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Squad Captains and Company Captains


Lady_Mournival

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In the many HH novels there is often references to squad captains and company captains and I really wonder what's the point of having them lead a squad instead of a sergeant, and much less what the difference is between the number of men they command. Like if the squad captain is a captain of a first co. squad does he out-rank the 7th co. captain?

In Horus Rising, there is First Company Captain Abaddon but also there are Captains of the Justaerin Terminator Squad and Catalun Reaver (Assault) Squad. Captain Kibre and Ekkadon respectively.

 

Personally, I believe that Squad Captain's form part of the elite, being perhaps heir-apparent to the Company Captaincy.

 

Squad Captains are outranked by Company Captains, as noted in Horus Rising.

Only the First Captain, or 1st Company Commander, has any authority/rank over another Company Captain, by warrant of being Captain of the veteran Company.

Given that Heresy era Companies were likely more than 100 Marines, they were most definitely not sergeants.

 

Assuming that they follow the Roman military model,and there's a lot of precedent for that in the 40k universe:

 

Primus Pilus ("first spear"/"first file") was the Centurion of the First Cohort as well as being in charge of their own century. This is parallel to the Captain of the First Company/First Captain, or the rank that Abbadon held.

 

Pilus Prior was the title of a senior Centurion who commanded a century as well as all the other Centurions in their cohort. This would be the rank of little Horus Aximand and Gavriel Loken.

 

Each Cohort was composed of multiple Centuries, each commanded by a Centurion. This is equivalent Squad Captain, or what Loken started as in the first book.

Each Cohort was composed of multiple Centuries, each commanded by a Centurion. This is equivalent Squad Captain, or what Loken started as in the first book.

 

I thought that Loken started out in Horus Rising as the 10th Company Captain, equal with other Company Captains such as Targost and Sedirae, with Abaddon outranking him officially as he was 1st Captain (and of course all the Primarchs and the Emperor outranking him), as well the other members of the Mournival unofficially outranking him until he became a part of the Mournival.

 

At the start of the book he outranks Squad Captain Ekaddon, if Loken was a Squad Captain at this time how could he have had superiority of rank over him?

 

At first I thought that Squad Captain was another way to say Squad Sergeant. However, it must be noted that both Ekaddon (Catulan Reavers) and Kibre (Justairan Terminators) are both part of the 1st Company. Ekaddon is described as being part of the 1st Company's Assault Elite, and I'd imagine the same could be said of Kibre. So perhaps a Squad Captain is that, the 1st Company Elite Officers. I wouldn't say the elite of every Company, as Jubal was considered as most senior officer by Loken, and Jubal was still a 10th Company Sergeant.

 

So IMO a Squad Captain would be a Sergeant of the 1st Company or a Sergeant of the 1st Company Elite. That's the interpretation I can get from it.

 

For the Luna Wolves: Primarch>(Mournival)>1st Captain>Company Captain> Squad Captain> Sergeant> regular Marine.

 

Of course other Legions may be different.

The First Captain techinally outranks any other Company Captain.

All other Company Captains are rated on length of Captaincy, at least with the Luna Wolves.. (Where Loken states that both Torgaddon and Marr, although having held Captaincies longer defer to him on a mission).

 

A Company Captain outranks a squad Captain.. As I stated previously, perhaps a Squad Captain is a possible successor for a Company of his own!

I assumed it was the title for marines who were normally company captains, assigned to lead a smaller squad while deferring to another captain of higher rank

 

They keep their rightful rank as captain, you cannot demote a Captain to a Sergent - if only by title, because he is temporarily commanding a smaller squad

 

For example, captains of companies 2 onwards, that would have been drafted into the first company - they would not automatically become first captain - obviously this title was Abaddons, but because of their experiance, they became squad captains.

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