Oh, FFS... I really SHOULD expect this on the internet. One of the other SWTOR gamer-folk replied to my comment above with this:It could just be a preference of the NCOs if you think about it. That formally they would be called Sir/Ma'am, but since they go into the battles like ya said they prefer to cut the formality. It'd also more than likely be by choice so they could have an easier time with the men and women they lead in. Here was my reply:Yah -- but that's far too different from the real world rank titles and military customs. Like I said, in the real world you don't call a noncom "Sir" or "Ma'am" unless you want to provoke them.
As a kid I did sometimes call my Chief Petty Officer dad "Sir"; he broke me of that habit after his retirement when I graduated from university and he subsequently helped pin the gold bar on my Army Class As... Afterward he said something I didn't catch, I said "Sir?," and he added "Sir" to the end of his reply. We agreed at that point to NOT call each other "Sir."
There IS an easy dialog fix in the SWTOR Trooper storyline: start the Trooper out as a Lieutenant (with the assumption it's corresponding to 1st or 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, USAF, or USMC, and Ensign in the Navy... and NOT corresponding to a Navy Lieutenant). Then calling him or her "Sir" and "officer" would make sense, as would their [s]noobness[/s] newness to the unit and the Republic's forces. Somehow, though, I doubt anyone would want to skip being a sergeant... and that's where "Sir" is jarring and attention-shattering.
Your assumption is likely correct. Fleet officers seem to use naval ranks (Admiral) and Havoc Squad uses infantry ranks -- my character currently holds the rank of Major, having been promoted up from Lieutenant through Captain. I'm curious to see whether I ever make LTC. or Col.
My own mental handwave to the confusion was the assumption that in the Republic military, a NCO calls everyone who ranks them, Sir.
That's what I'll likely have to do (I just want to get her to 10 so I can see one of those BFGs). But right now it looks like I'm focusing on my BH merc; just hit 30. Mercenary (BH): 30 Assassin (Inq): 29 Operative (IA): 17 Scoundrel (Smuggler): 12 Trooper: 5 Proto-sniper (IA): 5 Proto-juggernaut (SW): 5
As a former Sergeant (previously Corporal, also a non-com) in the Marines, my fellow NCO's and I made it abundantly clear that we were to be addressed as "Sergeant Lastname" or "Corporal Lastname" and not sir and that we were indeed the ones who got things done.
Thank you and your dad for your service! It's always good to see another service member with a family line of Military service, as was mine...
Not in the Army. If you do that in basic you will do pushups. It's pushups for calling an NCO sir is the first thing many recruits do when they get off the bus. For me it was pushups for walking on the 'Drill Sergeant's Grass', some gravel that we had to keep raked at Fort Bliss.
LOL -- We got the shame speech in Officer Basic after being sent to gather pine branches for a Christmas thing. Seems we officers weren't supposed to sing "Be, all that you can be" at random every little while. ^_^
Boot Camp is a "learning environment" and recruits are not actually Marines until they graduate. Technically, Recruits are still civilians (hence calling their Drill Instructors "Sir"/"Ma'am" as a civilian would do for someone of higher status. Once they graduate, they are officially "Marines" and address each non officer by rank; "Private lastname", "Lance Corporal lastname", "Corporal/Sergeant lastname"...
I really SHOULD expect this on the internet.
One of the other SWTOR gamer-folk replied to my comment above with this:It could just be a preference of the NCOs if you think about it. That formally they would be called Sir/Ma'am, but since they go into the battles like ya said they prefer to cut the formality. It'd also more than likely be by choice so they could have an easier time with the men and women they lead in.
Here was my reply:Yah -- but that's far too different from the real world rank titles and military customs. Like I said, in the real world you don't call a noncom "Sir" or "Ma'am" unless you want to provoke them.
As a kid I did sometimes call my Chief Petty Officer dad "Sir"; he broke me of that habit after his retirement when I graduated from university and he subsequently helped pin the gold bar on my Army Class As... Afterward he said something I didn't catch, I said "Sir?," and he added "Sir" to the end of his reply. We agreed at that point to NOT call each other "Sir."
There IS an easy dialog fix in the SWTOR Trooper storyline: start the Trooper out as a Lieutenant (with the assumption it's corresponding to 1st or 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, USAF, or USMC, and Ensign in the Navy... and NOT corresponding to a Navy Lieutenant). Then calling him or her "Sir" and "officer" would make sense, as would their [s]noobness[/s] newness to the unit and the Republic's forces. Somehow, though, I doubt anyone would want to skip being a sergeant... and that's where "Sir" is jarring and attention-shattering.
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My own mental handwave to the confusion was the assumption that in the Republic military, a NCO calls everyone who ranks them, Sir.
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That's what I'll likely have to do (I just want to get her to 10 so I can see one of those BFGs). But right now it looks like I'm focusing on my BH merc; just hit 30.
Mercenary (BH): 30
Assassin (Inq): 29
Operative (IA): 17
Scoundrel (Smuggler): 12
Trooper: 5
Proto-sniper (IA): 5
Proto-juggernaut (SW): 5
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You were a Butter Ball in the Army? *j/k*
As a former Sergeant (previously Corporal, also a non-com) in the Marines, my fellow NCO's and I made it abundantly clear that we were to be addressed as "Sergeant Lastname" or "Corporal Lastname" and not sir and that we were indeed the ones who got things done.
Thank you and your dad for your service!
It's always good to see another service member with a family line of Military service, as was mine...
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Thanks, and thanks for your service as well! :D
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Oh!
And kizayaen is ex-Navy...
The CRAZY kind (I'll let him explain if he so wishes! ;) ).
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Yah --
Recruits call NCOs sir in Boot/Basic (I assume that's true in the Army, too, but I never went through Basic?).
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LOL --
We got the shame speech in Officer Basic after being sent to gather pine branches for a Christmas thing.
Seems we officers weren't supposed to sing "Be, all that you can be" at random every little while. ^_^
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Tim C.
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