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Major*
Lieutenant
Lieutenant (junior grade)
Ensign

 

and infantry/security:
General (one to five star)
then
Colonel
Major
Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Sergeant
Lieutenant

I think it best if we assume that in general the latter ranks are generally used. Therefore a former star ship captain, Lochley, can be promoted to Colonel and a Colonel can outrank a Commander.

*The only discrepancy could be in the first series, which implies that the ranking systems used refer to that used by the Royal Air Force and most Armies, hence "Major" Kemmer.

From series two the following system could be used for the main ranks, with naval terminology only used aboard warships
General etc.
Colonel
=Captain (Navy)

Lieutenant Colonel
=Commander/(either rank referred to as) Major (with comparison to separate branches of the service)

Commander
=Lieutenant Commander (Navy)

Lieutenant Commander
=Lieutenant (Navy)

First Lieutenant
=Lieutenant (junior grade) (Navy)
(or Gunnery Sergeant in some cases)

Second Lieutenant=Ensign (Navy)
(or Pilot Officer, especially in series one referring to Sinclair's Earth Force career)


 

Jack Sparks

Thought I'd post a review of "The Last Days of Jack Sparks".....on Legal Sméagol. Ha ha.
#JackSparks
Just finished named novel, couldn't help thinking of the following lyrics. Really sums the novel up, no spoilers, but the book ends up being a supernatural odyssey of self-harm and time-travelling ghosts. Or is it?